Tarps do wear out
and have you seam sealed it this year? The coating on a tarp starts to degrade and you may notice drips coming through in areas where there is a little puddle on the outside.
Storing it in a hot area or confined space…ie leaving it in the pack all summer seems to speed up the process.
seams or coating
The coating definitely degrades over time, even if the tarp is not being used, maybe faster if it is not being used.
If you are lucky it might just be a seam leaking. If so, using some McNett Seam Grip might fix it.
If it is the coating, you might try recoating it. If the areas are small you can use Seam Grip. But my experience is that once the coating starts to go in one or several small areas, the rest is not far behind.
Kind of agree. Best place for our Moss
is an open field where there are no trees at all. But in woodsy surroundings, it can be hard to choose the four tie points.
Speculation
I could do more speculation about cause, but many “possible” causes have already been mentioned.
I agree with several of them; specifically age of tarp, and tarp size.
I previously owned a Noahs Tarp 12.
My major issue with it was size; too small when weather got nasty. Great for a sun screen.
I invested in a Cooke Custom Covers tarp, and have never regretted that decision; I even bought a second one.
BOB
Kelty Rep Sez…
How refreshing is it that Kelty has a phone number and you can talk to a Kelty rep, and mine spoke English with a North American accent? That’s not something you get from every company.
The coating on the tarps (and tents) does break down. The rep said expect the coating to give out after 7 to 10 years. Maybe I’ve had mine that long.
The rep recommended an application of McNett’s Tent Sure, a water based urethane coating that the rep says will restore the tarp to waterproof.
It would take two bottles (around $10 each) to cover the tarp, and it seems like a PIA to paint it on. I guess I’d have to set up the tarp in various configurations to do the painting. I read comments that the Tent Sure needs to dry really well, like for days. So, is it worth it to save $50 on just replacing this tarp? If I expected to work and last another five years, the answer is probably yes. But I’m not overly confident it would work, and continue to work.
Have had numerous recommendations for the Cooke tarps. I need to check those out.
~~Chip
tarp use
Usually it is the way you set up the tarp that allows for success or some failure. For stormy conditions I look for wind breaks like rock outcrops or downed logs. Then it helps to bring the sides of the tarp near the ground. Was your site pretty level? Sometimes a slight depression wrecks everything in the rain.
I’ve had tent flies and bodies do that
Drip, drip, drip all night along selected seams.
The waterproof coating looked leprous. Duh!
In addition, seams can get stressed enough over time that the stitch holes get bigger.
In my case, the tent had been used so much that I considered it worn out. The aluminum poles no longer were straight when disassembled. Its time had come. It was 12 or 13 years old, I think.
I bought a new tent.
I’ve seen that too
– Last Updated: Dec-16-13 4:31 PM EST –
A friend of mine has a very old Kelty tarp. In light or occasional rain it's fine, but when it rains hard, besides the obvious dripping from here and there, some of the rain drops, on impact, send a tiny spray of mist right through the fabric. So in spite of all the posts by people assuming rain must have been blowing in from the sides somehow, I know exactly what you are talking about. Still, for what we use it for, that bit of leakage is tolerable (it might not be so good for sleeping under). This tarp is a lot older than yours, but in any case, the coating does have a finite lifespan. I won't try to decide whether it's worth it in your case to apply a new coating because I have no clue how effective or long-lasting that will be.
Get a new tarp
– Last Updated: Dec-16-13 4:44 PM EST –
At least that would be my inclination, Chip.
I bought Bob's old Kelty Noah's Tarp and it has served well as a fairly wind resistant water barrier to set up over a small tent. Definitely a belt and suspenders approach, but having the tarp allows me to keep the tent rain fly unzipped and open in anything but a driving rain which greatly reduces condensation, provides a small, dry vestibule space which my tent otherwise lacks, and has kept my small tent essentially dry even after several days of steady rain.
But the parabolic tarps, though fairly wind resistant, are not very versatile for general use. They don't rig that well using a taut ridge line as the parabolic shape built into the tarp design results in pleats and folds that collect water or flap in the wind. The Noah's 12 doesn't provide a huge amount of dry, usable area underneath. When rigged on poles or a drooping ridge line high enough to be able to walk beneath it, the area protected from rain in anything but a dead calm is not that great compared to a rectangular design. Rigged closer to the ground, they are much better.
I have had good luck in general with McNett products but I haven't used the urethane coating mentioned. If you really like the tarp I guess I would invest the time and money, but my concern is that the original coating will continue to delaminate and take the new urethane with it.
recoat waterproof it and …
… get a new one (larger) at the same time . Now you’ll have two , and use the older one for less demanding work .
Fold them things up Chip , gotta be better for them than just stuffing them in a bag (crunch crunch crunch) … probably take up less spaces well .
Cold is OK , rain is OK … it’s when it’s cold and rainy at the same time that the word ‘sucks’ seems to fit best !!
