Ripped Superfly - Help!

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Hello,

I was out a week ago and despite the good weather we had one day of very high winds. Everything was fine for the first night however on the second day I was in my hammock reading a book and started to hear an odd noise and then heard flapping coming from somewhere new so I got up to investigate and found the below. I'm not sure exactly how it happened....it could be one thing or a combination of factors. It wasn't pitched overly tight however the high winds were hitting right against this door of the tarp. It could also have been the webbing rubbing against it. Whatever the cause what's done is done. Can anyone offer some advice as to whether it's going to be possible to repair this and if so what might be the best way of tackling it?




Thanks,

Gordon

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I'm also not sure if photobucket is trying to be funny but it's not helping the pain.lol

[GadgetUK437]

I feel your pain, bur fear not, things can always be patched up.
Contact one of the cottage makers on here, they will be able to get that back in shape for you.

[Paulm]

Looks like the tension on the side pull out might have proved too much for it combined with the strong wind ?

On my tarps I add a small loop of 2mm shock cord to all of the tie out points and attach the guy lines to the shock cord. Provides a bit of give/flex in rough conditions to hopefully avoid the kind of problem you've had there.

Hope you get it sorted okay !

[Bisley Bullet]

Oh dear, looks as though the sewing line was too close to the silnylon edge. Fixable I would of thought, got a sewing machine?

My three options in order of ease and tidiness on completion;

1. Pull the frayed edge underneath and resew, crisscrossing a few times to add strength.
2. Unpick the binding around effected area and resew gathering in fresh material. This will distort the shape of the tarp somewhat but not too much you can't use it.
3. Unpick the binding around effected area, sew a new narrow patch of material doubled over the frayed edge. If you haven't got any spare material laying around you could cut up the stuff sack that comes with it, and resew.

How old is it, maybe refund/exchange?

[craige]

Send it back! Seriously, that shouldn't be happening to what is supposed to be a premium piece of gear. I've seen this a couple of times on the other forum and they had it replaced or refunded.
My own myog tarps have been out in seriously strong winds with more minimal reinforcements, using lighter materials and I have never had a failure. I don't bind the rl though because (as you have proved) it is a point of failure over a properly constructed seam.
Tbh, looking at the stitching it doesn't look like it's a particularly tidy sewing job in the first place, wonky lines and twisted seams (unavoidable to a point but not that bad) but that could be the way the pic is?

A proper repair job would be to unpick the entire rl then trim the fabric behind where it ripped (frayed) (on both sides to keep the tarp even) then rebind the entire seam. Anything else will make the tarp wonky and/or prone to further failure. As I said this is warbonnets fault, not yours. Get them to sort it.

I couldn't make it out in the pics, but where is the reinforcement tab for the ripped panel on the door seam, that can be seen on the non ripped side? That should (imo) be sewn into the rl to help stop the side pulling away the way it has, looks like the other side is.

[Switch]

I feel your pain, bur fear not, things can always be patched up.
Contact one of the cottage makers on here, they will be able to get that back in shape for you.

I may well do on contacting one of the cottage vendors here as I'm not sure I trust myself with this job on a sewing machine. Past experiences haven't been good and that's not with something like silnylon or at a stress point.

[Switch]

Looks like the tension on the side pull out might have proved too much for it combined with the strong wind ?

On my tarps I add a small loop of 2mm shock cord to all of the tie out points and attach the guy lines to the shock cord. Provides a bit of give/flex in rough conditions to hopefully avoid the kind of problem you've had there.

Hope you get it sorted okay !

I'm somewhat cursing the lack of shock cord and only didn't have any due to the post by Brandon on the other forum where he said that there was no point in using it with the superfly. I'm now wishing there had been some although it's hard to say if this still may have happened.

[Switch]

Oh dear, looks as though the sewing line was too close to the silnylon edge. Fixable I would of thought, got a sewing machine?

My three options in order of ease and tidiness on completion;

1. Pull the frayed edge underneath and resew, crisscrossing a few times to add strength.
2. Unpick the binding around effected area and resew gathering in fresh material. This will distort the shape of the tarp somewhat but not too much you can't use it.
3. Unpick the binding around effected area, sew a new narrow patch of material doubled over the frayed edge. If you haven't got any spare material laying around you could cut up the stuff sack that comes with it, and resew.

How old is it, maybe refund/exchange?

I do have access to a sewing machine however a monkey with access to a typewriter won't necessarily write a book. Perhaps likening the monkey's writing skills to my sewing skills is being unfair on the monkey though.Haha!

Thanks for the suggestion about the patch made from the bag. I had wondered about something like that and hadn't even considered using the bag material which would be ideal. Thanks for pointing that out. I do have some grosgrain ribbon lying around somewhere so between them I at least have something resembling the start of a repair.

It's a couple of years old however between kids, work and alternating with my large DD tarp it's not been used a lot. I've only used it around 6 times in total.

[Switch]

Send it back! Seriously, that shouldn't be happening to what is supposed to be a premium piece of gear. I've seen this a couple of times on the other forum and they had it replaced or refunded.
My own myog tarps have been out in seriously strong winds with more minimal reinforcements, using lighter materials and I have never had a failure. I don't bind the rl though because (as you have proved) it is a point of failure over a properly constructed seam.
Tbh, looking at the stitching it doesn't look like it's a particularly tidy sewing job in the first place, wonky lines and twisted seams (unavoidable to a point but not that bad) but that could be the way the pic is?

A proper repair job would be to unpick the entire rl then trim the fabric behind where it ripped (frayed) (on both sides to keep the tarp even) then rebind the entire seam. Anything else will make the tarp wonky and/or prone to further failure. As I said this is warbonnets fault, not yours. Get them to sort it.

I couldn't make it out in the pics, but where is the reinforcement tab for the ripped panel on the door seam, that can be seen on the non ripped side? That should (imo) be sewn into the rl to help stop the side pulling away the way it has, looks like the other side is.

I've sent an e-mail to Warbonnet this morning explaining the situation and with photos and asked them to comment on it. We'll see what response I get. You're right...that shouldn't happen to what is supposed to be premium gear and I'm more than annoyed by it. I've got another trip in 2 weeks and the only reason I wasn't completely fuming was that I've still got a few DD tarps to get me through in the meantime. Even if they agree to replace it then there will still be the postage (possibly 2 ways) and customs which will be a reasonable expense. A repair in this country would actually be cheaper however my faith in the tarp has been a bit shaken. You're probably right in that a proper repair would be to unpick the entire rl and that's a task and a half....for a cottage vendor and certainly beyond what I'd be comfortable doing myself.

The reinforcement tab for the ripped side is still attached to the ripped section but has just also become detached from the ridgeline seam.

[Switch]

Thank you for the responses folks. It's good to hear these takes on what's happened and possible fixes.

[Switch]

I have just received a reply from Warbonnet and I'm beyond happy at the response.

"Gordon,

Sorry for the issue, the tarp is defective, We'll send you a replacement, what is the best address?

Brandon"

Happy doesn't even cover it.

[nerocircus]

Excellent response. Customer service is super important at times like this, you don't want people umming and ahhing. Glad you've got sorted. I'm due to use my sf for first time this weekend. I'm now wondering whether I should be putting a small loop of shock on all the tie outs first...


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[craige]

Glad it's sorted, send him a message too concerning the additional import duties... ask him to mark it as a sample or gift with a value under £30.

If you don't have to send the torn one back then I would contact scottyvonporkchop and ask him if he can fix it (he might even be use a proper seam if you ask him nicely).

[Paulm]

Good result !

Great to see a no quibbles level of customer service from Warbonnet too