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Does anyone have any idea how long some polycotton tents can take to be weathered until fully watertight?

I have a Wolf Lake which has had a week of rain and still feels damp inside after rain (plus a couple of leaks). I have since erected the tent in the garden and given it a severe hosing down however after 2 nights of doing this I can still see a mist inside all of the tent when hosing. Admitedly I am blasting it from quite close range but as a comparison I did the same to an Outwell polyester pop up tent and there was no damp or mist inside at all.

Seems that at present the polycotton is nowhere near as waterproof as the polyester after the tent getting wet probably half a dozen times.

Any thoughts please - I'm trying to work out if I have a faulty tent of not.

Hi we have had 3 outwell polycotton tents now and none have leaked even after not weathering them at the start of the season.

I really think you should stop blasting it with the hosepipe, it should just require a gentle spray all over and then left to dry.

Personally i think weathering a polycotton tent is a bit of a farce and the first time it rains it will be weathered, although do not rub it while its raining or it will probuably leak.

Probuably the dampness inside after 1 week of rain is condensation

Sorry i can't be more help

Tinny

It only requires one good wetting to weather cotton so I can't see why polycotton should be any different. The dampness you feel inside the tent after rain and first thing in the morning is condensation. You get this even in the best of all cotton canvas tents, so don't worry about it. Just remember to air it out well every day and to keep the vents open even in the rain. The "leaks" are quite possibly just condensation run off.

Blasting the canvas too hard will open the weave btw and the water will be getting forced through so it's no wonder there's mist inside when you do this. It's not made of laminate layers like the Outwell! I would stop doing it asap actually or there's a good chance you may damage the fibres of the canvas. Or the laminated fabric of the synthetic tent. Oh, and you'll get condensation inside that Outwell soon enough, once someone starts breathing inside it on a cool or damp night.

Thanks for the advice - I will stop hosing it with any pressure and probably wait for the next rainfall as the last thing I want is to damage the tent! The leaks were definately leaks and not condensation as they appeared within a minute of turning the hose on though I did notice last night that there was less water ingress so maybe the weathering has helped....

I wouldn't swop the tent for anything as its such a great design and being inside the polycotton lounge area is the best - just want to be sure the tent is OK whilst its still in warrenty (first polycotton tent after 10 years or so of polyester so not sure what to expect).

Realistically I wonder whether polycotton can ever be as waterproof as a man made plastic if subjected to extremes (maybe why they don't quote HH's for polycotton?) though from all the good reviews they are obviously usually waterproof enough to cope with rainfall.

Quote: Originally posted by clive99 on 19/8/2011

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Realistically I wonder whether polycotton can ever be as waterproof as a man made plastic if subjected to extremes (maybe why they don't quote HH's for polycotton?) though from all the good reviews they are obviously usually waterproof enough to cope with rainfall.

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Well, if you want a 100% waterproof tent you'd have to make it of butyl rubber with welded seams and an airlock. Of course it would end up streaming with condensation inside!

They don't quote HH for cotton canvas either, remember. That's because the construction method (woven fabric) can't stand up to the same sort of test methods as synthetic canvas....as you've found with your hose, water can get forced through fairly readily. But cotton and poly cotton are pretty good at being water resistant under the right circumstances and come with several other advantages, of which breathability is the main one. The jury is still out on polycotton tents though because they've simply not been around long enough yet and don't have the proven track record of cotton canvas tents. But compared to the many downsides of synthetic tents...poor insulation, increased condensation and short life span being three of the main ones...I think polycotton can't help but turn out to be a superior fabric for tents.