We took our lovely new Bear Lake 4 to the Lake District this weekend. Pitched on Friday which was a lovely day. By Saturday lunch time it was raining. We went out walking for the day and arrived back at tea time to find that water was coming in at the point where the curtains are stitched into the window openings on all the windows. Went to bed that night and didnt get much sleep as it was quite a windy night. By the next morning the water had come in quite a bit more and was seeping up the curtains. Was dissapointed but tried not to let it spoil out day and went out walking. We knew there was a much bigger problem when we arrived back later that day to find the back pole had snapped, this allowed the outer fabric to touch the bedroom inner and everything in the bedroom was wet. Whilst I can accept that it was a very windy weekend, I was surprised we had this problem as we had the most sheltered pitch on the site, there was a wall directly behind us, which was the direction the wind was coming from and we had parked our car at the side to protect the side too. We are so careful when we pitch, I cant believe we could have done any more. There were at least a dozen other tents on the same site which although they were getting blown around seemed to have stood up to the weather much better than ours. We wondered if anyone else had had similar problems? We do like our tent, and spent ages choosing it, but dont know if we have much confidence in it any more. I have spoken to the shop where we purchased it, who have asked me to take it in to be tested. Please help.
------------- Freddy
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Unfortunately there are loads of comments on this site about leaking Outwells.
Secondly, I understand that the Bear Lake is made of canvas?
Years ago, it was the practice to 'Weather' the canvas fabric BEFORE you took it for a camping trip! This was done by erecting & pegging out the tent & then to give it a real soaking with a hose. You then let it dry out. Repeat if required! By this time the fabric will have shrunk & become water-proof! Early Denim trousers used to by shrunk to fit the wearer in much the same way!
Perhaps if you put the tent up at home & try this you should notice the leaks stopping! If not, then take it back!!!
But all the same, do remember that Outwells have a history of leaking!
We were told about weathering the canvas before using the tent for the first time by the staff at the time of purchasing the tent. We erected it in our garden and gave it a good hosing down with water, we then left it to dry naturally before packing it away. As we had followed all instructions to the letter, we are naturally quite miffed that all the windows leaked and the tent didnt seem to hold up to the weather as well as others on the site. I would of thought for the price the tent cost it would be pretty much perfect.
------------- Freddy
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Hi all
Cotton or poly cotton material dose not necessary have to be proved as you say. as soon as cotton canvas gets wet the fabric swells to stop water from penetrating through the canvas, If the water was coming in at the seam this is bad workmanship and the tent is defective, this as someone else mentioned is a fairly common fault with Out well tents, lots of windows lots of seams you only require one bad one to flood a tent with a ZIG,
The pole was probably faulty, had the peg pulled out,
The problem is outwell only class all their family tents as two season that means they are not built to stand up to severe weather conditions, that is what outwell are saying not me
But if it leaks take it back it should not.
Regards
Rex,
------------- "Be the person your dog thinks you are" (BM)
Hi Rex, thanks for coming back to us, the water was coming in at the point where the curtain material was stitched to the windows at the bottom of each window, and as there are two on each side of the tent, two on the front and one in the door, thats a lot of windows. No pegs had pulled out at all, they were all still secure and hadnt budged. I didnt realise that all Outwell tents were only two season, we specifically chose it because we thought it would be a well made sturdy tent. In the cataloge it is described as saying that the alloy pole system creates a very stable tent and ensures a trouble free camping trip. We didnt expect to have to come home early because the tent was broken and leaking. I am really dissapointed though, our old Coleman Sahara was a much better tent, it creaked in the wind a bit, and a few of the steel poles had bent a bit but it has never let us down. If we are offered a replacement I dont think I would want it, I,d sooner have a refund because I wouldnt be able to go on holiday and not worry if the tent was going to let us down again.
I wonder what returns policy applies to tents, I would consider that the broken pole, the leaking issue and also 2 teeth missing from the ZIG would give good cause to return the tent. The only problem now is we dont have any confidence in this model and would probably prefer a refund, rather than a repair or replacement. Does anyone know the rules for returns. The tent was only bought on April 4th and has only been pitched for 3 nights in total.
Help
------------- Freddy
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Topic: Grisley Bear
