Hi all,
We have recently purchased a pathfinder which is great but if it gets wet there seems to be a lot of shrinkage in the corners of the pods and the door which can result in not being able to zip it up. Does anyone else have this problem or any tips to stop it.
Thanks in advance
matthew
Hi Torquay. I take it yours is a canvas unit rather than the more modern acrylic based fabrics. We used to have a shrinkage problem on our Fiesta is very wet conditions. All we could do was slacken appropriate poles and tighten them again when it dried. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
------------- Alan
2016
February C&CC Theobalds Park
March C&CC Salisbury
May C&CC Adgestone IOW
July Le Clos Auroy, Auvergne France
August C&CC Polstead
August C&CC Oxford
October C&CC Lauder
Hi Alan.yea its canvas. that's exactly what we did in the end with lowering the poles. Hopefully we wont get anymore rain when we go away... wishful thinking.
We have had problems zipping up the door fully on our Sterling when it has been really wet. It was just the last inch or two that wouldnt fasten so not the end of the world.
It's normal for canvas to shrink when it's wet and then as it starts to dry it loosens. But as it loosens it needs to be tensioned to retain it otherwise you can't zip the door up. Eg if the rain stops and you unzip the unit and leave it open you probably won't be able to fully zip it back up again when it dries.
In the past with large frame tents and I presume canvas TT's and FC's the advice was to lower the poles by a notch when it was raining, then when rain stops and canvas starts to dry you retension.
Our canvas was on the lowest notch when we first had it and the door wouldn't shut properly at the bottom (used to stuff a tea towel in it at night) we were worried about it. No rain whilst we were away so on returning we used a hose with a spray and thoroughly wetted the unit. As it dried I kept periodically tensioning it by raising all the poles a notch, I got to the 3-4 notches, this proved to us that it wasn't a fault with the unit.
The only thing with the Countryman is that the back of the unit at the sides of the kitchen area is not tensioned with poles but tucked under with shock cords and Velcro, it's nigh on impossible to stretch these enough.
We always thought that the first time a canvas unit got wet it shrank a lot and that as long as you did the above it would only do it a little afterwards when wet, but ours seems to do it every time! We don't worry about it now, we just take it as it comes.
No leaks here with the new canvas Mr T. 4 days continuous rain in Germany, several heavy Thunder storms. Either we are lucky with ours, or the unlucky ones are more likely to say something.
------------- Alan
2016
February C&CC Theobalds Park
March C&CC Salisbury
May C&CC Adgestone IOW
July Le Clos Auroy, Auvergne France
August C&CC Polstead
August C&CC Oxford
October C&CC Lauder
Hi there, we had the same shrinkage problem with our pathfinder but this year I took off all the poles and drilled an extra hole. This has solved the problem for us and let's us set up in the rain without tension problems. Q.E.D!