Good Weather can play an incredible role in making your camping experience a wonderful one. Unfortunately, it is not like the weather is always on your side, even if you consider the weather forecast. The unpredicted downpour during your camping trip is something you don’t want to experience. You don’t want to wake up at night only to see water entering your tent, and you feel helpless. That’s when you realize the importance of holding a waterproof tent. Does making claims about the waterproof make the tent actually waterproof? No, not really. Unless you put your tent to a real-life test, you can’t claim your tent to be waterproof. Read on to know how to waterproof your tent. While there might be water-proof tents or keep water from entering your area, you have to be double-sure about the same. Until and Unless you put them to real-life tests, you can’t say a tent is water-proof. Even though your tent is water-proof, it does not hurt to water-proof your tent. With time, the water-proofing of the tent gets faded, and it calls for action. Below, we have listed down some tips that will let you know how to waterproof your tent.
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Waterproofing For Tent
Most of the brands claim to offer water-proof tents but are they really waterproof? Once in a while, when you put them in use, you will find them to be waterproof, but gradually, the water-proof coating fades away with time. All it takes a little downpour, and you see water making its home inside your tent.
To make sure that your tent is waterproof, you timely have to pay attention to your tent. Water-proofing is not a one-time process; rather, you have to water-proof your tent with time.
So, if you are wondering about how to water-proofing the tent? Here’s our guide that will provide you with valuable insight on water-proofing for tents.
Best Tent Waterproofing Spray Products
Waterproofing a tent is only effective when you hold the best tent waterproofing products. Whether you are looking for the waterproofing spray for a tent or waterproofing tape for tent seams, make sure you hold the best of everything.
Whether you are water-proofing the tent floor or water-proofing the tent walls, these best tent waterproofing products will prevent water from entering the tent. Check out the best waterproofing spray for the tent.
Kiwi Camp Dry Heavy Duty Water Repellent
This is the first pick in our list of Best waterproofing spray for the tent. The spray contains silicon that effectively combines with the fabric to create a barrier for the water.
Kiwi Camp Dry spray is widely available, and you can easily put it in use. The spray is best and unbeatable when it comes to waterproofing the tent.
Besides this, the spray is available in different volumes, which means you can choose the one that perfectly fits your specification.
Atsko Silicone Water-Guard
Atsko Silicone Water-Guard has made its way into our list of best water-proofing sprays for the tent. The spray contains the solution and has the ability to resist the water.
Once you put this spray on the tent, it will dry in 24 hours. The spray performs its job to resist the water brilliantly, and there is no doubt in the spray’s performance.
One more thing is that the solution contains silicon, which is highly resistant to water.
Scotchgard Heavy Duty Water Shield
Get ready for an adventure trip with Scotchgard Heavy Duty Water Shield and put all your weather woes aside. Scotchgard will take care of all your problems.
The single application is enough to create a water-coating that is highly resistant to water.
Besides this, the spray’s application eliminates the odors so you can easily sleep inside your tent. Before you start using it, read instructions to use the solution effectively.
Gear Aid Revivex Instant Waterproofing Spray
Our next pick in the segment of Best water-proofing sprays for tent is Gear Aid Revivex Instant Waterproofing Spray.
What makes them unique from the rest of the sprays is that this spray is Silicon free which means you can easily apply it on any fabric.
The application of this spray improves the tent’s breathability and creates a barrier for the water to enter inside the tent.
Nikwax TX Direct Waterproofing
Nikwax TX Direct Waterproofing has been able to make its way into our list of best waterproofing spray for a tent.
This spray’s easy application makes the fabric resistant to water, which means you don’t have to worry about the downpour at night. Besides this, the usage helps in improving the breathability inside the tent.
Things To Consider Before Beginning The Water-proofing Process
Before you set out to water-proof your tent, remember some key considerations can’t be put aside.
You need to make sure which part of the tent needs waterproofing, whether it’s the floor that collects the water or the walls that are least resistant to water.
Sometimes, there are chances that previously water coating would have faded away while you constantly used the tent. So, you need to gather facts about which parts of the tent require water-proofing.
To know which parts of the tent require water-proofing, what you can do is put your tent inside the water and glance carefully where the bubbles rise out of the tent.
Yeah, that’s the part that requires waterproofing. Now you know which spot requires water-proofing, it’s time to place the tent in a dry place before you begin the process.
Related Post: How to set up a tent
Precautions Before Waterproofing The Tent?
Here’s the detailed Step by Step process to guide you on how to waterproof your tent. Before you begin your process, make sure that you have glanced through this section.
1. Choose the Dry Day
Choosing the right day to water-proofing your tent can be effective. After all, you don’t want the downpour to wet the tent. Besides this, a windy day can be another obstacle when you want to water-proof your tent. So, choose the day that has less humidity.
2. Make sure your tent is clean
The next step is to ensure that your tent is clean. No dust particles reside on the top or any other part of the tent; the water-proofing procedure will become ineffective.
