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You don't need to rewaterproof  most synthetic tents unless there's something very wrong with it.. The waterproofing of a synthetic tent is provided by several layers of hi-tec fabric bonded together. If the tent is old (five or six years of constant use), or if you've cleaned it with some sort of unsuitable home remedy and damaged the waterproofing then you can salvage another year or so of use by using Fabsil but really, leisure rated synthetic tents don't need this. The honerable exceptions are very hi tech mountain rated tents that need specific treatments to withstand extreme weather conditions.

You can't replace the tape on seam sealed and tape boonded tents without damaging the tent fabric.

Where did it leak? If it was through the seams then you need to use liquid seam sealant on the seams only. Erect the tent then paint the sealant onto the seams using a childs paintbrush, working it well into any known leaky bits or gappy stitches. Allow to dry for at least 24 hours otherwise the tent will stick to itself when you fold it up.

Quote: Originally posted by Gemma-lu on 07/8/2009

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I didn't know this Val, we have been waterproofing ours at the beginning of every season for years - OH likes to be on the safe-side after we bought a tent that said it was waterproof and what it actually meant was shower-proof (never been so soggy in all my life!). Maybe i could save myself the hassle? Just always assumed it needed to be done.

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I think there's a lot of historical confusion about waterproofing left over from the days when all tents were cotton canvas, tbh. But even cotton canvas tents don't need to be waterproofed unless they're very old and thin, or been damaged, or were crap canvas to start with! Modern synthetic leisure tents (decent quality ones anyway...lets leave out the cheapo basic ones here) are designed to be water resistant for their entire lifespan. The degree of water resistance depends on two things...the HH of the fabric (1500 being the benchmark min for the UK) and the quality of the seam construction, as most leaks will come through the seams.

You can't make a tent 100% waterproof unless it's made of 100% waterproof fabric ie plastic btw and even then it would leak through the seams.

Sounds like your first tent was made from less than quality fabric! But any synthetic tent from a good manufacturer should not need waterproofing unless it's actually defective. As a tent ages the UV degradation will eventually result in delamination of the fabric and in this case waterproofing it will probably give you a last season out of it...but the fabric goes brittle and splits in the end, so it's probably more cost effective to just buy a new tent at this stage.

But if you've been waterproofing your new Outwell or Vango or Coleman or Kyham every year since you bought it...you've been wasting a lot of time and money for no reason, sorry!

Thankfully we have not actually waterproofed any of these as we bought them all this year but we did proof our Royal every year after seeing something on here (didn't work - material went brittle and split after many years of hammer!). And the first tent we had probably was a pile of poo to be honest - it was a cheapo while we decided if camping was for us. Definitely won't bother with the new ones now. Thanks for the advice!

Quote: Originally posted by toptent on 07/8/2009

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So, I recommend seam sealer as a cheap, quick option!

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Yes, definately. Your tent is FAR more likely to leak through the seams than through the fabric.