Hubba Hubba + Rit Black Dye = ^_^

[anarky321]

i got sick of my Hubba Hubba being so bright orange so i got a bottle of Rit Black Dye from walmart and dyed the whole tent in a bucket

the fly is now dark brown on the outside and DARK DARK brown on the inside, same as the stuffsack; the inside layer seems to dye much easier
the tent body is dark red
the footprint is brown

the footprint and the tent body were harder to dye, im attributing that to the fact that its covered with waterproofing, at least the tent body is, not sure about the footprint

ill post pics tomorrow when its sunny; night pics with flash dont really give the correct coloring

the dying itself is very simple; you just take a huge bucket and some hot water and boil up some water in a pot on the stove and mix them together to get very hot water, then pour in the entire bottle and put the pieces in one by one; i tried the stuffsack first and it turned out fantastic; like i said the inside of both the stuffsack and the fly are MUCH darker than the outside; i put each piece in for about 30 min; first the stuffsack in a small container, then the fly in a big bucket, then the tent body, then the footprint, then an old sweater just for kicks; all of it done outside on the grass, dont try this inside your home lol it makes a mess; im guessing the tent body and the footprint might have dyed worse also because the water was cold by that point

anyway the whole point of doing it was so the tent doesnt stand out so much when you pitch it; MSR really needs to offer these in brown and dark green; i understand the original coloring is because they were designed to be easily seen in the snow, but for the forest bright orange and bright yellow are horrible colors imo; also its really hard to sleep in it during the day because the orange color makes it really bright inside =D

[FamilyGuy]

Darker colors retain heat more so you may have just increased the 'roast' factor. Look forward to seeing the pics...

[summermike]

I'm surprised it took.

[anarky321]

ok here are the pics as promised; disclaimer: the colors appear brighter in the pics than they really are unfortunately, so you don't see the full effect of the dye; its quite darker in person

http://img41.imageshack.us/i/85763857.jpg/
http://img41.imageshack.us/i/49266604.jpg/
http://img266.imageshack.us/i/81922634.jpg/
http://img20.imageshack.us/i/46273589.jpg/
http://img190.imageshack.us/i/51519277.jpg/

note the difference between the outside and inside of the fly; in 2 of the pics the fly is put on inside-out just to show how much darker it is

the red tent body is darker but it did not really dye that much

[anarky321]

here are embedded links

[anarky321]

ok here's some shots for the stealth campers out there; i looked out my window and couldn't spot it from 40 ft away for at least 5 seconds; 20 of those 40 feet are grass, it was only 20 feet inside the treeline and i knew exactly where to look too, for a second i thought someone stole it while i was posting on whiteblaze >.<

[anarky321]

that 2nd picture was taken from inside my living room, its about 50 feet from the camera to the tent and only 20ft of trees, 30ft are grass; i still can barely see it on the shot, its exactly in the center of the picture, right behind the straight tree that's right between the 2 V-shaped trees in the center

[LaurieAnn]

I'm very surprised you dyed nylon. It usually won't take especially something like a fly with a coating. It will be interesting to see if the dye leaches onto other things after the tent is exposed to moisture/rain and if the dye chemicals have affected the waterproofness of the fly. You might very well have ruined the tent.

[Survivor Dave]

I'm very surprised you dyed nylon. It usually won't take especially something like a fly with a coating. It will be interesting to see if the dye leaches onto other things after the tent is exposed to moisture/rain and if the dye chemicals have affected the waterproofness of the fly. You might very well have ruined the tent.

Good point. The only way to validate this is to put it out in the rain and see what happens. So much for the warranty......

[wannahike]

Rit will dye nylon, it won't dye polyester. As long as it was rinsed and rinsed really well it should do fine in the rain.
Anarky321 I hope you'll post a follow up after using.

[mudcap]

Looks good,keep us posted.

[sheepdog]

I think that is a great idea. Can you give us a report on whether the waterproofing has been affected or the die leaches onto other things when wet?

[Philip]

When I shopped for my most recent tent purchase in anticipation of my thru-hike in 2010, I saw several designs I liked better than what I ended up with, but was ultimately forced to accept something other than my first choice based purely on design characteristics because I insisted the tent be a color suitable for stealth camping. I now wish I had thought of your idea.

As I intend to tent-camp rain or shine largely relying on stealth sites, I wanted a tent that was extra roomy and also came equipped with a large vestibule so as to afford a basic level of comfort and function in times of inclement weather. What I came up with is a marvel of simplicity in that it only uses two poles and can be quickly pitched in about 60 seconds right along with the fly all in one step. It satisfies all of my wants and I feel like I got what I was looking for, but at just shy of five pounds, I think I could have done much better except for the color factor preventing further consideration of several lighter models I would have otherwise chosen.

At any rate, if my other weight-saving efforts do not get me where I want my pack weight to be, I can now consider a larger pool of tent candidates by dying them a more appropriate color. Thanks!

[anarky321]

ok people are curious for a follow-up, so like i said all of the tent pieces were EXTENSIVELY rinsed in warm water before being dried; the tent has been up for over 12 hours now and in that time it has drizzled several times; no heavy rain to report on yet, but from what i can tell the waterproof layer was not compromised at all by the dye, nor would i expect it to since Rit does not contain any type of solvent strong enough to remove urethane coating from nylon, but then again im not very knowledgeable in this area

i will most certainly have this thing out during heavy rain as soon as the heavy rain comes by; it's set up in the forest about 50ft away from my house and i will be inside the tent to monitor it's waterproofing abilities post-dye

i was in the same predicament as Philip, being forced to choose a lesser tent just because it was a more stealthy color which i realized was a mistake as soon as i set it up and saw that it was inferior to the HH in every way except for color

like i said every piece was washed and squeezed in the sink for at least 10min after dyeing so there shouldnt be any ink runoff during rain

[Philip]

I think you did an outstanding job by the way. It really blends into the terrain well. As far as the possible concession that it may be too dark inside now, I would redirect by saying that I hypothesize that it also greatly reduces exterior light transmission through the fly as well, which in stealth mode is a case where the benefits do outweigh the detractors.

Here's the tent I ended up with that met my color criteria and technical attributes (but is a tad heavier than I would have liked):

Exped Aries Mesh II
http://www.rei.com/product/763840

[anarky321]

one thing i would like to note is that the stuffsack dyed MUCH darker than the fly - its as dark on the outside as the fly is on the inside and the inside is so dark its almost black in color; considering that they are made from the same exact material i would attribute this to the fact that i used much less dye per gallon on the fly, also the water was hotter for the stuffsack, hotness of the water and amount of dye are the 2 main characteristics that define how well black dye will take; i'm considering getting 2 more bottles and doing it again to dye it a darker shade, just for the fly; the main problem for me is getting that much hot water to the boiling point at the same time

[Wilson]

I would be more concerned about the boiling water than the dye damaging the tent.....Looks good, I don't care for bright colored tents either.

[anarky321]

you want something far below boiling, so you boil it and mix it with hot tap water right in the bucket, that seems to create the best temperature, then add the dye, then just toss in the fly and stir

i used colder water for the fly than i did for the stuffsack because i was afraid to ruin the waterproofing, but i tested the stuffsack afterwards and its still waterproof

[gdw]

Nice job. Keep us informed as to whether it runs or fades. I might try their dark green dye on an old fly and see what shade results. Brown is a good stealth color but not the best choice for use during hunting season.

[sheepdog]

Good report