Sealing Tent Seams

“I bought my kid a Eureka Getaway tent at Walmart. He's just 11 and starting Boy Scouts, so I want to wait on getting him a good tent until he's older and more responsible. In the meantime, I understand that this tent will suffice IF I seal the seams. I assume this means waterproofing them. How does one do this? Do I need to buy a special product, or can I use Thompson's Water Seal on it? Thanks for the help! Nancy”

“they sell stuff in the camping store, Seam grip, that's made for this purpose. It's worth doing. It has a little applicator and you just run a thin coat along the seams. I do inside and out.”

“Nrusinak, do a search of this website, there are several threads floating around here on this subject.”

“Thompson water seal?
In a word.........no.”

“I have heard of Thompson's being used to water seal a canvas tent...but it's not for this particular application.

You shouldn't used Thompson's for anything, BTW. Consumer Reports listed Thompson's lowest in their report on water sealants. I think Olympic came out on top.”

“like ynami times two said, use seam sealer. comes in a little bottle with a songe on top. Easy to apply, just set up the tent and run it over the seams inside and out.”

“Which songe?”

“chit, sPonge”