Thread: Leaky Tent Floor - Help Needed

I Have an Arthur Ellis and Co tent with a leaky floor. It is an Alpine twin skinned job, very warm an worth maintaining. The floor is nylon impregnated with a plastic type sealant which has now started to crumble.
Does anyone know of a compound that I can use to recoat the floor. I have asked around with no joy yet.

Try a local equestrian supply place. The stuff my missus uses to re waterproof horse covers is bloody good. Can’t tell you what it is called as I am a long way from home.

I bought a second hand tent once, with a floor that wasn't that flash. One of the mountain guides from Mt Cook told me he fixed his by putting the tent up and painting the floor with a "flexible" varnish, ordinary old household type varnish. works for a few years, then you just give it another coat.

Google seam seam sealing....havent done it myself but necessary on some ultralight gear....basically thin out silicon sealer and paint it on.

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Haven't tried it myself but check this (or others) out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UTZPllgqSc

If it comes down to it someone like Twin Needle can probably replace the floor with new material.

Thankyou all for the replies and ideas so far. I had already searched Google but didn't come up with anything worthwhile under my 'leaky tent floor fix' search but these silicon mixes look like the go. I did also consider a new floor but it would be difficult to sew a new floor in and get the tent perfectly squared up again, the seams would need waterproofing too leading me back to the diluted silicon.

Sounds like relatively common degradation issue of the urethane or whatever waterproofing was used breaking down, seems mostly caused by being stored rolled up tight for long periods and "gassing off" you essentially need to replace the waterproofing layer, something you can give a go but you are then left with leak liabilities if it doesnt stick properly etc. I have had to retire a plateau for the same thing occurring in the fly.

Originally Posted by distant stalker

Sounds like relatively common degradation issue of the urethane or whatever waterproofing was used breaking down, seems mostly caused by being stored rolled up tight for long periods and "gassing off" you essentially need to replace the waterproofing layer, something you can give a go but you are then left with leak liabilities if it doesnt stick properly etc. I have had to retire a plateau for the same thing occurring in the fly.

I will do some tests with the Silicon brew and maybe the varnish first on some scraps. My sentiment is I don't care what it looks like as long as it is waterproof. The commercial waterproof dressings for the tent shell must of course leave the tent looking good or there would complaints, so the best fix might not be a marketable proposition . It might be possible to dilute a tube of Sikaflex Polyurethane sealant for example, that would likely be a great waterproofer as it is way better that Silicon in normal applications.

So today I spoke with a technical expert from Sika NZ. He advised against diluting silicon or the Sikaflex polyurethane, apparently over time both could have detrimental effects on the rest of the tent when in storage. So perhaps the moisture cured urethane varnish is the best option. There is a product called 'tentsure', a water based urethane made in the States, made for re-proofing tent floors.
So I am now considering Wattyl Estopol moisture cure polyurethane varnish.
Any thoughts, it is a problem worth solving as no-one likes a wet arse ??

back when we had canvas tents we bought a product to reseal them...it looked and smelled for all the world like plain old PVA glue.it was painted on with a 4" paint brush and worked a charm (hint here DO NOT take your shirt off and get it on arm pits as it WONT wash off in shower LOL) we purchased product from smiths city in a 2ltr container.
hope that helps.

I have an older 1992-95 Olympus tent that has the same problem. The coating on the floor has been flaking of for the last 20 years. Have tried various silicon sprays. works fine on the side and fly but no good on the floor.
I suspect the best bet would be to send it to Twin Needle for a new floor. They would have no problems with that. Or buy a new tent which I did for my son as he's been using it more than me now.

What about just putting a footprint under it

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

back when we had canvas tents we bought a product to reseal them...it looked and smelled for all the world like plain old PVA glue.it was painted on with a 4" paint brush and worked a charm (hint here DO NOT take your shirt off and get it on arm pits as it WONT wash off in shower LOL) we purchased product from smiths city in a 2ltr container.
hope that helps.

Canvas is probably a lot easier to fix than nylon. I have used boiled linseed oil on a leaky army surplus jacket shell, linseed being what is used to make oil skin.
Will check out smiths city all the same.

Originally Posted by top of the south

What about just putting a footprint under it

I have done that when putting the tent up beside the vehicle on a fishing trip for example, but I would like to fix the floor for alpine hunts as it is a very good tent.
If it is raining hard the 'footprint' needs to be inside the tent, if it is outside the tent the water gets between the layers and still gets in.