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Took a chance on ebay! Bought Coleman Gallileo Weathermaster 4 man tent, it was described as having small leak and smelling slightly musty. The guy admitted it had been put away wet once.....Reality is that it leaks a lot and absolutely stinks.  It came out of the bag wet with some surface mould that may wipe off. The windows are muddy/mouldy but they may wipe off too. It looks like someone has attempted to tape the seams - it's got peeling browny tape on all the seams and looks awful inside.  My plan is to remove the tape (feel sure it can't be the manufacturers tape, maybe someone out there knows?!) and get some really good seam sealer.  Can anyone recommend a product that they have used personally which truly did the job and stood up over time please? I can see online there are a handful of products specifically for sealing seams, it would be good to know which is the 'Rolls Royce' of these products! The leaks all appear to be on seams so if I can do this right I will have a usable tent.

I am very wary of using dilute Miltons or bleach on the mould even though I have seen this recommended on other posts.  I need to get this tent cleaned up and smelling better, I have some Nikwax Horse rug washing fluid which should not harm the waterproofing and in fact boost up the waterproofness, does anyone have any better solution to this?

Once the above is done I shall spray with Nikwax Tent and Gear Solar/Waterproof as well as I know it's very effective from use on our other tents.

It's pitched in the garden right now awaiting some TLC when the rain finally stops, so will be very grateful of any advice I can get from you experts out there.  I need to rescue this tent or my man will insist we use our gorgeous Maritsa 700 on every trip -personally I think it's too much for 2 night trips when we don't have his children.

Hi firefairy

I have used McNett Seam Grip in the past and once used nothing got past it. Admittedly I have not used it for such long sections as I think you're proposing and it could prove expensive if you've got lots to do.

Best wishes with the tent

Trip

Hi Trip

Many thanks for that, had a look at that online earlier and thought it sounded good. Really good to have a personal recommend. Yes I want to seal every single seam and it's a big tent. May just use it on the known problem seams and something cheaper on the ones that are currently fine. 

Best regards.

I'm afraid that I would insist on a refund from the seller and have another go at buying a tent. This tent sounds as if it isn't worth trying to repair. The tape is the original manufacturers' tape that has got mould under it, hence is coming off. It is going to cost you a fortune to attempt to make good and then you may not even have a waterproof tent.

OK - you took a risk but the tent is not as described and therefore the seller needs to accept responsibility. There are lots of excellent condition tents sold on ebay and while this one might have been a high spec tent new, it certainly isn't now!

Hi Speedcamp,

Thank you very much, hmm did wonder about the tape but it looks so shocking was hoping it was an amateur attempt to fix obviously leaking seams. Now I think you're right that it's the original tape .  I did take a risk here as the tent was sold as needing attention and 'no returns'  but I feel the problems were well understated by the seller. At least I did OK last year with the Vango Diablo 600 bought off ebay, well kind of...it had also been put away wet but easily rescued with cleaning, airing and reproofing.  It looks like new and smells fine now. They also assured me it had been put away dry and stored dry, they lied!

You will think I'm mad (stubborn perhaps!) but am still going to have a go - whilst there are several leaks none of them are major, only small amounts of water getting in. I will also think carefully what feedback the seller is going to get, he could not even be bothered to sweep it out when he used it so have already had to deal with the detritus of his last camping trip.  Some people huh?! Poor standards I say. Rant over, still more advice needed please people, all gratefully accepted.

oh,I know where you're coming from being stubborn but I really think you have a case-needing attention is a mile away from totally wrecked!! But,milton for mould and kegs of seam sealant as has been said,   I bought a canvas sunncamp from ebay £40 and it is immaculate,think I was incredibly lucky.

Best of luck with your project,am sure you will have it spick and span in no time.

Thank you Zeelees you're absolutely right.  It's dawning on me (at last) this tent has been abused all of it's short little life so it is heartening to hear there are some ebayers who actually have looked after the kit they are selling.  Your tent sounds lovely by the way, and well cared for.  A genuine bargain.

Thank you - yes I do need luck this could well be a futile effort. 

I feel I would be returning it as it wasnt as stated as others have said, but as you want to have a go cleaning it, this is what we did.

We were very wary but made a weak solution of just good bleach and water to clean ours. We put up tent and stood inside gently wiping it all with a squeezed out sponge. Let it dry naturally and hopefully it should smell clean and fresh.

Sorry not sure about sealing seams.

Hope that helps. Dont be worried about using bleach, you have nothing to lose.

Thank you Val, good idea about photos. Only bought twice from ebay (a wet tent on each occasion!). Presumably Ebay get involved if I get no joy with the seller? I shall have a read-up on how all this works.

We had THREE faulty new tents this year too, thankfully fourth time lucky and at least Go Outdoors were co-operative and helpful.  What a lot of tent troubles, and looks like the search goes on for our perfect weekend tent!      

Now we're talking!  A new Outwell was probably the solution all along but having invested in the Maritsa 700 this year we were trying to spend no more than necessary..that sounds like a good price, maybe we should save up  . The other half has an Outwell Oregon 5, if only it had a sewn in ground sheet and did not have such a slope on the front door (wasted valuable space) it would be perfect.  It's lovely for summer use but we don't believe in getting cold..and I'm an arachnaphobe. Outwell tents seem so well made.  Good suggestion thanks.  Such a shame about the state of the Weathermaster it was a quality tent too before it got into the hands of Ebay man.

did you pay with paypal?if so the "no returns"means nothing,if the tent was not as described you will be able to get a refund.

I'd get back to him and tell him the tent is just rubbish and you want a complete refund. You may get lucky and he'll give you a refund and tell you to dump the tent.

At worst you can salvage spares from it, and at best you may get a free tent to salvage