Just had the brain fart to clean and reproof my one man tent in the washing machine on low like a Gore-Tex jacket. Genius or going to trash the tent???

bump for the glitch

Maybe with a very low spin and low heat…personally, I wouldn’t but suspect my tents are far cheaper than the one you have as I’m convinced the metal bits will end up poking through and ripping the material.

Good question, I don’t know the answer.

I would say that Goretex (etc) are *designed* for cleaning. A tent nylon or silnylon is unlikely.

I would say it is easy to spray onto the fly as well – just pitch it up on a dry day.

What are you putting in to reproof it? Goretex is a very different fabric to tents. If it has a PU coated groundsheet a washing machine will not have done that any good.

I wouldn’t personally.
I have always just layed the tent out and given it a scrub. Then reproofed with spray on stuff

It’ll break it – as in, the machine cycle will bend and flex the backing & tapes too much delaminating them. Just put it up in the garden, gently sponge it where it’s scruffy and then apply a spray-on proofer like the nikwax solar proof. I have to do this with our f%^&ing bell once a year. It’s a similar process but with fabsil (which I think should only be used on canvas, could be wrong) & I then have to deliberately soak the wretched 90kg heap to do some made up magic thing rendering it properly waterproof again.

i tried it and all the taped seams came off

cheers chaps, spray on proofing it is

Put it up in the garden hose it down let it dry proof it.

How would you get the poles in?

I do mine in a bucket, rinse first then a second bucket with the nikwax proofer in. I do inner and outer, tent beads up nicely when rained on afterwards. My inner is pertex though, wouldn’t bother if it was largely mesh.

I don’t even do my jackets in the machine, it always ruins the seams.

As above, pitch it, clean it, spray it, leave it to dry.