Why don't Hilleberg tent seams leak???!

[andrewa]

Hi, I came across this forum via the Alpacka packraft forum, when I was looking at tents vs tarps vs hammocks for a NZ backcountry wilderness fly fishing/packrafting trip

I realise that this question may well and truly have been debated somewhere, and if so, please just point me to the answer, and leave it at that.

I have a Hilleberg Nallo 3GT, which , in my opinion, is a lovely tent, but it is about to be usurped by a Hennessy Ultralite Hammock for a trip or two, to find out a little about hammock camping, the concept of which suits me, as we are often wanting to camp where there isn't flat ground.

WHY DON'T HILLEBERG FLIES SEEM TO LEAK THROUGH THE SEAMS, given that they're not seam sealed? Mine still doesn't, despite a fair degree of use, and I can't work out what makes them different to other tents, or is this whole concept of seam leakage a myth put out there by the manufacturers of seam sealers and tape? Tape seam sealing came in the the 80s, and was a huge selling point for gear (I used to work in an outdoor shop). 30yrs later, Hilleberg seems to be almost the only manufacturer NOT tape sealing the seams, and also using some weird fabric (Kerlon) that I've never seen used by anyone else. How come????

Looking at the forum briefly, it seems that Hilleberg tents are a bit of a "thorn" for some, and I realise that this question may raise some hackles, however I'd be genuinly interested in what forum members think about this point.....I'm not interested in a debate about Hilleberg 3GT vs Hennessy Hammocks - I'll work it out for myself when I've used the latter.

Looking fwd to searching this forum a lot more.

AA

[hikingoz]

Further to Andrewa's post, can someone please confirm that a Hilleberg Nallo tent bought today would not be seam sealed?

[ULWalkingPhil]

Looking through there website, I found these two comments on the tent seams.


We carefully select the thread we use for strength and durability, and we always use a flat fell-seam. This means that every stitch goes through four layers of fabric, ensuring both strength and water resistance. Additionally, our sewing machines employ cooling jets around the needles, preventing heat-producing friction that could enlarge the stitch holes. The end result is a very precise, very reliable seam that has remarkable durability and water resistance.

Our Kerlon fabrics are coated, on both sides, with a total of three layers of 100 percent silicone. Certainly they are completely waterproof and very light, but our process also imparts a strength to the base material that is an order of magnitude greater than is possible with the more common poly ure thane coating process. Perhaps more importantly, our coated Kerlon fabrics are, far, far stronger than so-called “siliconized” materials, which typically employ a coating mixture of silicone and other compounds.

I purchased a Hillberg tent recently, the only place I've noticed seam tape is on the floor, I believe this is so because the
material used for there tent flooring is only available a certain width, which is not wide enough to manufacture a
seamless floor.

Update.
Just found this very question answered on there europian site

MY LAST TENT HAD TAPED SEAMS. WHY DOES MY HILLEBERG TENT NOT HAVE THAT?
We use silicone coated (on both sides!) fabrics to obtain the highest tearstrength possible. These fabrics are highly superior to ordinary polyurethane coated fabrics but silicone coatings  do not provide the adhesion necessary for taping. We have consciously chosen to waive the possibility of taping to get the strongest fabrics possible!


WHY DO YOUR GROUNDSHEETS HAVE SEAMS?
We are limited by the width in which fabric is available.  In theory we could make tents with an inner width of 130 cm without any seams in the groundsheet but we would not be able to go up the sides all that high. Larger tents always have a seam. We have chosen a seam in the groundsheet so that we can create a proper tub floor.

[walkinTas]

mod: discussion on new Nalo 3 etc split to here.