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HI,

Welcome to ukcampsite

I would have thought it was condensation. Was it coming through just on the seams or just wet through out the walls and ceiling of the tent? We were away during a lot of rain a few week ago, and with all the windows and doors closed on the tent the condensation soon build up.

It could be either or both.  Normally a leak will cause a puddle in one or two (sometimes several) places.  Our last 2 tents leaked along several seams where they hadn't been sealed properly. 

Condensation tends to form as big fat droplets all over the inside surface of the flysheet which then drop onto the inner.  Even if it's raining you should keep the vents (if they have some kind of rain protection/cover) open to allow moisture to escape (not easy if it's 100% humidity outside!)  When you get up in the morning, if you run your hand along the underside of the flysheet and it feels wet then it's condensation.  Cooking in the tent makes the condensation worse - but it's when it's raining cats and dogs that you want to cook inside! Catch 22.

Good luck with your next trip - fingers crossed for dry weather for you.

Our new tent had it's first outing last week.

On waking up the first morning the inside roof near our sleeping pod had just he same. We imagined it to just be condensation and thought nothing of it. We never had it again the whole holiday even though it did bucket it down once and light most of day rain another day.

I'm sure I've read other threads that say new tents have to get wet to make them waterproof - ie it's recommended that you pitch it and give it a good soaking before using it the first time then it's OK.

Def sounds like condensation to me.  What i discovered for the first time this last week was condensation under the silver backed thermal picnic rugs we used as tent carpet.  It was deffinitely condensation as it only appeared where the rugs had been lying.  I panicked at first thinking we had a leak from underneath!  But I guess it was the warmth of the rugs against the cold of the floor.

Clare

We have just come back from our first ever camping trip (we bought a Vango Orchy 400) and we had the same thing. It rained constantly and we found droplets of water everywhere on the inside of the tent. If you touch them you get wet and we thought our tent wasn't waterproof. But when I read the tent instructions (once we were back doh!), it said that you will get this and it's condensation and that you shouldn't touch it. I assume that you just have to try and keep the tent as airy as possible although this is hard in the rain!

Hope you have better weather on your next trip, we too can't wait for our next trip. Addicted to camping already despite the weather, but it seems to make it all more of an adventure!

Hi we have just returned from camping and found our tent did have lots of condensation so we dried it out by airing it in the dry spells between showers!!!!

However one day we returned to find huge droplets on the roof of the inner tent( bedroom area) This had not happened before and it had rained again so we were worried that is was indeed leaking!

We took it back today to the shop and they refused to have it as it was put away damp!(health and safety apparently) Also they would send it back to the manufacturers to be tested. So now we have to erect said tent and dry it out and return it to the shop(again)....bleeping health and safety  LOL! Is that incase they slip on the wet floor whilst attempting to throw buckets of water over the outside---just joking by the way.............

Oooerrrrr missus the joys of life under canvas

TWEETS X

Last week's combination of cold rain and warm air has caused a greater condensation problem than usual. We noticed a problem, with the fly sheet becoming wet inside, but solved it by keeping as much ventilation as possible through the tent.

The side porch on the Monty came in handy as we could keep the outer door open, with just the fly screen closed on the inner door. This allowed the tent to breath without allowing rain in.

It was unusual to have such long periods or rain (12hrs+) without a session of sun to dry things up a little. I think this is reflected in the number of messages regarding condensation.

Regards

Steve & Sheila

Hi Steve

How old is your canvas tent?  If its new the canvas needs to get wet so that the fibers swell and then this stops the water coming through, but if its a few years old then it probably needs re-proofing, you can get a spray to do this, or if its only small areas usually along seams or the sewn in loops you can get a small tube of reproofing stuff.

Hope this helps.