Coating on Caranex tent gone sticky!
Neil
Here's a strange problem I'm hoping someone may have an answer for.
I have a Caranex H1 tent which I have owned for quite a few years..
It has stayed in it's bag in the attic along with all my other
tents(including a second Caranex H4) for some time since I haven't had
a car I could use it with for at least 15 years. And it is probably
about 4 years since it was last out and aired, when all was well with
it.
Anyway I came to get it out to use the other day and found
that the coating on the inside of the tent has gone tacky and is
sticking to itself in many places. This is accompanied by a dark
discolouration in places as well, which almost looks like oil stains.
I managed to separate the panels eventually but I m curious. Is this
some degradation of the polyurethane coating(PU coated nylon) on the
fabric, and is it likely to be detrimental to the proofing of the
tent?
Is there anything I can do to cure this stickiness so it doesn't
happen again?
The H4 I also own is not quite as old and is used because it fits my
vehicle, but this one is stored in the same place and is not similarly
affected.
Now I did email the makers and the respondent said he has not come
across this before. His suggestion - get this - was to wash the whole
tent in detergent and then rinse it and re-proof it with Fabsil.
Now maybe I'm wrong but I've always believed that if you use detergent
on a tent:
a) you will find it very difficult to fully remove all traces of it,
and
b) if any trace of detergent remains, it will be impossible to
properly re-proof.
So I'm asking here hoping for a more sensible suggestion.
Thanks,
Neil
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