Dying a tent?

[Member 34319]

I have a hideously yellow tent I wanted to sell. Couldn't get much of what I paid for it back so i am keeping it.

With that said, it is not the greatest tent, but it works for a single person, and I am thinking of just adapting it to one of my get home bags.

So has anyone dyed a waterproof item before? Does it retain its waterproofness?

This thing is bright bubblegum yellow, I want it to be earth tones. What color do you think would work best?



Thanks all!

Reno911

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[notazombie]

Honestly, I'd just set it up and go to work with some spray paint. Might even add to the waterproofing. Probably want to leave it set up for a few days to off-gas before you roll it back up.

 

[OFADAN]

Or use as is but always keep a tarp or netting with it to conceal. Also assuming it is in a wilderness environment you could easily create a Yeti suit for it in a few minutes if you have the skill & knowledge to make one. Another option is you could make a ghillie cover for it.

For a get home bag you're probably much better served with a lightweight tarp shelter. It is far less weight and your trying to get home not bug out. So long term comfort isn't one of your objectives I'm assuming. And, this is even more important, if your getting home under potentially hostile conditions then you want something like a tarp so you can see people approaching you and you can easily roll out and leave if necessary. In a tent you have no visibility and are tactical in an enfilade which gives your opponent an advantage.

But if you want to use it then we've provided you with many options.

 

[mjbskwim]

I would doubt you could 'die' a new color in that fabric. I'm with notazombie and believe painting would be the best option. But you will have to get the right kind of paint for it to stick and be pliable.
Otherwise the tarp or cammo netting for hunting blinds would be my next choice.

 

[The Heretic]

I have a tan/yellow tent that I hide pretty well with a lightweight small camo net. It isn't bright yellow though.

 

[OutlawHoss]

I use a large cammo tarp installed over my canvass wall tent, with a 'specially' made flap for the wood stove pipe. You gain an extra layer of dead air space (depending on how close the tarp is fitted over the tent), a lot of moisture and condensation control, and done right (tarpology!) you can make a outside storage and vestibule for cooking in the rain, etc. And a lot of privacy. As big as my wall tent is, I've had people walk damn near into it (guests, not people or zombies in the woods) because it's so effective.

My point being is it is easy and beneficial to use a easily replaceable and highly customizable cammo tarp, and by leaving the tent a bright color, you have a great visual indicator/marker you could use in an emergency.

 

[Koda]

omg, don't paint it... you don't know what the chemical reaction will do. Tent fabrics are synthetic and often a laminate to make it waterproof. No assurance the paint wont peel off.

It is entirely possible to properly change the color with fabric dyes you can get at any fabric shop like Joanns or Amazon for cheap. I have second hand experience with this, pick a very dark color a friend dyed a gortext item dark blue and it turned out pretty purple...


I also agree about just using a tarp. A single person sil-nylon tarp will weigh less than a pound where the Eurika Solitaire weighs well over 2lbs and takes up that much more space in the pack. Trying to get home on foot you want to travel light and fast. I would save that Eureka tent as is for backpacking trips as dying it even properly might void any warranty on it.

 

[Stomper]

The material is most likely a synthetic which simply put, it's woven threads of "plastic". If you DO paint it, there's a spray paint called "plastic fusion" in a myriad of colors. It chemically etches/bonds to a wide array of plastics, and may work for you. The best thing to do is find material "samples" of the same type your tent is made from and test the various methods before committing.

 

[edslhead]

You could wear blue tint sunglasses when you camp. It should look green

 

[Member 34319]

Tgabks for the replies guys.

I've died plastic parts in my days, just nothing fabric like.

I'm not sold on taking a rattle can to it, but might try and a swatch of it first.

I'll likely die it too in a small spot. See which works better and doesn't mess it up too much.

 

[Joe13]

I'd wash it a time or two to try and remove some of the waterproofing.

 

[jbett98]

It would look great in a field like this.

 

[jbett98]

Even better if she showed up to admire your colorful yellow tent!.

 

[Stomper]

Dang.... that girl is one bag of bones. She should stop smelling the flowers and start eating them.

 

[orygun]

Honestly, I'd just set it up and go to work with some spray paint. Might even add to the waterproofing. Probably want to leave it set up for a few days to off-gas before you roll it back up.

I would think one of the spray paint/dyes for vinyl would be a place to start.

 

[Koda]

Spray painting it will add almost a pound to the packed weight of the tent.

 

[Mark W.]

Most of these tents are a nylon based fabric. No Dye will work PERIOD

As to painting it that might work for a short while but to find a paint that has the flexibility to hold up to being packed the way a tent is packed is not going to happen.

Buy a different Tent or live with it.

 

[Koda]

they make dyes for synthetic fabrics including nylon. But I agree about flexibility of spray paint not holding up, nylon tents expand and contract during use

 

[Joe13]

I liked the camo tarp idea personally.

Nice to get out of your tent and have some dry space instead of walking straight out into the rain.

 

[AMProducts]

Oddly enough if you use "cheap" paint, this will work best. I have a buddy who spends a lot of time making everything black, and uses either RIT or spraypaint. Typically, the item dyed will not magically change color, you will still see a percentage of the original color come through. For thicker synthetic fabrics like cordura, RIT works pretty good, for thinner materials, cheap paints like the 99c can of black paint from Wallyworld does a pretty decent job, the idea is not really to completely paint it the new color, it's just to fog it enough to take the color down to a manageable level. Flat paints are going to work better than glosses (as glosses try to form a shiny surface) where as flats, just kinda put little particles that don't orient enough to be shiny.