The Camping Forum

BrandNewDay · by **BrandNewDay** on Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:41 pm

Another dumb newbie question!

I'm an American, and all my friends back home are telling me that I have to seal the seams on a new tent. This was the first I'd heard of it, and I've been reading British camping forums for a little while, now.

My Vango has factory-taped seams. Is it necessary to seal these?

If so, I don't know how I'm going to reach the top of my teepee! :cry:

BrandNewDay wrote:Another dumb newbie question!

I'm an American, and all my friends back home are telling me that I have to seal the seams on a new tent. This was the first I'd heard of it, and I've been reading British camping forums for a little while, now.

My Vango has factory-taped seams. Is it necessary to seal these?

If so, I don't know how I'm going to reach the top of my teepee!

You dont need to do this on a new tent.. will be just fine..

Question is do you weather it? some say you only need to do canvas tents others say all..

Pitch it on a dry day.. and then give it a soaking with the hose and let it dry fully.. job done!

BrandNewDay · by **BrandNewDay** on Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:05 pm

I do not have a hose, alas!

It would be nice to give it the old shower test, but I'll have to just risk it.

I will only be 20 minutes from home.

Is it weird that I HOPE it will rain that night?

Also, my American friends say that my tent doesn't look like a real tent. They also think that taking duvets rather than a sleeping bag is crazy, and they don't seem to understand when I tell them that most camp sites do not allow regular campfires.

Americans have a lot more true wilderness to play in, of course.

Gillsy · by **Gillsy** on Sat Jul 31, 2010 5:42 am

Stop worrying & just go , you will be fine.

Btw , i've never weathered any of mine.

in-a-tent · by **in-a-tent** on Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:48 am

Camping in the US is a lot different from camping here, due partly to the fact that we live on a crowded little island so there aren't huge expanses of land to camp on and partly because of tradition.

TBH I don't really like campfire cooking it's a real faff, having to stoke a fire just to make a cup of tea and all that palaver, the gas stove is a lot easier.

Campsites don't allow fires as they have limited space and if you have a campfire that's a patch of ground that the next 3 or 4 sets of campers on your pitch can't use. Most sites will allow fires if they are off the ground, say in a BBQ or similar. It's scorching the grass they don't want.

You can't listen to your American friends, they don't even drink tea ;-)