Dry and cozy in your sleeping bag, you hear the first rain hits hit fly hit. You drift and sleep. You wake up when the wind blows and the side of the tent begins to shake like a flag that blows away. That's when you noticed a damp floor. You feel the windward side of the wall of the tent and discover small tears. While shedding tears, a steady flow of water flows through the inner wall and collects on the floor. If it does not rain soon, you know that you are staying for a night to wear a cup of clothes. As your tent dries, you know that you have to repair.
Do not repair or repair
The discussion here is limited to patching the tent, not repairing the seams, grommets or frames. Since not all fabrics are worth repairing, discussion on patching the fabric needs to start with discussion of the fabric itself. Tent fabrics, whether nylon, canvas or vinyl, are not accepted for diseases that weaken the fabric to such an extent that repair will not be established. When repairing an area with a patch, the tension that caused the original laceration is simply transferred to the fabric surrounding the patch. If the surrounding cloths ripped, I spent time repairing. Before trying to patch the tent, please pull the fabric surrounding the tear and do not split.
Prepare the surface
If you decide that your tent cloth is in good condition to hold the patch, the next step is to prepare the area to patch. Both nylon and canvas are woven and the vinyl may be fiber reinforced. Tears often leave a vague wearing edge. Please use scissors and cut off the worn out part. If necessary, cut to undamaged fabric until there are no frayed edges. As you patch the patch, please clean the area around the injured part with denatured alcohol and clean the cloth and clean the dirt. Clean both sides of the cloth. If the tent is vinyl, it gently scratches the surface around the tears with fine sandpaper to increase adhesion of glue.
Make a patch
Fabrics suitable for patches are fabrics that match the tent. We use a canvas patch for canvas, nylon patch for nylon, vinyl patch for vinyl. Cut the patch twice the tear length, at least a few inches wide on both sides of the tears. Please cut the patch into an oval shape. The rectangular corner is easy to peel off when the tent bends. It is important that the patch be large enough. As the thickness of the patch (patch) is thinner (cloth), the fabric bends more, so the patch breaks along the edges of the patch. Make sure that the edge of the patch is far enough away from the damage and the load is properly reduced to prevent failure there.
Paste patch
Adhesive is the best way to apply a patch, as the cloth will not get frayed or the restoration will not leak out. The optimum adhesive for patching is one which surely adheres to the fabric with all conditions (heat, cold, humidity, packing etc). Latex cement is often advertised for tent repair, but please avoid. Under extreme conditions it does not adhere so well. I understand the performance of cement well, but it gets a little hard. The adhesive recommended by the tent rental company is called Barge Rubber Cement made by Quabaug Corporation. It can be purchased with Ace hardware and most hardware stores. Barge Rubber Cement will remain flexible for long periods of time under all conditions where you are likely to encounter the tent.
Apply glue to the back side of the patch and the part surrounding the damage. Flash the solvent of the adhesive for a few seconds, then press the patch against the cloth. Please confirm that the edges of the patch are well glued. To confirm that the patch is firmly adhered, support the cloth from the bottom, fix the patch with a hammer, or firmly secure with a roller pin or veneer roller. For best results, fix the damage from both sides of the fabric.
Before packing the tent for storage, please allow time for gluing time to heal. While you are repairing, put some of your repair supplies in a plastic bag and pack your tent. I do not know how far away from home when I need to shed tears next time.
