Buying a backpacking tent for Hawaii: save your $$.

Sticky tents. I've come across several people who have had this happen to their tents here, and I've also lost gear to "the sticky stuff".

The sticky stuff is polyurethane waterproofing that hydrolizes in warm, high-humidity climates like Hawaii! The polyurethane reacts with the moisture in the air, and breaks down into the sticky stuff. Most (probably all) lightweight backpacking tents these days use polyurethane formulations that will hydrolize in a year or two out here.

Tip: Save the money that you were planning to spend on that $500 carbon fiber pole Hubba Hubba tent! Buy the cheapest tent, with an acceptable weight, that you can find. You're just going to toss it soon anyway.

If instead you did want to look for a long term durable tent, you might look at silnylon or cuben fiber tents, but these have their own durability issues in the long run (silicone can wear off and cuben can apparently develop pin holes on repeated folds). Also, silnylon has to be vented especially well to avoid excessive condensation, and besides, those materials cost WAY too much for the average hiker's pocket. I'd say the best solution is to buy a new, cheap, polyurethane-coated tent every year or two. Sad but true.

There...I just saved you money and told you WTF is up with your old tent :) 

Aloha.

[July 2015]