Hi all new member here, have reviewed my other tent but wanted to share this little old Polish cotton frame tent with you:
It's a Polnam - the label says "Czestachowa Garibaldiego 3" but when you google this it turns out to be an address area of the town of Czestachowa. There's another label underneath with an icon of the number "1" inside a rounded off triangle.
My brother just bought it on ebay on a whim, that we can fix and use it. He's left it with me to pitch, assess and decide what to do with it.
It's heavy cotton rather than bell tent type canvas. Feels a little heavier than Outwell "lakes" polycotton but being probably, 25 years older or more, I can't see it being poly anything
It's in very good overall condition, with a tiny little hole, low down on the sidewall and a hole in the front corner.
The roof's faded and has a small repair, the mesh window plastic covers are cracked and there's no system to cover them to keep the light out.
It's very sturdy but has unusual adjustable thick aluminium poles and in theory can be adjusted for width and height, although the canvas seems shaped to the smallest settings and I didn't want to tear it by forcing it.
Here's a few more pics:
Overview:
Inner pitched:
So having searched around UKCS and read a lot of posts about cotton/canvas/polycotton/frame tents/old tents etc I have so far done the following things:
1. Soaked it with the hose and allowed to dry:
It beads water in places (high up on the sides) and goes dark in other places (low down on the sides and on the front door.
Guessing the beading indicates it's been treated or reproofed? but the darkening indicates wetting through and proofing reduced due to being touched a lot in use?
As you see in the pics we have no grass so had to weight it down rather than stake it when it was wet I moved the weights in to try and pull and stretch it down a little bit.
2. Wet it again the next day and went inside, no leaks! yay! But the big roof panels bowl up and hold a lot of water, it doesnt come through but to clear it I had to push up from inside and obviously it leaked all down my arm as I was pushing these ponds off the roof.
I guess the frame is not right? roof not tight enough? Apex not high enough? leg angles wrong? (splayed slightly to follow the seams) or is it just not tight enough without the stakes?
SO what now.
I like this as a test bed project, we can always use it as a dayroom or awning or chuck our pop ups in it, if it turns out it's not campable but I really like it's retro eastern block anticool vibe and so does my bruv and for £17.50 each into it we could even use it as a pattern to remake it in new materials or test out proofing products on it it.
Hope you like it any advice or info really very welcome. this is a great site and I hope to chat to lots of you in the future.
Best regards,
Davey
------------- Life is just a ride - Bill Hicks
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The pooling on the roof should disappear when its pitched flat, my athena is not pegged out and it had some sagging on the roof today. Its meant to be drying. but its got watering pooling in the roof!!
It may not have been reproofed,it may be its own waterproofness. Did it still go dark after the second soaking? I have a cabanon that seems to absorb all the rain, but it hasn`t leaked, having said that I`m considering reproofing it as I`ve lost confidence in it.
No suggestions for the cracked windows though
You really need to get it pitched and pegged out to assess it properly. You won`t have any trouble finding it on a campsite
Great info, I thought the fact that the 2" long foot spikes being on the tiles rather than down in the grass, hence jacking it up was probably an issue, the fact that it's not stakes through the rubbers will just add to the problems , as you suggest.
Am very tempted to reproof anyway, have wanted to test out Nikwax Cotton Proof as have had good results with their Tech Wash in the past so might give it a go.
I've added some more pics to my Flickr Stream theres some detail of the dark spots and the funky rear wall that seems too high (probably related to the not being staked down issue).
I've set my flickr stream as my homepage in my profile:
You are right about finding her on a campsite LOL a bit vivid? Reminds me of the Gulf Porsche LeMans cars of the 70's in fact that acid Orange colour was everywhere in the 70's, love it!
Looks good, if it didnt leak the second time, apart from the pooling on the roof , which will be okay when pegged down properly ,its probably been re- waterproofed after the first soaking . the fibres shrink when very dry and not used for a long time. The soaking swels the threads again and re waterproofs it.
Is there just the one inner tent with it ? You could get an awning inner £12.50 here to make it into a 4 berth .
------------- Debbie
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Thanks for the inner tent info - that looks very handy, nice price too!
Yes there is only one inner with the tent, its a proper cotton one with same material as the mudflaps for the ground sheet, two mesh vents but no mesh door.
I think it could turn out to be quite a versatile little thing.
I love it, it's a real head turner. You'll probably find you've got no more pooling of water once it's pegged taut. Have fun with it whatever you decide to do.
There's a tent repair company in Farnworth(can't remember there name) that put in replacement windows that have oll up plastic and mesh underneath...very reasonable.
------------- Jackie and John
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
Quote: Originally posted by murdo on 03/8/2010
There's a tent repair company in Farnworth(can't remember there name) that put in replacement windows that have oll up plastic and mesh underneath...very reasonable.
Tent Valeting Services - TVS. Very helpful guys there!
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Vintage Polish frame tent - with pics
