[at-l] Re: Wanderlust

[shellydhale at earthlink.net (Shelly Hale)]

What's the best sealant to use?

Shelly Hale
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Hix" <daveh@psknet.com>
To: <TrailR@aol.com>; <morsed@newschool.edu>; <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 10:29 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Re: Wanderlust


> My experience supports this.  The sil nylon is waterproof.  The seams are
the
> owners responsibility.  Many folk don't seal seams correctly.  The coating
> should be on the side the water is -- in the case of a tent; the outside.
You
> want the water pressure to be trying to push the sil caulking through the
> seams and the needle holes, not having already penetrated the fabric and
be
> creating water balloons on the inside.
>
> If you take the tent hiking right out of the box, it will leak.  If you
seal
> it properly, if should not -- unless you pitch it downwind of a campfire,
or
> the like.  Sil nylon melts/burns easily.  Those little sparks you see in
the
> smoke of a fire can turn it into a pinhole sieve.
>
> My older Nomad has been through a number of storms which defeated nearly
every
> other tent in the area at the time.  One
> driving-rain-followed-by-sleet-followed-by-snow night on a PATH
maintaining
> weekend trip, a Stephenson (sp?) owner. and I, stayed dry in a storm that
> soaked a dozen or more other tents.  Two dry tents out of the whole lot -- 
> both single walls.
>
> I now have a Wanderlust 242, which has not been tested as vigorously as my
> Nomad.  It is a tad less taut and flaps more in a wind; however no leaks,
so
> far.  One year I used it on a Konarock Crew when we got stranded on the
> Mountain by a storm which washed out the access road.  I was the only one
that
> stayed dry.  This past week on Massarock Crew we had heavy rains every
night.
> I stayed dry in my 242.  Once during the day, the stake which hold the
back
> wall & fly out/down was pulled loose.  The whole tent was a pile of sil
nylon
> with water puddle all over it.  The others were sure that all my gear was
wet,
> as you could see it through the water and semi-translucent sil nylon.
Wrong.
> I had a couple of camp towel's of moisture to wipe up off the floor along
the
> back wall.  The sil nylon had settled around the sleeping bag and it was
dry.
> Ditto my other gear.  It is a good thing we got back to the spike camp
when we
> did, as the wind was picking up and might have blown the whole rig down
the
> mountain.  But that was my inadequate staking job, not the tent.  BTW -- 
> everyone else had significant water in their tent; one guy's tent and gear
was
> soaked through-and-through.
>
> Chainsaw
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <TrailR@aol.com>
> To: <morsed@newschool.edu>; <at-l@backcountry.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 3:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [at-l] Re: Wanderlust
>
>
>
> In a message dated 6/23/2004 2:18:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> morsed@newschool.edu writes:
>
> <<
> If it leaks, it's the buyers fault. We are the ones that are  supposed to
> seal it.
> <<
>
>
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