How to Repair a Tent？

Waterproofing Process

If you have a tent with a hole, don’t hurry to throw it away for a new one. You can have got some brief repair on it. And then you could still keep using it. While, if the holes happen during your vacation, repairing a tent will become very important.

But how to repair a tent? There are many repairing products on the market. You could use them to mend the tent simply. Not only the holes on the tent can be repaired, but also a whole tent on the outside can be done.

When using these products, you need to read the instructions carefully. Some can be used on the wet fabric. While some need to use the brush for help. For a huge tent, you could use a simple garden sprayer.

If the repairing work is not an emergency, you can take the tent back to home. Then repair it in good weather. If you do this work in the room, please ensure the room with good ventilation. If it is outdoors, especially in the camping spot, please remember to protect the lawn with a plastic cloth.

If you don’t like to mend the tent by yourself, you could look for some professionals for help.

Before repairing, you must make sure the tent is clean and tidy. When you are painting the waterproofing liquid, please make sure that you have covered the plastic screen on the desk or the ground. This kind of liquid will make them sick.

And you could also choose colorful repairing products. They will make your tent look more pretty, and resist to the water again.

In order to avoid to leave some scars, please paint the whole district as far as possible. Note that don’t paint repeatedly. One layer of the product is enough. Finally, make sure the tent has been completely dry. Then collect it.

Tips for Waterproofing Process

• Make sure that you didn’t mistake dew as the leakage.
• Sometimes, just wash the tent simply. Your tent may get waterproof again.
• Never use the detergent.
• Some cheap tents may leave some unsealing gap. And the sellers will give you some sealing glue. Although the sealing seems to be very easy, we suggest you buy sealed tents.
• Don’t use the detergent to wash the zips. The detergent will move to the tent and damage its function of water-resisting.

Repairing in Emergency

In modern tents, the broken part of the tent that most frequently seen is the support rods. They may be broken or bent. And if the guy is tripped over by the rod, or the strength used in the sealing place is too big, it will appear some gap in the tent.

A small sewing box can help you to fight against these holes. But the sewing needs to be tiny and close. Don’t speed up to seek instant success. Do it slowly. Then you will get a firm and tidy seam. You will be proud of yourself.

Most superior tents will have glues for sealing the seams. Sometimes, they will also leak. But they are easy to be sealed by the professional sealing machine.

Before the sealing, please make sure that the tent is dry completely. And paint the sealant at leakage with the sealing machine. And wait for the drying. It is better to be 1- 2 days.

Thus, the work of sealing is suggested to be done before Wednesday. A sealant is a sticky thing. It will stick to other places in the tent. Therefore, you must wait for its full drying. Never let the sealant close to the zips. Or it may stick to the zips.

For a break or hole in the tent or the waterproof cloth, you can use wide tape to mend provisionally. Various self-adhesive patches are also available. And a good tent will contain several patches of the same material with it.

No matter it is the glue or self-adhesive patch, please make sure the district of the hole is clean and tidy. During the mending, you could ask one of your partners to enter the tent. And ask him to withstand the hole by a hard panel. This will help the glue or patch stuck firm and flat. There will be no wrinkles or bubbles.

Finally, spray some waterproof liquid on the patch district. Then your tent will recover with waterproof function.

Maintain Your Zip

If you have a god mainteinence of your zip, it will bring you much convenience.
Try your best to make it clean. If there is some dirt or dust, wipe it off with wet cloth.
When using, watch out. Don’t step on the zip. And don’t close it when the opening is too big. And do not use too much force when using the zip.
Zips must be lubricated periodically. And zip has its own specialized lubricants. Pure soap is also okay to use. But you must clean it clearly after using.
Don’t use any detergent. Although it can also lubricate the zip, it will go into the tent. And then it will damage the waterproof function of the tent.

Repairing Tools for an Emergency

If you have some spare space in the backpack, we suggest you take some small tools. They will help you to repair the tent or some other camping equipment for an emergency.

• Wide Tape
• Spare Supporting Rods
• Self-adhesive Patches
• Needle and Thread
• Spare Threading Hole
• Speare Rope and Joints
• Seam Sealant
• Waterproof Spray

If you want to have a permanent repair for the tent, here are some tips for you.

Heavy canvas tent needs the hardest needles and threads for mending. But you can buy a set of sewing machine instead. It can be bought in specialized sewing stores.

If you are going to mend an unbroken nylon tent, you need to know that this kind of tent is very tough. What you need is a sewing needle. It must be able to have the function of passivation or even break the common sewing machines.

When you repair the tent, the thread you use should match the material of the tent. Special tent materials are difficult to be found. So you have to search for them in specialized stores or local tent manufactures.

You may also find good waterproof materials in the dress department of the department stores. Then you could finish the sewing and waterproof process.

Searching for the threading material is not simple. But another good place for it is the kite stores. Many kites are using similar materials with tents. And the kite manufactures know much about the special nylon materials. They may offer some patches or mending.

After using the professional sealing machine to mend the tent, you can do some waterproof process by the waterproof spray on the patches.

Zips may go wrong. So it is the reason why we need to maintain and lubricate them. If your zip goes wrong, it will not be difficult, if you have some experience in sewing.

But looking for a new zip may not be so easy. The first place you need to consult is the tent manufacture and your local tent clients. If they have none, you have to search for it in the furniture repairing stores or some sewing counters. Some zips are sold by meters. There are loose joints. But even though the zip has the same length as the original, its strength can’t compare with the original.

But don’t give up it easily. I have a friend. His zip was broken, and he couldn’t find a suitable replacement. When he was going to throw the tent which was only broken in the zip, someone suggested he go to the caravan recycling station for luck.

Finally, he found an old caravan. Its awning had a zip hanging on the wall. That was the perfect replacement for his tent zip. Therefore, his tent can be used again.

For any kind of repair, don’t be too confident. Some serious damages, you have to go for professional assistance. Many tent stores offer these mending services themselves. And some tent manufacturers have maintenance for their own brands.

You can try classifying the ads in the tent magazines. There will be many maintainer lists. You could find some local tent maintaining experts in Yellow Pages. Different magazines will introduce many correct repairing skills and equipment.