View Full Version : Need advice on seam sealing
I am going car camping this weekend which I dont usually do. So I bought a big cheap ozark tent. So the problem is that the needle they used to sew the seems was to large and you can see pinholes of light coming through the seems. I am afraid that if we get any rain its going to leak through. I was wondering what the best way to fix this problem is in your opinion?
Shutterbug
07-16-2009, 11:34
I am going car camping this weekend which I dont usually do. So I bought a big cheap ozark tent. So the problem is that the needle they used to sew the seems was to large and you can see pinholes of light coming through the seems. I am afraid that if we get any rain its going to leak though. I was wondering what the best way to fix this problem is in your opinion?
You can buy a tube of seam sealer at the same place you bought the tent. It comes in a bottle with a roller head and is applied from inside the tent. You will probably want to use two coats. I used the WalMart sealer on a tent I have used for six years. It worked just fine.
good and what about the floor of the tent? What can I do to water proof it.
If it were me I would not sweat the floor I would use a painters plastic drop sheet on the inside.
yup just grabebd one at campmor and i got seamsealer for the seams
Tipi Walter
07-16-2009, 12:30
If it were me I would not sweat the floor I would use a painters plastic drop sheet on the inside.
Don't bother trying to seam seal a butt-cheap tent like Ozark Trail, just cover it with a tarp and forget about it. I had two Ozark Fail tents, one a fiberglass poled dome($28) taken to South Dakota for a 14 day trip and had a pole break in a high wind. I wrapped duct tape all around the bottom seam and seam sealed the pole seams and it still leaked.
The other tent was a 9x12 cabin tent with 3 large arching poles and it leaked terribly right out of the box. Here's where a drop sheet inside the tent comes in handy. I finally made a shock corded tarp to hang over the entire tent and I stayed mostly dry, although the bottom outside floor seams always leaked.
Shutterbug
07-17-2009, 00:07
I am going car camping this weekend which I dont usually do. So I bought a big cheap ozark tent. So the problem is that the needle they used to sew the seems was to large and you can see pinholes of light coming through the seems. I am afraid that if we get any rain its going to leak through. I was wondering what the best way to fix this problem is in your opinion?
Make a footprint out of tyvek that is slightly larger than your tent. Pick a site with a slight slope, so that water won't pond around the tent. Place the footprint on the ground first and the tent over it. You shouldn't have to do anything else to waterproof the bottom.
Wise Old Owl
08-09-2009, 15:18
I have been testing a couple of well made tarps the last couple of weeks, and as I discovered this morning after a severe downpour that even a well made tent or tarp needs to be seam sealed at the apex or top. I found eight to ten ounces of water inside the hammock! The water could not get in from the ropes as I had a air mat inside it and the bottom was dry. If the water had come in by the ropes the bottom would have been wet. The tarp was dry underneath, the water had come in via the seam. What's interesting was the tarps will hold up in most rain storms - just not this one! had I used a down bag in the wild I would have been in trouble.
Make a footprint out of tyvek that is slightly larger than your tent. Pick a site with a slight slope, so that water won't pond around the tent. Place the footprint on the ground first and the tent over it. You shouldn't have to do anything else to waterproof the bottom.
Did you mean make the footprint slightly smaller than the tent bottom? Otherwide rain will run off the tent onto your footprint and then will run under the tent and collect between your ground cloth and the tent floor. I don't think that is ideal.
I've always though it best to have a footprint/ground cloth that is slightly smaller than the tent. My 2 cents.
Snowleopard
08-10-2009, 17:44
You're going car camping, so weight is not an issue.
Seam seal it, including the floor.
Use a plastic sheet or tyvek slightly SMALLER than the tent; put it underneath the tent.
Bring a plastic sheet, plastic painter's dropcloth or blue poly tarp big enough to cover the tent as a tarp. If it rains use this to cover the tent.
Set the tent up in your yard a couple of times to be sure you can do it.
Put a hose or sprinkler on it to simulate rain.