unpacked a tent and the underside of the rain fly is tacky. i store it in a cotton laundry bag in a climate controlled room. is there a limited life to the coating? can anything be done to prevent this?

i tried unscented baby powder on mine.it sat for most of the winter in a bag like yours.it was so messy that i had to set up the tent and hose it off.leaving the tent up for a few days set up in camp seems to have taken that tacky feeling off it.

Yes, they do grow old. When that happens the waterproofing material has degraded. No there is really nothing you can do about it.

I'd heard a suggestion to aggressively wash the material in a washing machine with detergent in hopes of removing the waterproofing layer, and then trying to reapply waterproofing.

In my opinion, you'd be better off to buy a new tent - that's what I did when that happened to me.

Depending on the tent manufacturer, they may replace the fly for you. Quality manufacturers offer a lifetime warranty on their stuff.

Marmot, Big Agnes, Eureka. I had my Eureka rainfly replaced due to it breaking down. I paid shipping, but nothing else.

Later,

Geo

Eureka did not replace mine, though it was a discontinued model and quite old.