Tent fly repair

[Brekel]

Hi all.

I've been lurking here on and off for a coupled of years, but this is my first post . I'm getting back into walking after being out for quite a few years (long story...). Anyway, I managed to retrieve some of my old gear from the ex, including my Macpac Olympus (early 90's vintage).

Unfortunately she threw it on the floor, wet, in a colourbond shed for an extended period of time.

I put it up in the yard over the weekend to check it out. It doesn't seem too bad. There are a couple of patches where the purple fly has gone a faded orangish colour, I assume where it was screwed up wet for an extended time. Over the weekend it rained heavily, and although the yard is a bit sheltered there were 85km/hr gusts. It didn't leak and stood up ok.

The only other damage is a small tear about 1cm long in the fly, at the bottom of a vestibule door. I was wondering what the recommended method is to repair this so it doesn't spread?

At almost 4kg it's a bit heavy by today's standards (particularly for going solo!) but it will have to do for the mean time until I can save for something new.

TIA,
Brett

[undercling-mike]

Welcome! I still see a few of those purple Macpac tents around so they're obviously built pretty tough! It's certainly a heavy solo tent by modern standards, but on the plus side if you use that a few times and then have the chance to upgrade to a newer lightweight tent then you'll have a good appreciation of what you get for the money spent.

Anyway as to your question it looks like the hem of the fly is still intact, that is to say that the tear doesn't extend to the edge of the fabric but there's a fold that makes it a bit hard to tell. If it's just a small tear that doesn't cut through the edge of the material then the standard way to repair it is to use a good repair tape such as tenacious tape.

[andrewa]

Or sail tape from a boating place. It looks a simple repair.

A

[Brekel]

Youre right, it stops and doesnt go through the hemmed section. I'd come across the Tenacwious Tape while looking for solutions, but regardless of the manufacturer's claims I wasn't sure if it was really best for permanently repairs or just for temporary repairs

Andrewa - thanks, I'll check out that option too

[Moondog55]

It might be good idea to redo the DWR treatment too. Nikwax is my usual brand but there are others such as Graingers

[Brekel]

Yes, given its age that's a good suggestion, thanks.