We bought a gelert pop up tent for our teens to use. They slept in it for a week and it was wringing wet every morning. I assumed it was condensation and we advised them to stop breathing so much lol. We emptied the bedding out every day to dry it and to dry the tent out. On the nights it rained it actually dripped down on them all night and soaked the bedding. The bottom of the pop up is very thin material and the wet/ dew/ damp comes straight through.
One day it rained alot during the day and the tent never dried out inside - the material just seemed sodden right through. The girls slept in our big tent that night. It was still wringing wet inside the next morning despite no one sleeping in it and breathing all over it and it didn't rain over night.
Any ideas? Should we just take it back or can we stop the wet.
It's a single skin tent, so it will get a lot of condensation, but worth a try in taking it back to the retailer & complaining. If they're feeling really generous, they may offer you an exchange - if so, go for an Outwell or Vango pop-up which are double skinned.
Whatever pop-up you end up with, it would be a good idea to buy a cheap tarp & make a footprint groundsheet to go under the whole tent. This will help to insulate the floor, keep it dryer, and you won't be folding up a damp sewn-in groundsheet with the fabric of the tent.
We have an Outwell Jersey M pop-up, which is double-skinned, we use a cheapo tarp under it to protect the SIG from the mud etc. It has stood up to some serious wind and rain, and we've never had any issues with damp or leaks or anything.
I have heard others on campsites complaining that the single-skinned Gelert was wet, so maybe this isn't an isolated incident.
We bought the gelert and after putting it up in the garden took it straight back - single skin and the floor was not groundsheet, it was the same material as the flysheet - how can people sell tents with bases like that?? It just had so many bad reviews.
Got the Vango Dart now which is double skinned with plenty of vents.
Hi bartown22 (Wendy), we too have a Quechua pop up. Its a 2 second xl and like you find the double skin plus the venting system ideal. We have just spent the past month using the tent for 3 night stop-overs while touring (mostly in the rain !) and it has been 1st class.
We spent a week in ours, myself and 3 children it was fab - tiny bit of condensation in the morning but we were all kept really dry, and we had a couple of thunderstorms aswell.
We bought a single skin (can't remember the name)(think it's a hi-gear though) pop up for my daughter as she came with us on our last camping trip, but she wanted her own sleeping space. We told her we weren't sure how it would stand up to rain but as we had a Diablo 600 if it leaked she had another option of somewhere to sleep. It didn't rain luckily but she had no problems with condensation either.