just come back from a weeks camping in the lakes, we pitched our tent under a large tree, when packing the tent away it is all covered in all this sticky sap , the tent is a bear lake, will it damage the fabric? do i need to remove it if so how? or do i just leave it? any advise will be appreciated as i am a bit concerned......
Does it leak where the stains are? I'm no expert but I would have thought you may damage the fabric by tying to clean it. Even if it were to dry so you can chip it off it would probably take some of the waterproof layer with it. Leave it or talk to the manufacturer. Sorry, not much help, we had a problem with bird strike the first time we used our tent.
no leaks, will not be able to chip it off as the tent is covered in very small droplets of sap, i have thought about leaveing it let it dry out and it may wash its self away on our next camping trips
My Oregon 5 also has a sap problem from last October, but I only found it when we pitched it on Monday. I don't know what affect it will have on the waterproofing. But I know that the OH has spotted the Trout Lake 4 and taken a fancy to it....so roll on the sales!!!
Horrors....never heard of this one before, not all over the tent anyway. Why didn't you move it? If this was a cotton canvas tent I think I'd have my head in my hands and be weeping quietly by now. I can't imagine that a polycotton tent would fare much better than straight cotton canvas either. If I was trying to get tree sap off clothes I'd have to use a solvent of some sort, but there is no way you can put anything like acetone near a tent.
I think you have to get back to your camping retailer and/or email Outwell asap and ask for some advice. In the meanwhile, try putting the tent up in the garden and hosing it down. At least this will show if the tent is still watertight.
And next time, if a tree starts dripping sap on you, move the tent. Total PITB, of course, but necessary.
We had the exact same problem last year when we were pitched under a tree( it was BH w/end and arrived really late, it was the only pitch left!).
The tent, car, roof box and anything else that was left outside was covered in the stuff!
OH pitched the tent in the back garden and got the hose pipe on it and then left it to dry. It was fine after and we have used it a few times since with no damage to the tent or its waterproofing.
The next thing he did was to take the car to the jet wash, leaving me to unpack everything else and see to the kids!
With my canvas tent the advice for cleaning from the manufacturer was to use water only, but not to scrub it, just spray it. Anything like bird poo they said let it dry and brush it off with a hand brush.
It may still set solid, as aphid poo is sweet and sticky due to very sugary diet.... that is why ants herd them and milk them. (A level biology is a wonderful thing!)
Hosing down is the way to go, and do it asap, before the sticky stuff encourages mould and mildew.
I have made contact with the people at Outwell about the sticky tent problem, their reply was to contact Scottish Mountain Repair Centre. Who said "wash the effected areas with Nikwax Tech Wash or Grangers Extreme Cleaner, both pure soap products available from specialist outdoor shops selling Goretex clothing".
I camped at C&CC Ravenglass a couple of years ago and the car and tent were covered in sticky sap. I had a h*ll of a job removing it from the car, so I decided to just let it harden on the tent rather than risk damaging it. I used the tent a few weeks later and it was fine.
I intend using that tent next weekend so I will find out if there are any long term effects.
went to the yorkshire dales for the weekend and it rained all day saturday, packed the tent away sunday and it must have washed all the sap away,not one bit of sticky stuff but still signs of the odd bird strike,,,,,no more camping under trees for me....
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Topic: sticky tent
