July 01, 2019

The deplorable story of Kathleen Rose Marr (Katman) @itskatma

Let's start by stating the obvious. We would never, under any normal circumstances talk about a customer publicly. But Kathleen, under the disguise of the self-proclaimed social "influenza" KATMA, made a series of false videos about our tents which happened to land on the front page of Google.

Now we cleared that up. Let's meet Kathleen Rose Marr and Zara Vuletich

You'll find here here in Instagram, on Tiktok and also on this hire page. Zarah can be found here

If you think this image looks strange, examine our typical archetype for a EXPLOREY customer & 4WD user who looks more like this. Meet Mr. Ronny Dahl - the man, the myth and legend! (cue Top Gear soundtrack)

Here is the story. Kathleen Marr purchased a Tasman Roof Top tent from us (along with Zara Vuletich). After owning this tent for some months she opened the tent on the 31st December 2023 after 7 consecutive days of nill rain to find the tent had water inside we. Stale water inside a tent is a prelude to mould. The week before there was record levels of rain across NZ

We paid for two professionals independent reports on this tent and you can view them below:

1: Mechanical Engineering report done by Joshua Schoeman found here

2: Report done by Hunter with experienrece in the outdoor industry and is an architect found here

Both reports found no water leaks in the tent whatsoever.

We tested the tent and seals with a 122 km/h water jet and still the tent showed no leaks.

Here are some resources for wet tents and mould:

Know Nothing Nomads: https://knownothingnomads.com/how-to-pack-a-wet-tent-2/

“Leaving moisture inside can lead to mould and mildew growth, which causes an unpleasant smell and weakens the fabric. To avoid this, be sure to clean and dry your tent before storing it.”

“Studies show that tents packed away wet are more likely to develop mould within 24 hours.”

Kiwi Camping: NZ Roof tent supplier: https://www.kiwicamping.co.nz/community/best-bits/ensure-your-tent-lasts-longer

“Pack away a damp tent and you’re asking for trouble.”

Let's clear something up. In 15 years of making and selling roof top tents in NZ we have never had a single one leak!

Below is a snippet of a report we had on a customers tent which is the exact same model, same year and same production line as Kathleen purchased.

You can read the full report here

Kathleen asked for a refund which we declined on these basis:

The tent is 100% waterproof and she provided no evidence to the contrary
When the tent become mouldy this was on the outside of the fabric. Hardshell tents will show rain/moisture on the outside fabric if packed down wet. If the tent shell was not waterproof the mould would be on the inside of the tent
The only other explanation for a wet tent is capillary action which is a significantly and real phenomena. This is when you pack a hardshell tent down with a small bit of fabric under the seal exposed to rain. This will pull liquid counter to gravity inside the tent - much like a towel sucking water up.

However we did offer her a full NEW fabric replacement at cost.

Historical weather data proved that Kathleens tent was packed down wet.

Read the report here

In a bid to defame us Kathleen posted misleading videos on her social media which reached the front page of google.

THE STORY CONTINUES

How strange! - All digital media she provided was independently reviewed by paid photographers to show METADATA which did not support her claims. These include edited files to show misleading information Have a read about it here

Then there was MORE. Kathleen left a 1-star review on our website

There is a lot more about Kathleen and this storey but we feel it is best to leave it here. As for us we will defend our product and the fact that this tent was 100% waterproof at the time of testing. On recommendation from our Lawyer we choose to respond here. As for this article - we will remove this as soon as Kathleen removes all her defamatory and untrue content she produced about us.

The original video was Kathleen's own disclosure from purchasing our product which we would never first make public. The tent report & meta findings were funded by us with independents.