Canvas Tent Maintenance Suggestions

[gdspiney]

I have a Montana Canvas 10 x 12 Wall tent and absolutely love it.  i have done nearly 2 dozen trips with it since i bought it this Spring.  

If it gets wet I have been religous about hanging out to dry within 24 hrs of taking it down.  Am I being too crazy?  I wonder just how long I could keep it stored damp before mold grows on it.  Since i camp nearly every weekend could mold grow on the tent from one weekend to the next if i don't get it aired out in between?  I would prefer to store it damp and use it every weekend without airing it out.  Does anyone have any practical advice about this topic?  I live in warm/humid New Jersey.

[Whip]

That's a great question - I hope someone with knowledge of canvas will see this.  I have a canvas tent as well, and sure don't want to ruin it.  I'm always very careful to get it dried out right away.

[Tony Phillips]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for.


Last year our basement flooded. I had my 14x14 Pyramid tent stored in an action packer. I thought my tent was protected, when I pulled it out to go to the Hawkeye shoot there was about 2 inches of water in the action packer.

I thought my tent was ruined, so I got on line and did some research. Were my tent had gotten moldy; I sprayed the area with white vinegar. This is to suppose to stop the mold from growing, but didn’t get rid of the stain. I found a site were a guy had the same problem, and since he made his own tents he experimented. He found the best thing to clean mold off of his tent was bleach and water mixed 5:1 (1 cup bleach to 5 cups water) and a lot of elbow grease.

It worked like a charm and I can only see some light staining on the inside of my tent.

[geno]

IMO you are not being to crazy. If you dont camp one weekend because something comes up then that is two weeks for mold to grow. Also how are you storing it. In a box or laying on a wood shelf? a pallet lets air get under it. but if it is wet it will still hold water.  a plastic grate if you could find one would be better. I dont know the montana. I always had US issue that is probably heaver. G

[groundhawg]

dry the thing out every time and you wont have to worry about it molding. if it gets a case a mold, you can be sorta screwed by the molds smell, stain and weakening of the fabric in the moldy area. my question to you is "why risk it?"

[Huntschool]

Most of what you want to know depends on the make and treatment of the canvas the tent was made from.

Dry it as soon as you can.  Its canvas, a natural fiber and even with treatments can begin to "go south" from moisture.

The vinegar and bleach things are correct.  However, and this one is important.. Do not under any circumstances spray any "bug spray" on the canvas.  It will take the water repellency right out of it.

Good luck.  If ya want more info email me.

[Sharpster]

gdspiney,

I know what you mean, I live in N.J. too and I think the humidity is around 140% today!
I would definately dry it everytime. It's amazing how fast absorbant fabric like canvas will start to mold/mildew. The real problem is that after it gets even slightly moldy it's tough to ever get rid of the smell.

-Sharps

[Flinttim]

Really depends on what you call "Canvas". If it's a man made fiber, it can take some moisture before molding. If it's a man made/cotton blend it takes longer. If it's all cotton it can happen overnight. And don't be mistaken , all of them can and will mold.On some fabrics it does not do much more than look bad. On cotton , it can be a death sentence.What it's treated with if anything does not mean that much. Even the so called "mildew resistant" will mold. Any tent should have a tag on it somewhere that tells what it's made from.Unless it's off white (natural) tan or pearl gray (green) it's likely a man made fiber.The cotton stuff nowadays goes into mostly period tentage.
 36 years in the bidness and that's about all I have.

[Tony Phillips]

Mine is made of 13OZ SUNFORGER.  My tent was sitting in that water for 5 months.

[Huntschool]

Tony:

I may be wrong on this but I think your material was manufactured by John Boyle and Co.  Its intent was for awnings and such.  Don't remember much more although we used Boyle products in our Tipi's and period tents for years...  Good stuff.

Terripin Ridge Lean-to and Tipi Co.  My wife designed the Lean-Pe

Flinttim said it all.

[Flinttim]

Sunforger is the registered trade mark of the Astrup Corp. Doesn't mean much since they just bought the Boyle company. All one big family now. What likely saved you Tony was the fact it was in a closed container. Takes two things for mold- moisture and air, plus the mold spores in the air. Worse thing ever happened to me and Sunforger ? Made up a new wedge tent for taking to rendezvous. Beautiful new white tent. Hurt your eyes to look at it. Neighbor's dog came along and pissed on 3 corners ! And that stuff don't come out ! I finally gave up and painted some art work on it.

[Tony Phillips]

Using the bleach scared me but I figured it was ruined so it was worth a shot. Has been a good tent, a little heavy but easy to set up.

[JoeM]

Hey guys,  I do canvas for a living one of the best treatments you can put on materials for water repellency is the 3-M products.  Definetely get those tents dry before you fold them up moisture will actually get trapped in and will fester until you open it back up. Boyle and Astrup were actually bought by Glen Raven Mills out of the Carolina's they want to stop foreign materials from coming into the market so they bought up the two biggest distributors.  They also are trying to shut down the price wars between the two companies.

[gdspiney]

Thanks for all fo the information folks it is truly appreciated.  In conclusion I think i will be certain to continue airing out the tent after every trip....even though I use it somewhere new just about every weekend.  I cannot risk the formation of mold and it sounds like there are several variables that might contribute to its formation in a very short period of time.

JoeM....I am curious about which 3-M products you are amking reference to in your previous post?

[sndmn11]

i may be able to help as i work for one of the larger wall tent manufacturers in the nation.  for those of you who have a sunforger branded tent, you can get by with a few days before you open it up and lay it out and dry it.  anything much longer than that and you are taking a risk.  if you do happen to get a mildew problem it weakens the fibers in that area a lot, so the tent will not be as strong.  please please please never treat your sunforger tent with any sort of waterproofer or anything like that, it could really damage the fabric and at the very least takes away from the breathability.  as far as what to do about other fabrics, i would dry them out as soon as possible, and store them in a dry place.  i dont know about the bleach trick, but we have never reccommended it for anything, but if you feel you must clean a sunforger tent the only way we reccommend is with a soft brush and a very very mild soap...besides these tents were meant to be used and get dirty.
kyle

[UKarcher]

Living in Britain where it occasionally  rains...like nearly every day this summer, and using canvas scout tents for over fifteen years, we have a little experience with this. We get the tents home, hang them straight away and hose them down with fresh water to get the mud off. Nothing eats at the stitching worse than dried on mud. Then let them dry naturally. Make sure you do the bag they live in too. Once they are dry, fold them, bag them and store them on a rack so that air can get to them. We'd usually have four patrol tents, four store tents, four dining shelters and a large mess tent to deal with. We had one set that was over thirty years old and still good as new.
Graham