I've joined the forum today. I have been a camper for years and last year because of our growing family we decided to invest in a bigger tent that we could stand in.
We visited Shell Island at the weekend and in the early hours of Monday morning 40 to 50 mph snapped the fiberglass poles in our porch and one of the bedrooms. Unfortunately the door blew open and ripped a hole big enough for an adults head to fit through. It also tore the mesh door and bust the zip.
My dilemma is this, can this tent be repaired? Is it worth it or should I cut my loses and buy a new one. This was only the 2nd camping trip with the tent and my little girl was scared but I managed to get her to sleep through most of it.
The tent is a Vango Colorado 600 DLX (our 2nd as the 1st was faulty)
If we decide to buy a new one which style/make are the best when it comes to standing up to the British Elements. I really want to feel safe with my little girl in the tent
I really appreciate any help you guys can give me x
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By the sounds of things, I would say that the damage to the flysheet/door is unlikely to be repairable, You could have a "kill or cure" go at it, it's worth a shot but it could be costly to get it repaired by a proffesional
If you want the best of both worlds, there are a lot of polyester and polycotton tents coming through now with steel poles which are much more stable in windy conditions (if you don't like the idea of the frame tent route that is, which, as Brian also suggested, a lot of folk on here would heartily recommend- including me)
Horses for courses but a decent frame, coupled with correct pitching methods will see you through, don't let this one incident put you off..
To repair the rip you could use insignia cloth (or spinnaker tape which is the same stuff cut into strips) which is a nylon taffeta adhesive backed fabric that is often used to put the numbers on sails. I have just repaired a storm ripped tent where the rip was along one entire side of the doorway and the repair seems (as I had read that it would be on some camping websites) stronger than the original fabric. It's a similar idea to Tenacious tape (I believe as we can't buy that here in NZ), but comes in a variety of colours and has an added advantage that it's sold from a 54" roll, so half a metre gives you an immense amount of repair material. Unfortuntely as it's winter here I can't show pictures until I can pitch it in the spring, but I was very impressed with the stuff.
------------- Alan in New Zealand
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Topic: Can it be repaired or not
