Saturation point

[Josh J]

after this weekend of camping with the family a question came to mind.  How long or at what point does the fabric on the rain fly or sidewalls of tents reach their saturation point and start weeping water?

 

I’m talking steady consistant rain,  not heavy down pour, although that would be interesting as well.

Everything has a saturation point but what is that?

[Tipi Walter]

My Hilleberg Kerlon silicone fly doesn’t get saturated and stays hydrophobic for the duration of however long the storm continues.  What does get saturated is the surrounding inside and outside of the tent—100% humidity.  Therefore condensation is inevitable in the right conditions—like during a 75 hour rainstorm at 35F—or  a sleetstorm at 28F etc.

A “saturated” tent fly implies it is leaking rain water into the tent—this never happens unless I have small holes in the tent fly—to be patched with a dab of McNett’s silnet sealer.

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