Simple Guidelines on Repairing Common Tent Damage Temporarily
Modern camping tents are designed and manufactured to provide prolonged service in adverse conditions. Therefore, you will not experience significant problems after acquiring this type of product for your trips. On the other hand, tents are not infallible or everlasting. This means that if the products are exposed to an unsuitable environment, they will sustain significant damage. Consequently, you will be vulnerable to cold air and even insects at night. In ideal circumstances, you should have a professional tent repair expert perform the restoration tasks. However, if this is not possible, use these simple guidelines to temporarily repair your tent.
Patching Tears and Rips
If you notice a tear or rip on your tent fabric, it is important to perform immediate repairs. Typically, the damage is initiated when the tent comes in contact with sharp objects such as stones and shrubs. The small perforation will then start expanding through the stress of normal usage, compromising the function of the tent.
In general, you can fix the damaging using duct tape or other sturdy sealing tape. This should be waterproof to prevent leakage, and you should apply the repair tape on both sides of the tent fabric. You can also use super glue and airbed patches applied using glue in repairing tears. However, you should check whether the manufacturer has approved the repair technique. If some fabrics such as nylon come in contact with glue, they will not bond and will form an unsuitable residue.
Splinting Your Tent Pole
The tent pole can break due to stress, accidents and poor usage, compromising your ability to set up a good shelter. This type of accident can occur if your tent comes with lightweight fibreglass, plastic and even metal poles. In most cases, this component will break into two separate pieces. These can be splinted together in the same way one would stabilise a broken limb. Basically, you should straighten the two broken pieces of the pole and place them together. Place a metal sleeve at the broken area and tape the three items together. This repair should provide fairly prolonged service. If you do not have a sleeve for repair, you can use a tent stake.
Sealing the Seams
The sealed seams in tents are vulnerable to gradual degradation, and this leads to leaks. Simply speaking, the tent is made by sewing different pieces of fabric together, and the connection points should be sealed to prevent water penetration. Therefore, if you notice leaks without any rips or tears, apply fresh liquid seam sealer along these points of susceptibility.
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