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"Waterproofing"

PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 8:27 am
by Fishy56
Hi, noob here. I have a 6 man tipi and went to a music fest in Sedan, KS this past weekend. It was wet and raining the whole weekend. I have the tipi with double liners. I guess I have to learn how to vent the tent and learned a little about venting reading other posts listed here. I put down a tarp over half the the floor of my tipi where I lay down my cot. Where I lay my cot stayed dry, but in the middle of the tipi I had large drops of water.
Would treating my tipi with waterproofing stuff help the condensation buildup? Or is that not a good idea? Thanks for all your input.
Oh and something else I noticed: where I have my stove pipe opening in my tipi, that panel did not have a tie out for a liner and watching a video about liners here it shows that there were tie outs in the tent. Something I can have put in at my local tailor's shop? Or should I send the tipi back to SO? Or not even worry about it? BTW, I LOVE MY SEEK OUTSIDE TIPI!!! Oh, and I've almost "killed" a lot of people when I camp out with this tent: everyone seems to trip over all my guy lines! I once had an adult (I'm a boy scout leader) who was in charge of our campsite in an air force base here; tripped on my guylines, fell FLAT ON HIS FACE! less than 1 foot away was one of my tent stakes.......I use reflective guy lines, trail markers; working up to getting solar powered garden lights to surround my tent. Don't know what else to do!

Re: "Waterproofing"

PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 9:30 am
by kevin_t
It is easy to add one of the liner loops, but would be totally happy to do it if you can send it back. I don't know how we missed that in QA, but i guess we did.

Personally, I don't use guy out lines around a lot of other people unless I have a reason. I usually only guy out for snow.

There are a few possible reasons for drops
- The liner loops can absorb moisture and release it causing this. Putting some seam sealer on that will fix it. If you are using a stove it is usually a non issue. I have only seen it happen in real high humidity.
- Condensation on the non liner protected area getting bounced off from rain or hail (usually takes big drops with a lot of force) . This is known as "misting" generally in single wall tents.
- Seam sealing at the top, although is usually not the issue, especially in tents where we have used XPAC in the apex (which has been done for several months)


Silicone waterproofing stuff is not bad, but shouldn't be needed. It is simple to apply, but make sure you can leave the tipi up for a while to air out. I doubt that was the issue though

Re: "Waterproofing"

PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:00 pm
by Fishy56
I don't normally use guy out lines but here in Kansas sometimes we have very strong winds and those guy lines sure help keep the tent up! Thanks for the info and thanks for the great product!!

Re: "Waterproofing"

PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 1:56 pm
by kevin_t
Understood on wind that's just the trade off


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