Ok, I never did get around to posting the results of the Kiwi product that we used to help seal up our drive-away tent. Read about the initial application here.
Overall, I think its safe to say we are pleased. It’s yet to go through a major down pour, but several light drizzles show that the water sealant seems to have worked well on the tent. Once wet, it was easy to see where more of it needed to be applied. A second spraying of it should do the trick.
In the first writeup, I mentioned a couple warning that were on the can. One was the possibility of discoloration on the product it’s being applied to. The end result for us was a slightly deeper color. And it was very slight. No problems there. The other one was that the material needed to stay put for 48 hours before folding it back up. We left it up in our garage stall for a couple days.
In the end, I would buy the Kiwi stuff again with on hesitation.
Archive for the 'Tools/Equipment' Category
One of the tasks I have wanted to complete with the drive-away Westy circus tent that we picked up is to make it water repellent. In observing the condition of the canvas, it became apparent that it most likely was not very water tight. The previous owner had also stated in advance that it leaked a little and that he repeatedly put a tarp over the top whenever he used it. I suppose this helped to keep the water out, but it’s also left a ration of fiber glass on the top of the tent that manages to get all over my arms whenever it is used.
To help with making it water tight, I picked up some spray from Kiwi (3M was another company I was considering) called Camp Dry. The first thing my wife observed on the can was the fact that it needed to dry for 48 hours before being packed back up, to prevent cracking. Well, this wasn’t exactly convenient but oh well. Today we finally set up the tent in one of the stalls of our garage. We left the upright polls unextended so the roof of the tent was at about waist/chest level. Then we proceeded to spray the top of the tent. We are only doing this part for now and we’ll what it looks like tomorrow. There was one warning on the can stating that the color of the material may change. More reading indicated that this usually meant the color of the material turned only slightly darker. Not a big deal to us.
Of course, now that we have done this, there won’t be a lick of precipitation at the campout this weekend 
I’ll post the results of the Kiwi stuff after I give it a hose test in a couple days.