Can you tell me truthfully you were enjoying getting wet that night ?? At least you were out there , that’s more than I’ve been lately .
Kelty is worn out ?
I had the same experiance as the original poster said. At Raystown this year we sat out about 30 hours of steady rain. My Kelty 16 and the 12 both leaked just like His. They are both at least 6 to 7 years old. I left there saying that the cheap poly tarps are the way to go.
John
Obviously the coating; go blue
From everything described by an experienced user, the rain was obviously penetrating the coating.
I’d toss it and get a $5 blue tarp on sale from Walmart or Home Depot. They’re physically tough, very waterproof and essentially disposable.
I bought a used silnylon tarp a few years ago but have never seriously used it. Its only virtue over a blue tarp, in my opinion, is light weight and compressibility. But since those features aren’t usually an issue for the kind of car and open canoe camping I do, they haven’t really turned out to be advantages for me over the blue tarps I formerly used for 50 years.
I can attest to this.
“Storing it in a hot area or confined space…ie leaving it in the pack all summer seems to speed up the process.”
I destroyed a really nice tent fly by doing all these bad things.
I agree there is
something to be said for blue. Here is the thing though - if you get in a high wind situation you need to take it down and dive in the tent because the grommets will fail every time. But I agree, for car camping and traveling without portages the blue tarp will serve you well. High winds are tough on any tarp and at some point it needs to come down no matter what.
Needs to come down no matter what?
True for most tarps, but there are several that are designed for and can handle very punishing conditions, including higher winds than anyone would endure in the outdoors given the choice, but the choice is not always given, as on multi-day float trips for instance. Booztalkin, I agree that it’s time to get a new tarp and maybe keep the Noah’s around for backup, coverage in light rain, etc. I have a Noah’s 16 and am right there with you. Santa has promised to bring me a 15x15 CCS Tundra.
Got money’s worth
UV degradation, normal wear etc. BUT, dew point as one responder noted can make a huge difference. Buy a new tarp.
I didn’t really get wet
Due to the discomfort factor under the tarp, I gave up my planned activity for the evening. After dinner I was going to get under the tarp and read my book by headlamp. However, it did suck under the tarp and there was no way to keep my book dry (a library book at that). So, I stuck the book back in its zip lock bag, stuck a flask bourbon in my pocket and went out walking.
There’s a dirt road leading from the camp site to one of the main dirt roads through Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary. One thing I like about camping in Patuxent River Park and Merkle is that they close and lock the gates to the place about dark. So at night, the whole place belongs to you and only you, or a few. It was raining, but the mostly full moon still provided plenty of light to see where I was walking, especially in some areas that still held snow cover. I walked up an observation tower over Mataponi Creek, but in the rainy dark, there wasn’t much to observe. I kept walking, and the thought occurred to me that I was comfortable, mostly dry and having an enjoyable walk. It was steadily raining, so I was surprised at the realization.
I walked out of Merkle to the adjoining Patuxent River Park. I passed my truck, parked at Selby Landing. I walked some more and then retraced my steps. I paused occasionally and took a pull on the bourbon, possibly explaining why I have such a positive memory of this walk in the rain.
Back at camp, I spent at least a half hour restringing my tarp, somehow hoping that if I changed the angles and tautness it would drip less on me. Then I went to bed. I put my dry layers into a stuff sack to keep them dry and serve as my pillow. I intended to put my jacket over my face to keep the drips off, but when I woke up the next morning my jacket was lying right where I staged it before crawling into my sleeping bag. I had enough ground cloth to fold it over my sleeping bag and when I woke up in the morning I was surprised to not have any wet spots. I had a great night of sleep. I suspect the long walk and the bourbon had something to do with that, and maybe also with forgetting to cover up my hiking boots–they got drippage inside and were wet in the morning.
So, to answer your question, I was actually having a pretty good time out in the cold wet. It surprised me how much I enjoyed it.
Well there ya go
Glad to hear that. Some of my most memorable walks have been in the rain, or even at night in the rain. Glad to see a reason to believe I’m not completely crazy, or at least in good company.
I think its wonderful that
some of our most memorable sleeps are under less than ideal bedroom conditions.
We emergency camped on a terraced beach on Lake Superior. The beach was composed of fist sized cobbles. The flattest spot was on a juniper bush. Yes ON the bush which was hugging the ground. The terrace was perhaps 40 inches wide.
Great sleep and best of all no holes in the Thermarests!
I own 3 CCS tarps and swear by them.
They are excellent tarps and well worth the money if you do a lot of canoe tripping. I would not leave home without my CCS tarp. But, even the excellent CCS tarps have to come down sometimes. Especially the big ones - like your 15x15 tundra tarp. 15X15 is a lot of sail. If you have trees to tie off to you are in good shape - but if you are in treeless open country it can be a challenge when the wind gets up in the 20 -35 knot range.