Help with leaking Outwell tent

Currently camping in the Cotswolds. However our tent is leaking. It appears to be letting in water around the seams.

I notice various websites mention glue/tape that can be used on this. However various friends have tried fixing leaking tents but never with any success.

I bought our Outwell Hartford XL second hand three years ago. It’s a great size so would love to simply fix it.

Anyone have any stories of success/failure or any guidance?

How old is it??
Spray on re-proofer around the seams?

Think it may be six, seven years old now. Maybe more?

I don’t know of anyone re-proofing an old tent with success.

Also it appears seams can be treated specifically with glue or tape. Wondered if anyone had experience of this?

“I don’t know of anyone re-proofing an old tent with success”

Sounds like user error to me.

Fabsil always worked for me ….. Part of life with a tent you need to look after them and a part of that is reproofing from time to time.

also mcnett seam sealer is often used in conjunction depending on what the tents doing.

You could try using plumbers silicone sealant. Mix it up with a bit a of white spirit, then spread it along the seams.
Its cheaper than any of the proper tent repair tape/glue anyway.

I have a leaking tent here, I need to try this sometime.

Reproofed our family tent a fortnight ago using a couple of big spray cans of Fabsil. Pretty easy to do and seems to work well so far.

(You can get tins of the paint-on style much cheaper but spray-on was easier to organise in a camping field)

Excellent. Success is possible and Fabsil and Mcnett are my friends.

Another one advocating the use of fabulist on the seams. The spray version is best for a quick application and it may take 2-3 coats, but worked well for us 🙂

Fabsil type stuff is a good general sealant but if it’s the seams I’d reproof with a seam sealant. You can get them in a glue stick format which is quite easy to run over the seams

Whilst you’re there get some tent repair glue, basically a rubber glue to apply on the inside if the seams. It will be where the guy lines are attached that will be leaking. No need to apply the patches just brush the glue in and allow it to cure.
When you get back clean the tent down, alone to dry and apply Fabsil. Tent will last years again.

Buy a Vango next time.

Survived the downpours yesterday anyway.

Last trip i was on my mates vango let water in from all angles.

Brand makes no odds if you don’t look after it

Leaking on the seams is a different kettle of fish to just spraying a bit of fabsil on. A tent of that age will have taken on a fair bit of uv damage so I’d be going for a proper seam sealant.

Any recommendations for proper seam sealant? Want to do it right first time!

is it actually passing through the seams

it naturally drips from the seams as they form a drip point.

I would fabsil it first and then give it a good soaking and see how it goes – then seam seal where it needs.

Agreed – Fabsil on its own was enough to sort my tent that had light drips coming through where the lanterns hang from seams inside.

Try Fabsil first then seam sealant on the bits that still drip.

Outwell actually sell their own-brand seam sealant though I’ve no reason to believe it is any better or different.

Was thinking the same about the seams actually. Came home today and the seams didn’t appear obviously deteriorated on further inspection. Will simply try re-proofing it and see if that works. I’m guessing a good hose down is a suitable equivalent for rain.

Right after discussions with two local camping shops I ended up getting 2.5 litres of Fabsil. Had to paint it on myself as would have needed too many aerosols to do the same.

What seems to be neglected in these discussions is that my family tent, when erected as advised, is flipping difficult to paint! Took me ages to do it. I really hope this is not an annual thing!

To reach the top I attached the paint brush to a garden hoe. The brush fitted snugly on the metal fixture. Mostly worked well in the midday sun until I ripped a 130mm hole in the “canvas”. Off to the camping shop again for Kampa tear repair. £5 later I discover that, despite advice, the tent needs to be disassembled before the patch can be properly applied yet the Fabsil needs at least 6 hours to dry.

I won’t mention the hassle it took to get into my folks reasonable sized garden to have space for this in the first place as they were on holiday…

Don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but: Modern budget (compared to say a Terra Nova)synthetic tents have a lifespan of about 100 days IME before the fabric becomes faded and brittle from exposure to UV light. If you’ve ripped a hole in it then the next one’s coming soon. 🙁

The problem with improvisinbtools is there are often unforseen circumstances when they go wrong 🙁

I’ve never had fabric wear out. Inc 6months of daily packing and putting out in NZ and Australia …it was the poles that needed repair. Still have that tent 10years later. Doesn’t see as much use but it’s still waterproof and in one piece with new poles

The horse may have bolted now but,

Why not talk to Outwell?

Just seen this, would have advised to paint the fabsil on whilst at a campsite, as it stinks and takes ages to dry, plus I’m not sure if it damages the grass!
I’ve never had any success with fabsil, but then my seams had gone. New tent in my case.

Well we’ve worn out the fabric of two family tents (Vango and Outwell)getting about 6 years use from them each. They were used almost entirely in sunny southern Europe though. We have a 25 year old Wild Country Supernova which is still going strong after 200 odd days use.
The test is to take a bit of the flysheet and try and pull it apart with moderate force; it shouldn’t tear.

The fabric still seems fine. The tear was made by ripping a great garden hoe through it so don’t feel it brings into question the material. The patches promise an almost invisible repair which I’m looking forward to. We only use the thing once a year, for five days. Isn’t camping supposed to be cheaper than other holidays?!?

What seems to be neglected in these discussions is that my family tent, when erected as advised, is flipping difficult to paint!

That’s why we said use aerosols! 😀

I ended up getting 2.5 litres of Fabsil. Had to paint it on myself as would have needed too many aerosols to do the same.

The 600ml aerosols are £7 at GoOutdoors. A bit more expensive than the paint on style, but a lot less hassle to apply.

There is no way an aerosol would have reached the top! Even as I was using the brush on a stick I was pleased I didn’t have to put a can on a stick and sort out a mechanism to spray the stuff as well.

Apparently the top is over 2 metres high…

Um. Take the poles out?

Fair enough, I didn’t realise it was quite so massive. Paint-on probably makes sense at that size.

I wonder if a ceiling paint roller (and some stepladders) might be good for reaching Fabsil to the top sections?

Something like this:

Yeah I thought I needn’t erect it to apply the Fabsil, but all advice suggested the tent needed to be under the correct tension.

That extended roller would have been perfect (and less hazardous to the tent).

I had wanted to create some sort of Mission Impossible scenario where I was suspended over the tent by rope but there were no suitable trees or cranes nearby!

Ah well. Chalk it up. Experience gained and a lesson learned.

I had wanted to create some sort of Mission Impossible scenario where I was suspended over the tent by rope but there were no suitable trees or cranes nearby!

If you do this in the future please film it 😉

Don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but: Modern budget (compared to say a Terra Nova)synthetic tents have a lifespan of about 100 days IME before the fabric becomes faded and brittle from exposure to UV light. If you’ve ripped a hole in it then the next one’s coming soon.

I paid £75 for a Millets Eurohike 3-person tent several years ago which has been used four times, three four-day festivals and a nine-day holiday in South Devon last year.
Currently looking forward to another nine days down there in about three-four weeks time, and so far the tent is holding up perfectly well.
If I get another couple of years out of it, I’ll have considered it seventy five quid bloody well spent!

When I treated my Outwell tent I used the compressor and spray gun which gave a nice even coverage, much quicker too.