I have just bought a tent with a 2000mm hh rating. I have been away for the weekend in it, and after some rather heavy, driving rain it leaked at the seams, not flooding in but enough to make a t shirt wet (it's all i had to hand to mop up!!) t was definately dripping from the points you hang the bedroom pod - and this was after we had been out all day so shouldn't be condensation
The next day the whole inner of the tent was wet to the touch, so much that when I banged the tent it rained inside!! I accept this may have been condensation, but thought this should be minimal due to the design i.e mostly SIG but there are gaps in the seal at the foot of each door.
Should the tent be doing this? With that HH rating should it be fully waterproof, or at least more than it has displayed so far?
I am unsure whether I should accept this or send it back as leaking.
After a blustery morning with the doors open it is fully dry now.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this??
BTW it's a vango idaho
Thanks
Nick
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It`s almost never the fabric that leaks, so the HH of a tent becomes almost irrelevant after a certain point. 2000HH is more than adequate in the UK.
Nope, tents leak through the little rows of holes called seams. (Or zips...rows of even bigger holes.) Hang a toggle loop from a seam and it stretches the seam...minute holes open and it leaks. The solution here is a very light application of seam sealant on the end of a thin paintbrush.
Condensation? If you don`t ventilate a tent adequately you can get condensation literally pouring down the inside, especially in damp weather. If you cook, boil kettles, take wet jackets inside or have a large soggy dog the condensation will be even worse. This will also often collect and drip off toggle points and seam ends.
The solution is more ventilation. A few slits at the bottom of the doors aren`t nearly enough to ventilate most tents., especially with warm breathing bodies inside.
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Topic: is my tent waterproof?
