“Refurbishing” older BD Firstlight

Mark,
You did not state if you used silicone sealant for the first job. Hope so. Some folks have used PU sealers like SeamGrip for these tents and gotten very wet.

Silicone holds up very well. I used some around a bathroom shower enclosure about 5 years ago, and it still shows no sign of deterioration. That's a far cry from many other sealers.

If you used silicone, I would do no more than just brush an extremely thin bit of NAPA Permatex over the old sealant with a stiff brush or by smearing. Mixing with solvents is populat on this site, but please note that some of these solvents contain oils that will reduce the adhesion of sealants.

How the various silicone sprays affect the breathability of Epic Malibu is an open question, AFAIK. Of course, sprays like Kiwi Camp Dry out door silicone fabric spray say that they will not prevent fabric from breathing; but Epic has microscopic sized openings that might be affected by silicone's ability to attach to itself. I would not risk it unless the canopy leaks.

I would say leave well enough alone. Five years is nothing if kept in a dark and dry place. If you still feel uncomfortable, test it out at the next downpour by all means. But for me anyway, I wouldn't mess with it. Adding another layer when none is needed just means unnecessarily decreasing breathable surface that much more. The second layer, to really cover over the first, will take up more surface area. Much better to do spot fixes where there are actual leaks.

I used SilNet. BD even sent it with the tent…LOL. I did thin it a bit first.

Pretty much what I was thinking as well about any DWR sprays, etc. The First Light is what it is. Probably artificially trying to increase its water resistance, even were it possible, would mess up it breath-ability which is what makes it work great, IMHO, within its proper setting.