Quarter Dome UL

TLDR - Old nylon tent seam repair advice? Context - I recently read A Walk in the Woods and have been inspired to get back into backpacking (which lead me to this subreddit). Its been several years and I am assessing all my gear. I have the "quarter dome UL" tent from REI which I purchased back in 2006. Heavy by today's standards at over 4 pounds... but I am hesitant to get rid of it. I pitched the tent in my basement and noticed the glue on all the seams is flaking off. Has anyone on here gone through the trouble to clean and reseal an old nylon tent? How long did it take? Any tips? I am trying to decide if its worth the effort. It would still work great for car camping, and some backpacking if I can't decide on a replacement (I am experiencing analysis paralysis on my UL tent purchasing decision).

After spending some time with chatgpt, I am not too optimistic that using this tent ever again is a great idea. Apparently the PU coating on my tent has likely degraded considerably over time and it probably is going to have a hard time keeping water out even if I repair the seams... oh well.

It's gone, not worth it. I had this too, realized it was futile.

All these "3p or you'll regret it" people are blowing things out of proportion in my opinion. 2p is totally fine as long as the tent has sufficient vestibule space for your gear. You only need to go to a 3p tent for two people if you want to keep your packs in the tent. My wife and I have always used a 2 person tent when backpacking (Cabela's XPG2 IIRC, followed by an REI Quarter Some T2). I have used the same tents with various friends, plus a 2 person North Face Lenticular in winter. The only one that has ever presented a challenge was the North Face because it narrows significantly at the foot end and I brought a long wide NeoAir Trekker pad, so our air pads overlapped at that end. Even then, it was fine. In snow you can get bonus vestibule space by digging a hole underneath the vestibule. Then you can store an 80L pack *vertically*.

My personal tent is a Big Agnes Copper spur 3 person that I got on sales at the end of the season. I use that for Scout events and backpacking. Our family tent is a Coleman 6 person we got at Costco. Sometimes I bring my old 2 person REI dome tent and stick one of the kids in that when we do family camping. The Cots fit in the Coleman. It's hard to set up the larger tent by myself, with a little help it is pretty easy especially not that my son is taller than me.

Where are you based? If you're in the US, REI's house brand has a couple of options - Trail Made and Trail Hut 2P tents that go for under USD $250. Sounds like your usage is pretty low, so I would also consider exploring your local FB Marketplace for 2P tents. You might get a higher end version or older models of REI tents for far cheaper. Lots of people who are new to camping go buy new gear only to find out that perhaps it's not for them. I found a used Half Dome 2 on Craigslist 5 years ago for $30. The Half Dome goes on car camping trips, or trips where it'll sit out in the sun for day. I've also had a REI Quarter Dome and a Passage before - they are decent tents. If you're buying used, just inspect the waterproofing layer for signs of wear and delamination. Good luck!

REI 1/4 dome tent is all you need.

REI’s halfdome and quarterdome are great affordable, durable starter tents.