Tent Fabric Torn – Is it Ruined?

It’s a common question. The very nature of camping is that it’s a DIY holiday. This can be the most enriching and enjoyable aspect for some, but for others this can be a nightmare of split poles and stray poles poking through your brand new tent fabric because you’ve got a little bit impatient trying to thread the fibreglass pole through it’s sleeve in a hurry whilst trying to keep the kids from running out of sight at the same time.

Most of the damage that we have reported to us is from people who have had the odd mishap or been careless when putting the tent up. Once the thing is up you are usually in the clear…..until it comes to take it down again!

Don’t be put off, but please (gasp….) read the instructions before you erect your tent, and ideally give it a road test at home, or in the local park or friends garden before you go away. It’s much easier to try it the first time without your nosey campsite neighbours peering at you smugly down the nose of their wine glass whilst sat in their nice reclining chairs 😉

TAKE YOUR TIME. Less haste more speed, (or is it the other way around) If you take your time putting the tent up and down, in reality it won’t take much longer but you’re a lot less likely to have an incident! The  tent could have been a considerable investment, so be gentle with it 🙂

Whatever situation has resulted in the hole or tear in your flysheet, it’s unlikely to be the end of the world, there are some great repair products out there, and sometimes you won’t even notice the problem once it’s had a quick fix.

Kampa Repair Tape is a transparent, very strong and sticky tape. If you get a rip or hole in your tent fabric just cut a piece of this and stick it on the outside of the tent fabric, or to be doubly sure put it on both sides.

Have a look at our video guide here

If you’ve managed to wear a split in the shockcord (The elastic that holds the fibreglass poles together) then here’s a handy kit to use to repair the odd pole –

And if you have a broken fibreglass pole, repair sets are generic and freely available. Spare Fibreglass Poles are available in various diameters though so you will need to check this fact before buying the correct replacement set. They’re easy to replace , please see our video guide here –

There’s a host of other handy tent repair products available in the dedicated section on our website Here

If you treat your tent with a little care and respect it will last you for many a happy camping trip but even if you haev the odd mishap, with some of these products and advice you can stretch it’s life out a bit longer. As Always, if you have any queries on repairing your tent, please drop us a line here at World of Camping.