I need some advice about animal wee and removal causing loss of waterproofness of tent...
Story so far...
Bought new tent (Outwell Oregon twin (thanks for all the advice from you folks out there!!))last week and camped out in garden for two nights.
It was great - my 2 year old son slept through the night at one end of the vis a vis in one pod and we were at the other end in another. My partner (who needed lots of convincing after last few camping missions were cold and soggy and put him right off) said it was the most comfy camping experience ever! Success. No condensation. Tent held out in quite windy conditions. Super pleased with my choice!
However, comfy as I was on our new double mattress in double super warm sleeping bag - I had a terrible night's sleep as I was kept awake by a FOX prowling round the tent and scratching around!
We know it was a fox as we regularly see a fox in the garden at dawn/dusk (yes, OK maybe we were mad to even consider camping in the garden but I was so keen and really thought a fox would be scared off by the smell of humans and the sight of a bloody great strange object (tent)).
At one point I heard it do that blood curdling foxy bark/cough type noise and shortly after it brushed up so close to the tent that I FELT it against my arm - nothing but a fly sheet between us!!! I was very freaked out! I could hear it scratching around the tent and felt the guys tugging. I woke my partner several times -I screamed at one point when I became convinced it was trying to get in the tent! But he told me not to be silly and went back to sleep - eventually the noises ceased and I fell asleep too.
Now I did inspect the tent the next day and noticed a stain down one side that I thought could be a scent mark but it didn't actually seem to smell. I left it.
Next night, I thought that I had perhaps over reacted about the fox and we should go for it again and sleep in the tent and this time I would be brave and ignore any fox noises completely.
We actually had a good night's sleep - don't think Mr Fox came back that night.
Didn't inspect tent next day.
Two nights now passed and we have slept indoors but tent has still been up in garden.
Today came to take tent down and gave it proper inspection - can't believe I missed it before so maybe this has happened since THAT FOXY NIGHT...but where my son's head would have been, there are distinct scratch marks on the fly that can ONLY be have been made by an animal trying to get in!!
Also more wee marks all way round the tent. Partner discovered these and said some were still wet and definitely yellow (we've had no rain since tent has been up so we know any moisture on tent is caused by SOMETHING ELSE).
Also, one of the webbing straps has been gnawed through - almost completely - needs replacing.
All rather unnerving and bloody annoying as I was so chuffed with my lovely new tent.
I don't want it to stink!!!
Anyhow, stupidly, without reading care instructions, I gave my partner the go ahead to wipe off the wee patches and he used a solution of washing up liquid and detol.
It now seems that the fabric of the flysheet is not letting moisture run off but is soaking in. Have since read instructions to discover that fly fabric is coated with something special for waterproofing - I guess we have removed this!!
So...what can we do???
I'm reckoning best plan of action is to get waterproof spray - presume this exists?
But if any of you out there can give me any advice on how to make my tent good again, I'd be so grateful.
Also keen to hear if anyone else has had any similar foxy experiences and if anyone knows of how we can avoid fox attack in the future? I was hoping camping in the garden could be a regular occurrence but I'm not up for it again until I know our tent - and my boy!! - are safe....
Looking forward to hearing from you....
------------- Vitamin M
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Im afraid if you have used detergent ,its possibly a dead loss ,as any water proofing you try will not work due to detergent still being in the fabric
The only safe stuff to wash a tent with is water ,at a push you can use pure soap ( detergent free ) but then reproof after ...but detergent ? ...Sorry :(
I agree ,try your home insurance ?
Or maybe buy a tarp and erect it over that part of the tent to deflect the rain ?
I`ve had one fox incident that I know about. We somewhat foolishly left a rubbish bag outside the tent and the fox had a field day ripping it apart and removing the chicken bones...over about three other pitches. I`ve been fanatical about binning every scrap of rubbish last thing at night since. Also, making sure there`s no open food in the tent. I never allow food or any drink but plain water in the inners, and ll other foodstuff is kept in zipped up coolbags or the fridge/coolbox. (This is helpful for discouraging mice as well.)
