Bell tent leaking - help!!

[mogs0]

i bought a 3m bell tent a couple of weeks ago and pitched it in the garden on Tuesday and left it up. The dc and I have just been up to have a picnic in it and there are puddles of water all round the edge of the zig . There was also a huge pool of water at the bottom of one side of the A frame.

What did I do wrong?!

[mel2005]

when it first gets wet the cotton fibres swell making it waterproof, soulpad said mine might leak first time it got wet but it didnt luckily as we were sleeping in it anyway that might be why, so you might find it never happens again.

[mogs0]

That sounds encouraging, thanks. I'm going to leave it in the garden for the next week or so before sleeping in it to see if it improves.

I wondered if water was coming in through the eyelet above the A frame. Do you cover yours? If so, what with?

[mel2005]

i have a plastic cover for the eyelet that came with the tent, is it a soulpad tent?

[mogs0]

No, not a soul pad. It was a cheapo, which I'm worried is why it's leaking.

I have been to inspect the eyelet and it doesn't seem to have much of a gap to have let that much water in.

I'm hoping your first suggestion is the problem and that it'll fix itself.

[mel2005]

i would get a plastic stopper for your pole, i cant find one on e-bay but i bet soulpad will sell you one

[mel2005]

soulpad.co.uk/sanctuary/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,76/category_id,14/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,1/

[lovecat]

definitely the leak around the a-frame will have been caused by lack of a plastic cap thingy. DH tied a balloon to our tent at a festival for identification purposes, removing the cap thingy to do it, and that night in the torrential rain we had a leak down one side of the A frame pole. As soon as the balloon was removed and the cap replaced, no leaks!