"Hot-taped Seams"

“Have owned coupla Walrus tents (Rapeede and Microswift) for coupla years. Strictly weekend use, but the Rapeede stayed up in gale-force winds this past winter. Neither has seen heavy rain. In preparation for my huge Western trip (leaving June 29), I sealed the seams just yesterday. Here's the rub. Because of the tape on the inside of the seam, I had to seal 'em on the outside, which is not too pretty. Did I do the right thing, or was it a superfluous effort?”

“sorry to tell you this, but if it was seam taped, it does not need to be seam sealed. so, basically, you wasted time, sealer, paid extra for factory sealing, and made a mess on your tent for nothing.”

“May not be as pretty as it once was but still a great tent...”

“...gotta love that hub system.”

“I don't know if you wasted time or not...my tents get the garden hose treatment before they see the backcountry.
Though Walrus seems reputable enough that if they taped the seems you shouldn't need to do more (for a while anyway) but as far as making a mess of the tent, who cares?”

“Withstood a night of torrential downpour on Fri and found out that given enough rain, my Trekker Tarp leaks at the hiking pole attachment points and the center ring of the crest where the mesh insert hangs from. But that's not the worst of it...

Let me tell you how good a tarp is when the ground becomes saturated and overland flow of the rainwater inundates the ground you're camped on. Can you say "Thermarest Island"?”

“buddur was therm-a-surfin'!”

“gnarly dude”

“Not a TOTAL waste. The seam grip protects the threads as well as keeps out water. Those stitches are in there to stay!”

“Buddur, Were you using the mesh insert when the water flowed under the tarp? I was wondering if the water came through the floor of the insert if yoiu were using it.”

“No insert...just a cheap poncho and a Thermarest between me and the ground.

I put a stick under the upslope side of the poncho around rolled it under to make a dike-like barrier. It worked too...but the water started ponding and overflowing. By the time the sun came up (starting ~5:15am), I was sitting up on my groundpad watching a small stream flow beside me.”

“Backpacker magazine had an article a few months ago about making a water dam for a ground cloth like you described. They used rocks and folded the sheet over them and tucked it underneath if I remember right.
It must have been pretty bug free not to use the insert. Hopefully, you didn't get bit and wet. The bugs have been pretty bad around here lately.”