Hi all,
We spent a wet weekend trying out our Sunncamp Evo 600, that we had bought as our new quick getaway tent. We were delighted with the tent overall as it ticked all our boxes in respect of bedroom space, living space, SIG and time to put up.
However..
1. once erected , in the rain mind you.. there were some strange marks on most of the flysheet panels on the outside aound the bedroom area.. looked like snail marks - a continuous curly line up to about waist height all the way round the bedrooms except for the panel nearest one door on the big bedroom side. Strange we thought.. maybe the waterproofing was dribbled over that area. report on that later
2. then of we noticed 3 small leaks, 2 from toggles where the skylight curtain is tied back and one from where the manufacturers label was attached low on a seam. Niggling but not the end of the world. We could seal that.
3. We had a thick padded picnic rug down, a full 2m square to provide some warmth underfoot in the living area. This felt damp on the first night. No worries, it was probably rain getting in when we first pitched - so I mopped it up .. and dried out the rug in front of the fan heater .. with the door open.. then relaid it. mmmm more dampness - a lot of it .. within a hour .. but from where.. it was all along a sewn seam in the SIG .. sewn mind you .. not welded or taped.. just doubled and sewn. This was in the evening when the door was open - only possible because we used our Outwell side canopy ( this was THE success of the weekend !) which meant we could step out of the slopey door on one side without having rain coming in.
back to number 1 - when packing up we dropped the bedrooms .. to check for other leaks - all the panels from the height of the snail trail were sopping wet.. not condensation wet but soaked. The one panel where this wasn't evident was more or less dry .. a little inside condensation but not running with water.
back to number 3. - sigh - under the bedrooms was another sewn seam in the sig and guess what .. the picnic rugs I had put under there ..cloth side down were soaked along the seam.
So .. disappointed totally. We were happy with everything about the Evo 600, size wise , price wise etc etc but we do expect a tent to keep us dry.
So I will be on the phone tomorrow.. thing is what on earth can I replace it with .. another 600 would have been OK if it was just a faulty tent but we both feel that having just stitched seams in a SIG is asking for trouble.
We made the best of things and still enjoyed the weekend.. but any time we saved on pitching over our very dry SV8 was lost in mopping up .. and drying so many more things out once we got home.
For those of you with a dry Evo 600 - you lucky people .. maybe consider adding an Outwell side canopy.. it does sticks out one side but if you line it up with the opening side of the door it keeps the entrance dry and makes the whole tent open up with somewhere to sit and watch the rain..
So any suggestions for a replacement
2 bedrooms one 4 man and one 2 man
SIG with zip across bottom of doors ( the sort you have to step over ( to keep dog in at night).
some living space just for a table and chairs
easy / quick to erect
NO LEAKS
£150ish
Grateful for any replies.
------------- Christine
2014
April -
BunRoy Fort William 3 sleeps
April / May
Invercaimbe Arisaig 4 sleeps
Bleatarn Brampton tbc July
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