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I would say that condensation was the major part of the problem, if not all of it. Wet dogs, lots of humans and dogs breathing out damp air, wet clothes (?), gas heater etc. How was your ventilation? It's essential to ventilate a tent properly at night even if it does mean drafts, and to air it out completely at least once a day.

If you've got condensation it will run down the inside of the flysheet and drip off low points, like toggle loops. Also if you've got things touching the flysheet (bedding, boxes, chairs) the condensation will run onto and into them too.The inside of a tent can end up wetter from condensation than you'd ever belive, including large puddles on the groundsheet. This is made worse when it's raining outside as the flysheet will be colder (thus more condensation) and the air will be saturated anyway (thus water won't evaporate well.)

So...more ventilation. No wet things brought into tent. Limited use of gas heater. Air out tent (and bedding ) really well every day. Nothing touching the sides. If toggle points start dripping, tie some strips of J-cloth round them and wring out regularly.

Now as to your tent possibly leaking? well who knows but it will be the proverbial drop in the bucket compared to the condensation problem I expect. Yes it's silly to use wipes and home cleaners on tent canvas but it's synthetic canvas so you may well have got away with it. Does the flysheet fabric look any different when you look through it from the inside? Milky or crackly when dry means delamination, dark patches in the rain means possible leakage.

If the manual says to seal the seams then you should do so. 99% of the time it's just a precaution though.

I went and looked at the design of your tent thinking "Only two end vents? Surely not." but yes, you're right. That's pitifully inadequate for a tent that size. How are you supposed to get any airflow through that? Bad design...

However, what about a side canopy? We've got one for our two Vango tunnel tents (Vango Oregon 600 & 800) and it means we can keep the doorway open in even heavy rain as it  shelters the top of the doorway. You can get them with closed in fronts which would mean that you could leave your tent door part unzipped at night to allow airflow (cold air in at bottom of door, warm air out upper vents) because these side canopies don't have ground sheets and air can get in under the bottom edges. I think this would help quite a lot tbh. And it's somewhere to leave the wet coats.

my reply was originaly more detailed, but when I managed to delete it for the third time, I gave up and gave my shorter version. I hate being a ludite. Your lucky there's more computer literate people out there,

Especialy, those like Val who can compute and camp well.

Quote: Originally posted by JimCall on 11/7/2011

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I wouldnt be too keen to give up on your tent just yet. Vals advice about condensation will definately help. To check the tent for waterproofness for your own piece of mind I would suggest that you pitch the tent in your back garden, pick the family member you most want to get back at ( ) and give the thing a damned good hosing down for 10 mins or so. This should hopefully result in determining where, if any, the leaking points are. If it is leaking, then there are plenty good sealers on the market. Hope that helps

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Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 11/7/2011

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I went and looked at the design of your tent thinking "Only two end vents? Surely not." but yes, you're right. That's pitifully inadequate for a tent that size. How are you supposed to get any airflow through that? Bad design...

However, what about a side canopy? We've got one for our two Vango tunnel tents (Vango Oregon 600 & 800) and it means we can keep the doorway open in even heavy rain as it  shelters the top of the doorway. You can get them with closed in fronts which would mean that you could leave your tent door part unzipped at night to allow airflow (cold air in at bottom of door, warm air out upper vents) because these side canopies don't have ground sheets and air can get in under the bottom edges. I think this would help quite a lot tbh. And it's somewhere to leave the wet coats.

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Quote: Originally posted by raf48 on 11/7/2011

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my reply was originaly more detailed, but when I managed to delete it for the third time, I gave up and gave my shorter version. I hate being a ludite. Your lucky there's more computer literate people out there,

Especialy, those like Val who can compute and camp well.

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Quote: Originally posted by redeyetent on 11/7/2011

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Thanks, Val. That's a thought. It's not been too much of a problem at night before, but I'm wondering whether or not something like this would help in heavy rain during the day, like you say, it could be somewhere to hang wet coats and at least help stop the rain dripping through if the door was unzipped slightly. It's probably a fair bit larger than it looks in the photos.Montpellier 8 Canopy

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Looks very similar to our canopy. If so there's room enough to set up the cooker under it for these days when it's too wet to cook outside, plus a small prep table and a seat for the cook. And the tent door can stay fully open so the tent can air out. Very useful pieces of kit imho. I wouldn't be without ours. If you're doing the daytime airing it often helpe to untoggle the top three or four toggles of the bedroom pods and let them sag a little, to let air get along the flysheet.

Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 12/7/2011

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Quote: Originally posted by redeyetent on 11/7/2011

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Thanks, Val. That's a thought. It's not been too much of a problem at night before, but I'm wondering whether or not something like this would help in heavy rain during the day, like you say, it could be somewhere to hang wet coats and at least help stop the rain dripping through if the door was unzipped slightly. It's probably a fair bit larger than it looks in the photos.Montpellier 8 Canopy

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Looks very similar to our canopy. If so there's room enough to set up the cooker under it for these days when it's too wet to cook outside, plus a small prep table and a seat for the cook. And the tent door can stay fully open so the tent can air out. Very useful pieces of kit imho. I wouldn't be without ours. If you're doing the daytime airing it often helpe to untoggle the top three or four toggles of the bedroom pods and let them sag a little, to let air get along the flysheet.

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