To make sure your tent is clean, pick up a clean piece of cloth and sweep through the entire surface of the tent. You can also use a vacuum to make sure that there are no dust particles.
3. Dry the tent
Once you are done cleaning the process, the next step is to ensure that your tent is dry. For this, you can put your tent at a place where water is no accessible.
Sprays are least effective when they come in contact with the waters. So, keep away water from reaching your tent.
4. Apply The Spray
After your tent gets dry, it’s time to begin the actual process. You need to hold a good water-proofing spray to ensure your tent is waterproof.
So, start spraying the spray on the surface of the tent. Ensure that you have covered each part of the tent and there is no part left that needs to be sprayed.
While you apply the spray, you need to be cautious. It would be much better to do this process in an open area where there is a good ventilation system.
5. Apply the Seam Sealant Re water-proofing the tent
Once you are done with the first coating, let your tent get dry. It might take some hours to completely dry. Once your tent is dry, re-apply the spray like before. This will give your tent a second coating layer that will be effective when you start camping out again.
6. Apply the Seam Sealant
Once you do all this process, the next step is to put the seam sealants on the seam. There are times when you are not able to find seams, or some seams are left. So, place the tent in an open area and start looking for the seams.
You can find the seams on the sides of the rainfly and some seams on the tent’s inside. Read the instructions before you start applying seam sealant. Seam Sealants make sure that no water droplets enter the tent.
How To Waterproof The Tent?
If the waterproof coating on your tent has started to decay, it’s time to go ahead with some process to make your tent a waterproof one.
A waterproof tent ensures that your tent stays dry and prevents water from entering the tent. Check out the process to upgrade the waterproof coating of the tent.
There are a couple of methods to carry out this process:
- Sealing Seams – Begin by dipping the tent into the water and see if the water leaks from the rainfly or tent, its time to seal the seams that are least resistive to water. For this, you will need rubbing alcohol and a perfect sealer. There are majorly two types of seals that are in the display, including silicon and polyurethane-coated. Depending on what type of fabric is used in manufacturing the tent, you can use the seam sealer. Start applying the rubbing alcohol on the tent and then apply the sealer on the seam’s inside area and let it get dry.
- Revamping the Coating on the Tent – When the coating inside the rainfly or any part of the tent breaks from the surface in the little bits, you know it’s time to revamp the urethane coating. To move ahead, you will need a sponge, rubbing alcohol, and tent sealer. So, all you have to do is put your rainfly or the floor in a dry place and, using the sponge and rubbing alcohol, dust off the coating from the rainfly. Now apply the tent sealer calmly and let it get dry before you pack your tent.
- Revamp DWR (Durable Water Repellency) Coating – Once your rainfly gets dry, which is essential before applying Durable Water Repellency spray. Let your rainfly get dry and after that, apply the spray evenly on the rainfly. Once you are done, make sure that you have covered the rainfly’s whole area; if you see any excess coating on the rainfly, dust off that with a clean cloth.
Final Verdict
With that, we are wrapping up our discussion that focussed on the procedure of water-proofing the tent. Before you set out on your trip, water-proofing the tent is essential.
You never know what mother nature can throw at you. There are some things that you need to be cautious about, including the sprays and seam sealants.
Once you apply the spray, keep the tent in a dry place. Until the tent gets completely dry, you can proceed on to set out on your trip. Meanwhile, you can start packing all other camping essentials till the time the tent gets completely dry.
No matter what type of tent you own, whether you are looking to water-proofing your canvas tent, water-proofing the tent is cheap, economical, and a must-have.
You don’t have to pay big for water-proofing your canvas tent, but water-proofing the tent increases the life span of the tent, which means you can frequently set out on your camping trip.
Customer’s FAQ
Well, water-proofing depends upon the use of your tent and how frequently your tent is being exposed to nature. Generally, you can waterproof your tent 2-3 times a year.
Well, that depends upon your choice. If you are certain that the tent is water-proof, you can avoid water-proofing the tent. On the other hand, if you are unsure of water-proofing, we will recommend you water-proof the tent even if it is new. There are chances that it might rain when you are on a camping trip, and water-proofing the tent by yourself will give you peace to your mind.
There is a difference between waterproofing and water-resisting. Water-resistant means that the tent will resist the penetration of water up to a certain degree but not entirely. On the other hand, water-proofing means the tent will resist the water completely irrespective of the time and duration. Well, these words are used interchangeably, and you need to take care of these words while buying a new tent.
Before you go out on a camping trip, it is important to know whether your tent is waterproof or not. It is always a good idea to get your tent waterproofed before you have to spend your night in the middle of the water. Well, there are three ways to waterproof your tent.
- Applying the best sealant.
- Applying Durable Water Repellent spray.
- Use Rainfly.
The way you treat the tent will impact the quality of the tent. Taking care of your tent will ensure durability of the tent. When you expose the tents to different locations, the environmental factor plays an important role and has a greater impact on the tent’s quality. The only treatment is to clean the tent almost daily and use a soft brush to keep dust and other particles at bay. Also, you can water-proof your tent to make it long-lasting.
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