As to your fox...well, any self respecting urban fox will come up to inspect a new object dumped slap bang in the middle of "his" patch, alas. And scent mark it, and have a taste...even try playing with it. Hence the gnawing and the urine marks. I do doubt though that the fox would try to get in while it could smell humans inside...they`re not daft, and give us a wide berth if not cornered. I would think that the scratches on the outside of the pod were more likely put there on a night the tent was unoccupied. And every time you cleaned his scent marks off, he`ll have replaced them.
My advice? Don`t leave it up there long term, but take it down if you`re not sleeping in it. The fox will persist until his curiosity is satisfied...and foxes are nosy. As to the waterproofing...I presume you`ve rinsed, rinsed and rinsed again? I`d give any patch that you`d put detergent on a good ten minutes with a hose, just to make sure. Then let it dry well and use some spray-on Fabsil from the camping shop. Unfortunately though it`s likely the tent fabric has been permenently damaged, though whether from urine or the detergent/dettol mix it`s difficult to say. I would stick to just hosing down any future scent marks with plain water. Hopefully this will leave enough residual odour (to the fox) that it won`t remark the tent.
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Not feasible to claim on household insurance - tent only cost £133 and we have excess of £100.
However, I'm not going to give up hope. Will repair strap and rinse the tent thoroughly with hose then spray liberally with with Fabsil.
Was hoping to have got this done before tonight and have tent down and repacked - but it's taken me all blinkin day just to get hold of some fabsil, remove and deflate/reapack mattresses, remove sleeping pods, clean off/pack their groundsheets, clean off/pack main groundsheet and cook/domestic duties for household. (Partner sat on fat bum all day...grrrr!)
It's pretty much dusk + I've still gotta go and pack up tent on my own - wish me luck!
Will be re-erecting tomorrow for soaking and fabsil-ing - will add to post when I know the outcome.
Thanks for the marking your own territory tip off. Have suggested it to Rich and he's game! Also in the process of potty training our toddler, so rather than tipping the wee in the compost bin, we can use that too!
As for the tent...
Well, I heeded the sensible advice: Put the tent back up, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed some more and bought some Fabsil - but the tent didn't dry in time for dusk that evening and I didn't want to risk any more markings on it. So, I took it down and went to bed, thinking I would re-erect and Fabsil the next day.
In the night I had an idea...and I am slightly ashamed of myself in announcing it here but I will be honest with you (even though I wasn't exactly honest with Blacks!)
I decided to try a complete long shot and next day I took the tent back to Blacks. As I walked in with it under my arm, the sales assistants clocked me and said 'Oh dear, this doesn't look good!' and I agreed. I went on to say how I had put the tent up in the garden to test it, spent two nights in it, came to take it down and noticed the webbing strap had ripped. All true - I just omitted the information about fox activity and the fact that it had been weed on and rinsed. Anyway, they took one look at the strap, said it was bad, didn't question how it might have happened and did me a straight swap for a new one!!!! What's more, I didn't even have my receipt (unusually for me I have completely mislaid it - normally keep everything safe!) - luckily they remembered me being in the shop buying the tent first time round.
So I am absolutely chuffed to bits and feel very very lucky, having learnt very valuable lessons about camping in my own back garden and tent care. I have also learnt that Blacks have absolutely fantastic customer service!
Yes, I do feel slightly guilty but I don't think it's crime of the century as I didn't lie, I just withheld some information - and I couldn't PROVE the tent was damaged by a fox - same as they couldn't prove it wasn't. Sorry if any of you think what I did was wrong but for me it's all worth it as I now have a fresh start with my lovely new tent!
Hope to post soon with some positive camping tales - only I don't think we'll go for it in the back garden again until our territory is well and truly established!
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Topic: Fox incident - advice please!!
