UKH

I've had my Terra Nova Solar for nearly 20 years and it's still going strong, even surviving recent thunderstorms with hardly any drips onto the inner tent. However, the taped seams are starting to flake off a bit and wondered if anyone else has had similar issues with Terra Nova tents?

I’ve probably got the same tent as you. The seams are a little worn but there is no ingress of water. I had an issue with the groundsheet leaking possibly as I don’t use a footprint and more likely due to its age. I reproofed with Fabsil Universal protector, flysheet too, 2 years ago and it’s fine in storms.

I think Lancashire Sports Repairs reseam jackets so possibly they do tents too.

20 years for a tent is good value in my opinion

I would be very impressed if after 20 years my tent was still going strong. It's normal for taped seams to flake after this length of time. Cheapest fix would be to buy some seam sealant and then seal the seams yourself. Will cost about £8 and take an hour or so. Its very easy, loads of videos on YouTube. 

I have a 20-25 year old Quasar. I had Terra Nova 're tape the seams about 10 years ago. They just taped over the old tape. But well worth it, although the new tape is now coming off I've still had no leaks. Will probably get hold of some liquid seam sealant and do it myself next time.

If I used the liquid sealant would you recommend peeling off all the existing tape?

Are the seams folded and double stiched or just a simple running stitch (single row)? My ancient Quasar has the latter and on such tents the tape actually rienforces the stitching to give strength unlike the former which is inherantly a stronger stitch.

If its just a single row of stitching then when the tape is removed it will be weaker, this may not matter if you don't use it in gales but if you seal them with silicone, apply it while the tent is pitched under tension otherwise when you pitch it the seams will gape and still possibly leak.

If you want to retain the strength added by the tape you'll have to re-tape them. You can get iron on tape but it doesn't work very well, self adhesive sticks better. Spinnaker repair tape sticks to PU well and will probably be cheaper than alternatives like Tenacious tape, Kampa tape or Cuben repair tape. Spinnaker is usually 50mm wide so you can cut it in half and effectively double it's length, a 4.5m roll (i.e. 9m cut in half) is about £8.

See my post above, if just sealing the seams, do it on the outside and leave the tape on for the strength it adds.