Current Harrison Tents

[lenser]

Does anyone have up to date info on the quality of the newest run of Harrison changing tents?

My fairly old (ten years or better) mid size version has gotten so bad that it has to be thrown away as the material has degraded to the point that it leaves black rubbery trails on my arms from the sleeves and is equally degraded over the full area of the silver domed part of the material. Still light tight, but just a royal pain to deal with the gummy garbage and a fear of getting that on the film from hand transfer just by putting my arms in the sleeves.

Anyway, have they been able to solve this problem with the newly made versions? I love the ease and space of working with this type of tent as opposed to the rounded ones from other makers, but I want to be sure the material problems are solved before investing in a new one.

Thanks.

Tim

[Drew Wiley]

My tents are in real good shape, but what I do anyway to keep them virtually dustless
is to add an inner liner, which is merely a very thin polyethylene trashcan liner, and
clothespin it to the top of the tent from the inside. Several such liners weigh next to
nothing and can be thrown away if needed. My kit also includes a few disposable alcohol swabs to deal with finger oil. Never had a dust or goo issue.

[Lachlan 717]

My tents are in real good shape, but what I do anyway to keep them virtually dustless
is to add an inner liner, which is merely a very thin polyethylene trashcan liner, and
clothespin it to the top of the tent from the inside. Several such liners weigh next to
nothing and can be thrown away if needed. My kit also includes a few disposable alcohol swabs to deal with finger oil. Never had a dust or goo issue.

Drew,

Do you find that the plastic bags cause your hands/arms to sweat in warmer times?

[Roger Thoms]

I'd contact Camera Essentials and discuss the problem with them. I recently bought a Harrison tent and the instructions say not to store the tent in the stow bag for extended periods of time. I have a big mesh bag and store mine loosely folded when I'm not traveling. I have a feeling this is related to the fabric problem.

Roger

[Robbie Bedell]

My Harrison Pup tent absolutely melted inside after about eight years. It was just a mess of goo. I never left it in a hot car or miss-treated it. I contacted the company and told them about it. They did not even acknowledge the problem and told me I could buy a new one for $200. I will never buy another Harrison tent.

[lenser]

Drew, I've never had a serious dust issue in thousands of reloads over the years. This is related to the material essentially turning to a rubbery, gooey mush. There have been previous threads about this, but I was hoping to get some up to date info on whether new materials that are more stable are being used. I can only imagine that plastic liners in the field would create huge humidity and sweaty hands problems on hot days. I don't think I would want to chance that due to fingerprints and possibly even sheets sticking together once loaded back into the box.

Roger, Sounds like the phone call I need to make. Thanks.

Robbie, Sounds like exactly the same problem. If I can count on ten years of use at $20.00 per year amortization....that's not too bad. I just don't want to get five years down the road and open the thing to find another nightmare of sticky crud.

Thanks everyone.

[Robbie Bedell]

Lenser, That's what really irked me when I contacted them. They never said they were aware of the problem and were working to fix it. They just said it was out of warranty and I was welcome to buy another. I was fortunate that I was not out on a paying job when I needed it most. The melted black plastic, or whatever it is, was really nasty, like tar. It was hard to get off my hands...But I will say, until the meltdown, it was a very good item...If I were small enough I could have lived in it!

[Frank Petronio]

I read somewhere that it was related to having DEET bug repellant on your arms and it melted the coating, but who knows for sure what caused the problem? Hopefully they changed the materials and fixed the problem, it doesn't excuse their poor service though.

In spite of that, I've owned several Harrison tents over the past 3-5 years and none have had the gooey problem and their overall quality seems excellent.

As an alternative, I see some apparently well-made Chinese knock-offs on eBay and I think if you search B&H or one of the Hollywood FILM suppliers there are alternative tents made for 16mm and 35mm film loading that would work for LF film too.

[fuegocito]

My old Harrison tent( 6 years old), the black plastic material just began to crumble and peel apart from the Silvery material. It was never left out in the heat or expose to strong sun light or any funky chemicals. I just attribute it to old age and now I am looking for a replacement. And because of that, I am more leery about buying used one just because I don't know how old it really is, and thus how long it'll last before it might crumble apart, again.

[Arne Croell]

I read somewhere that it was related to having DEET bug repellant on your arms and it melted the coating, but who knows for sure what caused the problem? Hopefully they changed the materials and fixed the problem, it doesn't excuse their poor service though.

In spite of that, I've owned several Harrison tents over the past 3-5 years and none have had the gooey problem and their overall quality seems excellent.

As an alternative, I see some apparently well-made Chinese knock-offs on eBay and I think if you search B&H or one of the Hollywood FILM suppliers there are alternative tents made for 16mm and 35mm film loading that would work for LF film too.
DEET will dissolve many plastics. Many years ago, it completely removed the lettering off the back of a on-camera flash that touched my forehead (or actually transferred it to my forehead..). I had put on the DEET more than 2 hours before that happened...
I've had my Harrison pup tent for 11 years now, stored in the bag, and it is still good except for some scratches on the silver coating.
B+H carries tents by the "Visual Departures" brand in different sizes in the same price range as the Harrison one.

[civich]

Mildew (fungus) is a destroyer of coated fabrics. I wonder: have those of you with problems left the tent stored in it's stuff sack for long periods? This is a sure invitation to mildew damage. rtbadman has the right idea - loosely stored in a mesh bag. I learned this only after losing several camping tents to mildew over the years.
-Chris

[Helen Bach]

I've had my Harrison for about 14 years, quite a few of which were spent in the tropics. It gets aired out after every use (or left up with the door open), so it is never put away with a sweaty interior. Except temporarily, I'd never put a camping tent away if it wasn't bone dry either (and that includes the bottom of the groundsheet).

Best,
Helen

[lenser]

Just took Roger's advice and called Camera Essentials. I actually had a very good conversation with a person there who admitted to the problem and told me that the sleeve material has been changed but that the silver is the same. Both have degraded on mine.

She confirmed the new advice on storage and that they are in consultation with camping tent manufacturer's to seek other insights to the problem.

She also made me aware that they are offering a trade in sort of deal on the damaged tents where they will take the old one and offer a new one at "cost". The old one is then used for research to try to determine what causes the degradation.

She also confirmed that they have discovered that insecticides (Kudo's Frank) are one source of the melting.

So, I am ordering my new one and hoping for a better result ten years down the road. If it lasts that long without gooey arms, I will be very happy. Hell, if I last that long I will be happy.

[RK_LFteacher]

The Shadowbox 810 from Visual Departures is a better 'pup-tent' design and I've had mine 20 years and no problems carrying it from Antarctic to Canada. And they are still made. Large, with internal wall pockets and a stuff sack to store it in. Double sleeve elastic and white outside and double zippered black interior.
Rod

[Richard Rankin]

Visual Departures website doesn't list a Shadowbox 810 that I can see.
Cheers, Richard

[Helen Bach]

Here is the listing (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/61514-REG/Visual_Departures_SB30.html) at B&H.

Best,
Helen

[neil poulsen]

I bought one used, and the black material is kind of "moist". It doesn't come off on my hands or anything. But it sounds like that's next.

Maybe the dust will stick to the goo. :D