turbo tent failure in storm
Submitted: Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 12:02
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Member - Bev & Mark B
my hubby was camped in our 6mth old Turbo lite FS 300 at Yalling CP last Saturday night when a classic cape storm hit.
he had the fly on and guy ropes pegged out but after a while,
water started coming in where the walls join the floor, through the door seams and even through the roof where the clip things attach. The sides also flap madly as there is nothing to keep them taugh along the 3m length.
We are interested to see if anyone else has had similar exprience.
We are seriously thinking of getting rid of it as once it has failed once, i doubt we will sleep easily if there is a risk of weather coming up (which in our experience does happen often in remote - and not so remote - areas).
We love the turbo tent idea so are thinking of upgrading to a canvas jet tent. the jet tent has a peg/guy rope loop 1/2 way down the length which would solve the flapping idea.
The long awning is also appealing but we were wondering if it gets in the way when packing/unpacking quickly?
cheers,
Bev
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Reply By: Gossy - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 12:40
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 12:40
We were away a couple of week agon up North of
Adelaide (back of
Melrose). We got smashed on the Friday night with rain wind and hail. I arrived late after finishing work (about 9pm). Luckily my wife had out 240 plus tent already up.
It survived the night
well with no leakage anywhere (ours is also the lite and not canvas). I did mention whilst laying there to my wife that this was the ultimate test for the tent!
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Reply By: Member - cuffs (SA) - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 13:08
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 13:08
I have a 210 & 300 Turbo's not light, have survived severe rain & wind the 300 flaps a lot in the wind the 210 dose not move. Had them both up at the
Silverton Gathering, others will confirm the strong winds there.
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Follow Up By: Member - Richard W (NSW) - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 18:55
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 18:55
Yep. I believe the maximum gust was around 100kph.
I had to fold up the awnings on my camper rather than take the risk of a quick journey to the east coast. LOL
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Follow Up By: lxtbattery - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 21:51
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 21:51
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Reply By: Whirlwinder - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 13:40
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 13:40
Bev,
We have a Turbo 240 and it has coped a lot but never let us down.
However, I did make infill panels for the sides and back of the fly. They zip on and come down nearly to the ground, have no windows but are long enough to peg out allowing the tent windows to be pegged out open. I may have a photo somewhere. I don't like the turbe lite tents, just a bit light for my liking in bad weather as you found out.
Ian
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Reply By: gordon_adel - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 13:57
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 13:57
Hi Bev,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Can't offer much advice about the turbo lite.
However, if it were me I wouldn't give upon blackwolf. They really are one of the best quality tents around. We have a 240 but it's the full on canvas. All flaps can zip down and then there is velco on the bottom of them.
We have the extended canopy and still can get ours packed up relatively quickly if needed. With that said, I guess 'quick' is relative...one mans quick is another mans forever.
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Reply By: mrcv8 - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 14:21
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 14:21
I assume you weathered this tent when you first got it and before this event?
I had my 240 lite plus at Cape Melvelle recently in 40 - 50 knot winds and it managed to hold up all right without any leakage.
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Follow Up By: Member - Bev & Mark B - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 23:30
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 23:30
we did give it a good hose down. The weather bureau site says that there was only 11.8mm rain for the two days last weekend at
Yallingup and max wind gusts of 59 km/h.
we also got rained on on the Bight once and hosed it down again after that.
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Reply By: CSeaJay - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 14:48
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 14:48
Bev
Sorry to say we have similar exprience with our turbo lite
We were
camping in Bundagerg wheb th big rains hit. It bucketed down, but no strong wind, the rain was at enough of an angle to reach the areas not covered by the fly
Water was dripping almost freely from the seams.
CJ
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Reply By: patsproule - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 16:16
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 16:16
Our 12 year old turbo (not lite) 300 has weathered some unbelievable storms that tore other tents to shreds. A friend has the large turbo lite that has weathered a couple of them too. Did you season the tent as per it's instructions - wet it down and let it dry a couple of times? I re-seal our tents about every 2 years with a spray on waterproofing compound that looks very similar to bond-crete, paying particular attention to seals, joins and zips. I cant say I have ever had a leak. Maybe try sealing yours.
Premier Leisure Group who import the tents are also very good to deal with and in past experience have been more than helpful when I have broken or lost the odd item. I'd suggest contacting them if you believe it is faulty.
Cheers - Pat
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Reply By: B1B2 - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 18:09
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 18:09
G'day Bev & Mark,
I have the
southern cross canvas single pole tent. The instructions ( which i very rarely read), said to erect the tent and hose the seams in the backyard, then let it dry off. This will close up the stitching holes.
That worked
well, we were in seriously heavy rain at Wonnangatta Station and were dry as a bone.
If you try this and also spray some silicon on the other problem areas, assuming this is ok for the material, hopefully you will be ok.
Good Luck,
Bill
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Reply By: bordertrek - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 20:55
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 20:55
Was camped at Pedirka
Ruins a couple of weeks ago with our turbolite 210 (fly on) and were in the middle of a massive lightning and wind storm thoughout the night.
It was the first time we had used it and I thought it was going to rip to shreds as the winds hit like a freight train.
I got up and tied some of the guy ropes to the bull bar and although it flapped around furiously it did not suffer any damage or rain ingress.
Before we left for our trip though I did what the instructions said and saturated it and let it dry 3 times. Seems to have worked for us.
Dave
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Reply By: Member - Bev & Mark B - Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 23:38
Friday, Oct 14, 2011 at 23:38
hey guys, thanks for the comments. the instructions don't say how many times to weather it and do have a nice disclaimer about certain weather conditions including strong wind and driven rain.
we think we will change to canvas anyway but the jet tent with the peg/guy point in the middle might win the day.
any comments on the jet tent would be most appreciated
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Reply By: Member - Robbo (QLD) - Saturday, Oct 15, 2011 at 11:37
Saturday, Oct 15, 2011 at 11:37
We went through a massive storm last December in our Turbolite 2.4 Plus last December on
Moreton Island. The winds were up around 50-60 knots and the rain was coming in pretty much horizontal .We had a bit of
water in through the back window which I presumed was splash up from the ground . There was no seam leakage but then again there was a 18 x 20 foot tarp above ( for what it was worth- it was flapping up and down like a parachute even though we had poles on every eyelet and were triple or quadruple roped and 40 cm sand pegged!!) . The structures and fly all remained intact
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Reply By: Janders - Sunday, Oct 16, 2011 at 10:24
Sunday, Oct 16, 2011 at 10:24
Yep looking into the F25X or F30X Jet Tent here too.
Was actually convinced with the Oztent but with three kids and only capable of short stays we feel the room is premium to time.
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