Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Seasoning (pre shrinkin) a new wall tent?

So after 40+ years of sleeping in 3rd rate smallish tents that don't handle adverse weather, pop up campers, travel trailers, motels, and rented cabins for our 3 month deer season I have purchased a new wall tent and wood stove. I'm looking for some opinions from the experienced wall tent users. Do you wet down, soak a new tent once properly set up to help swell the cotton before it's first use? It's a Davis tent. The site does address this in the FAQ's but it states why to to do it and why not to do it. The tent will be utilized with a fly if that makes any difference. Thanks for your response.

Gregg

Just regular ole SPG for me.

I didn't bother "seasoning" mine from Davis. Though I did set it up at home and left it up for a few days before packing it for the trip. With the heat and humidity we are having now, I can't imagine it wouldn't "season" it.

I string it up in the garage and spray it down with your favorite water sealant. Don't wet it. Let it dry for a few days before rolling it up. Outside is fine if not don't rain. Let it dry.

Most canvas tents will shrink quite a bit when they go through their first couple wet/dry cycles and less each time they go through this. If you have a frame for yours, this means your frame may not fit after a couple cycles, so most guys wet them down and let them dry at home to fit their frame before taking them up in the woods. If you don't have a frame it probably doesn't matter much, but I love having a metal frame for our tents. Makes set up and take down so darned easy and the tent is extremely tight once set up this way.

It does have an internal frame. The shrinkage issue was mentioned by Davis and that the tent should be on the frame and taught with all guy lines and tent base stakes in place for the soaking and drying process or there would be fitment problems later.

After wetting it down and drying it out, make certain the canvas is completely dry before rolling it up. Never, ever put a canvas tent away if it not 100% dry.

Enjoy your new "home away from home."

Good luck with your hunting season.

L.W.

My 100% cotton sailcanvas tent is right at 35 years old now. The guy that sewed it up said don't worry about it, cooking inside creates enough moisture to draw up the weave. It does admit less light now...or I'm going blind. But it has also faded to a pale gray. I lived in it once for 6 months, never a problem. Nothing works as well when you have to dry wet work clothes and boots for the next day.

My maker said about same as LW. Set up in a sunny area, wet down, & let completely dry. We had good results, better moisture control than some of the old GP mediums we used to borrow.

We always let mother nature do the seasoning for us! No worries!

Bacon. We cooked lots of bacon in ours when my buddy Jerry had to get a new one after his older one was ruined in a warehouse fire. Then again we cooked lots of bacon in the old one. We just cook lots of bacon at elk camp.

What, no ketchup?

A little salt, a little pepper. Don't overdo it.

Yes, the tent will be well seasoned, grilled venison with salt n pepper, bacon, sausage, deep fried walleye, chili, keilbasa n sauerkraut, and most likely plenty of flatulence. No ketchup in this camp. I'm leaning toward letting mother nature and some cooking handle the cotton canvas. It's first use will be a 2 week set up in Wyoming in mid October.

You probably want to leave the fabric weave loose then.

There's a wealth of informative videos on the Davis website. I've called a time or two with questions and every time somebody that knew what they were talking about helped me.

I've owned a couple of Davis tents for close to 20 years. Only good things to say about them. Enjoy!

Tenderizer ? 😁

Yes, I have read everything on there site and have talked with them several times but not regarding whether or not to soak and dry the tent prior to use. Just wondering what others do if anything.

Why wouldn't ya' just season it per the manufacturers instructions?

I just bought a Springbar Skyliner and will set it up before deer camp, not just to season it but to familiarize myself with it's setup too.

There answer isn't exactly definitive though they do say they don't tell people to do this.


Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Below you will find answers to the most common questions we receive about our canvas wall tents. If you have any questions that are not answered on this page, don't hesitate to call us or stop by the shop, we would be happy to answer them for you.
Wall Tents

There response to pre shrinking the canvas.

Great question with a mixed answer! The reason some people recommend this is that a tent is more likely to leak the first time it gets wet. This is due to the needle holes made when sewing the tent together. When new tents get wet, the cotton shrinks around the thread and seals itself. So setting your new tent up and wetting it down could be a good idea. HOWEVER, keep reading for why it might not be the best idea.

When setting up your tent to hose it down, you could end up with a shrinkage problem unless you set it up VERY well. When we say very well we mean the same as you would set it up for elk camp. This means you must use EVERY rope and stake, make sure the ropes are TIGHT, and be certain the stakes are SECURE (this might be a challenge on soft backyard lawns). Under these “real hunting world” conditions, your tent would seal itself and retain its size and shape