just seeking some advice from members with experience of the Yosemite Falls tent, or cotton tents in general.
We recently went through a bit of a storm at the LLeyn Peninsular, friends on Anglesey experienced the same storm and were told it was a force 8 gale.
Structurally, the tent handled it really well with little movement. Anyhow, the seams below the first two window panels on the left (looking out of the tent) and the roof seams in the same sections leaked very badly. This happened about 8hrs into the storm, as I say - with a force 8 driving wind and heavy rain. The seams had been gradually getting wetter before they failed. Is this to be expected? Could I have done anything to prevent it? Could I have done anything to cause it?
Thanks in advance.
------------- Never put the map before the territory.
May: Graefryn, Lleyn Peninsular
Jul: Newhaven, Buxton.
Dolbryn, Camarthenshire.
Aug: Angelsey
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Hi
Did you weather the tent before using it, ie has it had a good soaking before. Good cotton tents need to be soaked for the fibers to swell and tie together, once this has happened and the fibers are all closed up after the tent has dried you should be ok. Yes in terrible conditions and prolonged heavy rain you may still get a very small amount of water in but thats the nature of camping in terrible conditions.
A spray of Fabsil or Storm water proofing along the seams will help but may darken the fabric slightly.
Gary Cross
Thanks Gary, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Here are my thoughts on the issue of weathering; presumably, after weathering and once the fabric has dried, the fibres go back to their natural size. Weathering only seems useful if done sometime before a downpour. Or do you only need to weather at the beginning of a season, in which case our next outing with the tent should be fine. What do the experts think?
I did use Fabsil on the offending seams, front and back, and a touch of seam sealer so hopefully no more leaks.
Thanks again for your response. For me, it has been like tenting
university on this forum.
------------- Never put the map before the territory.
Weathering is just something that needs doing once when the tent is new. Saying that it depends if the tent just gets damp the first time then you may need to do it a few times. Some people try to do this with a hose pipe but really pitching the tent in the garden and letting get rain on and dried out once or twice is by far the best way. If you say "sorry, not enough room to pitch the tent in the garden" well in that case you are going to be in trouble as you need to get the tent dry asap if packed away wet and also a 100% cotton tent should be dried pitched to keep the shape of the fabric, poly cotton the same but not as important.
Gary Cross
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My canvas tent had never leaked until the new years night storm of 2012. I have to assume that this was because the power of the rain drops driven at very high wind speed, just overwhelmed the waterproofing. I may as well have been just using the frame, and no fabric. Anything that held water was filled to the top. I have never known anything like it before inside a tent. It sounds like your tent did rather well.
------------- Canvas tent, paraffin light, petrol stove. Heaven
I'd rather be kayaking.
Spent up, not pent up, just had my new tent up.
Here is a little tip for Yosemite owners (and other tent owners) if you are using the side doors and want to keep flying insects out of the living room, a third fill a CLEAR non coloured medium sized sealable sandwich bag with water and suspend from the canopy door near the entrance. Eh viola ! No flys. Magic! Feel free to repost on other threads.
------------- Never put the map before the territory.
Quote: Originally posted by raf48 on 05/6/2013
My canvas tent had never leaked until the new years night storm of 2012. I have to assume that this was because the power of the rain drops driven at very high wind speed, just overwhelmed the waterproofing. I may as well have been just using the frame, and no fabric. Anything that held water was filled to the top. I have never known anything like it before inside a tent. It sounds like your tent did rather well.
Thank you to all the responses. I think you are right. The Yosemite did really well, we hardly noticed the wind whilst outside other tents took a real battering. It was a great structural test for a heavy cotton tent which has given me great confidence on the tent .
------------- Never put the map before the territory.
May: Graefryn, Lleyn Peninsular
Jul: Newhaven, Buxton.
Dolbryn, Camarthenshire.
Aug: Angelsey
Don't forget to leave a review of all tents you've used, for a chance to win fantastic prizes
I'm now concerned over the inability to re pitch our flysheet, we have two ratchet straps in the garage roof which ours goes over if its wet. We used to have to use the bannisters. Hope we're not doing too much damage, haven't brought it home soaking yet.
Not had any leaking problems, sorry Simon
------------- 2013
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Topic: Yosemite Falls Issues and Advice
