old tent with peeling taped seams

[skydiverMN]

I have a Kelty Snowfall Expedition which is something like 15 years (or more) old. I've used it a ton and it's been bombproof. Recently, I noticed that some seams are losing their factory taping (delaminating). What's a solution to repair these?


Unrelated, but has Kelty left the expedition level tent market? Back in the day when I bought this I looked at the other popular brands and this was by far the best value for what it offered. Take that North Face! My Kelty was money very well spent. But looking at their website I don't see anything like the Snowfall Expedition. Anyone know?

Thanks!

[immortal_ben]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

I am afraid that after 15 years of "tons" of use, your tent may be ready to fall apart because of UV light breaking down the material. That is just a guess and I may be wrong. Is your tent leaking? I happen to be one of those that think seam taping and seam sealing are unrelated (due to what I have read on the subject), but have you ever reapplied any seam sealer?

Do you notice your tent sagging more than it used to? Do you need to re-tighten things now that did not need it in years past? Are the threads in the seams becoming noticeable? These are all things I would look for when trying to judge if my tent was breaking down. Heck, how are the poles holding up?

To my knowledge, there is no repair for delaminating seam tape.

I had no idea Kelty used to offer something like this. They are definitely not offering anything so cool/hardcore these days. That is a sweet looking tent!

[skydiverMN]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

Thanks for the compliment, I agree it is a sweet tent. 'Tons of use' is relative of course. It has been used almost every year and for the first 5 years it saw use most every weekend during the warmer weather and a decent handful of times in winter too. From there, life for me changed, and it was used a dozen or so times in the nicer weather for 5 or so years. Then it sat packaged up for a couple years, kept cool and dry. For the last 4 years it's been up as a kids play toy for about half of the summer, and I move it around every 2 days to keep from killing the grass. It's still a smokin' shelter! I've almost always kept the fly on, so the tent itself has seen very little direct UV.

My biggest concern is the floor seam, shown here:


The corner reinforcing shown peeled back shows light through, but this is a few inches off the ground and can be sealed with some sealer goop.




Here's the tent without the fly on. I LOVE the continuous pockets for the poles and HATE tents that have clips. I have put this tent together in about 3 minutes by myself in some crappy weather, throwing those poles into the pockets. The fly goes on quick too, with clips and there's a single pole for the main vestible. The main vestible also has a partial floor, which is awesome for keeping important gear off the ground. I'm telling you, Kelty really did right with this tent. No sagging or issues with it as you can see. I have replaced some shockcord on some poles over the years but the aluminum is straight in excellent shape.


So basically, I can seal up what I would normally do on a tent and just be careful around the peeling sealing tape. Anyway,

[Hikenhunter]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

While it might not be as good as a factory job, you can buy clear seam tape. You simply peel up the old tape and put down the new stuff. Coleman markets it and you can get it at many stores that sell camping gear. I think I saw some at walmart. I had the tape on one of the seams of my timberlite tent start to peel. I bought the seam tape at cabelas. Peeled up the tape that was coming loose on my tent and just taped over the seam with the new tape. I also re taped the seam on one of my rain jackets. It lasted for another season then started to peel again so I replaced the jacket but the tape on the tent has been working alright for about 3 or 4 years and still is not coming loose.

[GlitterHiker]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

I had no idea Kelty used to offer something like this. They are definitely not offering anything so cool/hardcore these days. That is a sweet looking tent!

That was my reaction as well when I saw the pic. Nice tent!

[busere]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

If you seam seal the tent, make sure you find a way to do it with the rainfly pitched. If you seal it not pitched and stretched...you'll undo the seal the first time you pitch it because of the fabric stretch. hope that makes sense.

[immortal_ben]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

With that kind of super heavy UV exposure, I personally would not put much money or effort into maintaining the tent. If all you want is for the kids to keep it as a play toy then by all means goop some seam sealer on that puppy and keep on enjoying it.

If you want something for camping I recommend buying a new tent.

The name of the game when seam sealing is TAUT, TAUT, TAUT.

[skydiverMN]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

Thanks for all the help and comments!

So, I'm sure that I have UV dmg from this picture. I forgot how bright it used to be! That being said, no where can I find any part of the tent that creates that powdery mess. I started camping originally using a friend's parent's tent. Now that was all sorts of powdery and you probably could easily put your hand through the nylon if you pushed hard enough. There's nothing like that here, perhaps it's just thicker nylon than that one, but I'm not sure.


Here are the products that I just applied this weekend, purchased from my local REI.

The Nikwax Tent and Gear Solarproof Waterproofing Spray I used on the fly. The tent's currently setup so I grabbed a hose and proceeded in getting the fly wet. Then I took a nylon scrub brush and cleaned top to botton rinsing as I went along. It's still stained in some places but I removed a good amount of filth. The fly readily absorbed moisture until it was waterlogged and droopy. I allowed it to partially dry and heavily applied the spray until it again appeared to be waterlogged. Then I returned within a few minutes of letting it soak in and grabbed a towel and lightly worked it around and removed excess. I allowed this to completely dry, which took about 30 minutes in the sun and breeze. Off came the fly.... The next process was to waterproof the floor, which recently started to allow water to soak through. This is a new issue that just recently started. Cleaning and removing all the dust, dirt and sand that I could from the tent took only a few minutes. Then I ran a clean wet towel across the entire inside floor and lower sections of the walls (the tub, if you will). After it was dried I used the Tent Sure and the included foam brush. This took about 20 minutes and I lightly covered every square inch of the tub. This looks like pretty amazing stuff and went on very easily and dried quickly (about 20 minutes with the breeze).

The seam sealer goop will have to wait and I'll carefully apply this to the reinforcing patches at the floor where I could see water coming in through the stitching holes (assuming I'm floating in 4" of water, but still...). About $30 spent, and I think I'm good for a few more years of light camping. No more 'this tent is my only and sole shelter and must not fail' kinda camping....

The spray definitely has some silicone or urethane as my hands required a complete peeling of all the stuff that got applied to them during the fly cleaning and waterproofing. Also, the rag that I used is no longer a rag as it sheds nearly all the water.

Does all the time, effort and chemical application actually work?
I'd have to say YES (partially). It rained this morning and my rainfly looks completely dry, with only droplets beading on it. It doesn't look soaked or droopy at all, so I'd have to say this is a definite win here. Is the floor no longer leaking? Not sure, as I didn't have a chance to press it into the ground with my body weight. Otherwise it looks dry, but I'll have to test it later.

Anyway, so much for my whole tent saga. I do appreciate everyone and their help!
Too bad Kelty doesn't make tents like this anymore as they really did right here, all at an excellent value (1995ish dollars: $375 vs. around 550 for similar North Face). I have literally done nothing to the tent until now, for good, bad, or indifferent, and it's taken everything and lasted well beyond its realistic and expected lifetime. Thanks Kelty!

Ok, I'm done now. Everyone take care!

[Hikenhunter]

Re: old tent with peeling taped seams

From the looks of things you saved a great tent. Let us know how it holds up for you after you use it in some rain and wind.