Reproofing an outwell tent?

[WhirlwindHugs]

Has anyone does this? It's a florida 6 we bought from ebay, it had some mildew inside so we cleaned it with a very dilute mildew solution and rinsed off.

We tested it with a howe and seemed fine after that but in very heavy rain last week it started to leak.

Presumably the bleach has slightly damaged the waterproofing, so we want to reproof (can't afford a new tent!) but is it the inside of the roof we need to spray or the outside? I keep seeing conflicting advics.

[WhirlwindHugs]

Sorry about typos!

[bombayflambe]

After the heavy rain did it dry taut?
Sometimes after a cleaning the fibres need a chance to felt together again. You may find the problem has sorted itself if it had a good soaking and dried in situ.
Is it polycotton? If so the synthetic element may have been pulled a bit when you scrubbed it.
Was the leak along a seam? If so use a seam sealer painted along the inside.
If you have a good section to reproof do it based on the original waterproofing (does it bead outside or not?) If it's cotton then proofing won't be necessary, just wet and dry in sun until it sorts itself out.

[WhirlwindHugs]

It's polyester I think? www.outwell.com/en/TV/Ikon%20film/Outtex%205000 Did not entirely understand this explanation.

We pulled it as tight as we can but had to put tarps over it to keep the inside dry - it's currently drying out hung up in our conservatory. It's too big to pitch at our house. (But we could take it to a friend's if necessary)

The leaking was not really at the seams, it was leaking through it random places all over but mostly at the front where the mould had been worst which makes me think it was us cleaning it that caused the problem.

Beading is on the outside I think! So spray the outside?

Thank you for your help.

[bombayflambe]

Yep, if it beads on the outside them proof on the outside. It needs to be pitched taut and allowed to dry fully before striking.
You may want to consider taping any affected seams at the same time. if the fibres have shrunk back at the scrubbed area then a general spray will help for the flat face but there may still be gaps at the joints.

[dobbythefuckingjizzelf]

If it's a polyester tent and you have removed proofing from the fabric with mildew remover you won't re proof it as the waterproofing is factory applied to the material before manufacture

You may get lucky with an application of fabsil or similar if it isn't to badly damaged

I once sold an £800 poly cotton tent to someone who used it once and then put it away wet, got it out a month later with mildew all over and scrubbed it with jif
Then he rang me a few days later explained what he had done and said its leaking, nothing he did would reproof it and it ended up in the bin

[WhirlwindHugs]

Annoyingly it already had mould on it when we bought it (but we didn't know, obviously) so there was nothing we could do except try and clean it. We were very careful but obviously it was always a risk.

We managed on holiday and will try and repair it. Thanks for all the advice bombay.