Tarp Care?

[stooboy]

Ive got a used and abused DD 3x2 tarp, it was my first and recently i have started using it again.

Ive never done anything to it since i got it but the last time i put it away it seemed sticky almost like tar with so much smoke "inhalation" andy noticed that the rain water coming off it was brown so i wondered if i should perhaps perform some maintenance on it?

like wash and reproof it ? if so how do you wash it just soak it in a barrel for a day or so and shake every now and then and then put in with some kind of reproofing stuff or am i being daft?

 

[phill_ue]

Chuck it in the bath and give it a wash. Don't have the water too hot though as it could affect the tarp if there is a rubber proofing on it. Look at the Nikwax website for reproofing products.

 

[Mesquite]

Ive got a used and abused DD 3x2 tarp, it was my first and recently i have started using it again.

Ive never done anything to it since i got it but the last time i put it away it seemed sticky almost like tar with so much smoke "inhalation" andy noticed that the rain water coming off it was brown so i wondered if i should perhaps perform some maintenance on it?

like wash and reproof it ? if so how do you wash it just soak it in a barrel for a day or so and shake every now and then and then put in with some kind of reproofing stuff or am i being daft?

Funny you should raise this subject Stoo as I've been thinking the very same for my 2 main tarps that I use, a decathlon 3x3 and an andywinkk 4x4.5. Apart from ensuring that they are fully dried out before storing I've not done anything with them and both are nearly 2 years old.

Whilst they don't let water in when they get wet the water no longer beads like it did when I first bought them.

I'll be interested in what other people think.

 

[stooboy]

put it in the bath are you serious! lol this thing is manky

yeah i always make sure they are dried, the DD one seems to have absorbed more smokeyness than the USMC 3x3 i own its not quite at the sticky tarry stage yet

 

[andybysea]

Twas like stewed tea the water coming off that thing!,,my 4.5x3 was sticky and covered in ash after the other weekend, i set it up in the garden and left it two days in them horrendous down pours we had, then left in another full day to dry once the rains had stopped,ash and sticky/tar feeling gone but still reeks of smoke,every time the misses opens the cupboard its in she gives me grief! A soak in a mild no bio powder in the bath may work quite well in luke warm water then dry and spray with a reproofing product, especially on your stoo it seems its developed its own alien life forms.