“Fixing” a gummy Silnylon tent fly?

[Blake Wills]

Hello,
I have a Lightweight North Face Vector 22 tent I inherited. The tent looks brand new, not a spec of dirt;however, the rain fly is tacky or gummy on the underneath side. I assume this is Silnylon or some sort of silicone treated material. My question is- Can-Should-How do I get rid of the tackiness? The tent bag made from the same material is somewhat the same way, I put a bit of baby powder inside the bag and that seemed to work, but I am a bit reluctant to do it to the rainfly.
Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

[todd]

Had this happen with the original version of my HubbaHubba. You probably have a urethane coated fly – not silnylon.

MSR replaced the tent with the newer model (at no charge) due to the defect. It's worth a call to TNF. But to answer your question the waterproofing is breaking down and I doubt there's a long term fix that you'll find satisfactory. Powder might work – I dunno.

[Roger Caffin]

Silnylon never does that, but poorly-cured PU certainly does. It is NOT repairable.

Manufacturing defect – return.

Cheers

[Blake Wills]

Thanks to both for the reply. Will send it in.
Thanks-Blake

[Author]

Posts