BCT Outdoors Canvas Tent care

Congratulations on your purchase of a BCT Outdoors Tent!

Seasoning (aka ‘weathering’) a canvas tent is an important process for getting your tent water-tight and ready for a long life of camping. Canvas tents are usually made from cotton or a cotton-poly blend. The canvas fabric is cut into panels and these panels are sewn together with thread leaving hundreds of tiny holes where the sewing needle has punctured the canvas. These holes are larger than the thread and so the first few times the tent is wet there is likely to be some leaking.

To ensure your tent is water-tight and ready for many camping adventures, follow these simple steps to properly season your canvas tent.

Step 1: Set up your tent in a suitable location.

Step 2: Wet the tent thoroughly using a hose or sprinkler to emulate rainfall. Sometimes a rain shower or the morning dew can do the same job but don’t count on this.

Step 3: Allow the tent to dry completely after wetting it.

Step 4: Repeat the wetting and drying process at least two more times.

Cotton and thread expand and shrink after being wet and then dried, so seasoning canvas is a way of speeding up this natural process, by reducing the hole size and any leaking in your tent.

By following these steps, your canvas tent will become water-tight and ready for your camping adventures! If your new tent is leaking, its highly likely that this is the reason why.

Please ensure that your tent is NEVER stored our put away wet or damp or your tent will get mouldy, which will damage the canvas.