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SkeeterPee
11-17-2017, 15:06
Mostly I figure this was a user mistake / lack of motivation to get soaked,

But recently I was backpacking and got to camp to get my Solong 6 set up just before it started raining. It was a light rain at first and I was able to get water, cook my dinner and just I was finishing up it started raining hard.

So I jumped in the tent and stayed inside all night. It was a windy night with 50 mph gusts, but it might have been more in the mountain as it rushed up a valley. Though the trees around, but not overhead might have offset some the wind, but it was noisy and rained a lot.

Problem was the tent sagged a lot. First I think I should have tightened it down before jumping in because I think I ready sil nylon stretches a little when dry, and much more when wetted. I was able to adjust the poles and vestibule tie down from inside. I probably should have tightened the 4 corners at some point.

I am thinking that was the main issue. Would you agree? However, I read something about using elastic of some sort on those ties so they do not need adjusting. Does that work? Any recommendations on what kind of elastic band to use?

There was also a lot of condensation inside. I probably wiped it down with my camp towel about once an hour throughout the night. It rained a lot the day before so I brought in a lot of moisture with clothing, backpack, shoes.

Overall the tent still did great. My down bag stayed dry, no visible water in the bathtub floor, most of the dampness was on underside of tent. Dry things stayed mostly dry.

Other nights I like to keep one vestibule cover open and have not had condensation issues at all.

Slo-go'en
11-17-2017, 17:46
Yes, silnylon sags a lot when wet. That can be rather annoying. Four small bungee cords at critical corners could help.

I try not to bring wet stuff into the tent, shoes and pack stay under the vestibule, any wet or damp clothes go in dry bags. It's pretty hard not to have some condensation.

SkeeterPee
11-17-2017, 18:21
When you say small bungee cords, are you talking about ones like see in home depot in about a 10in length? or some other elastic type cord?

Berserker
11-17-2017, 18:26
Yes. I'm also a Solong user (and user of multiple other sil-nylon tents), and I always tighten down all 4 corners and both vestibules after it's been set up for a while. If it's dry, once the temperature changes after the sun goes down it sags a little. If it gets wet after being setup it sags a lot...as do most other sil-nylon shelters. So yeah, you just need to do a routine tightening 1 time some time after setting up and that should resolve your issue.

As to the moisture inside, that's an issue with any shelter. If it's humid your gonna get condensation, and that condensation seems more obvious if you are in a single wall shelter bumping into it (of if it's blowing and/or being knocked off onto you).

Slo-go'en
11-17-2017, 21:03
When you say small bungee cords, are you talking about ones like see in home depot in about a 10in length? or some other elastic type cord?

Yea, I'd get the thin, mini cords. It shouldn't take much.

saltysack
11-17-2017, 23:12
On a solong6 why not just extend your poles a little. Awning and vestibule side might be improved with bungees but doubt they will fix the sag. One thing I really like about my cuben duomid over the sil shelters...stays tight no sag...


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SkeeterPee
11-17-2017, 23:24
I did extend my poles and that took out some of the sag. I suspect had I ventured out to the 4 corners (in the hard rain) I could have taken a lot more sag out.

garlic08
11-18-2017, 08:19
Part of my learning curve with silnylon was learning that you can't hurt it by pulling on it.

saltysack
11-18-2017, 09:32
Part of my learning curve with silnylon was learning that you can't hurt it by pulling on it.

But you can easily snap the awning pole on solong by over tensioning.....did just that in JMT.....dumb mistake


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Bronk
11-18-2017, 12:12
One of the problems with tents is that I see quite a few people who don't stake them down and don't stake out all of the guy strings unless they think it is going to rain. Reason being they don't want to go to all that effort if its not going to rain. The problem with doing that is that your tent is going to stretch and become misshapen and then when you do stake it out properly the tent is all out of whack.

reppans
11-18-2017, 13:02
Consider a floorless mid (pryamid) w/inner nest and footprint - ideal rain (and bug) shelter IMHO.

- Main guy line re-tightens the whole shelter from inside.
- Inner tent and footprint are independently modular easily set-up/taken-down under cover of the fly.
- Interior is freely variable from regular double-walled tent to giant vestibule able to cook in, leave wet shoes on, even dig an indoor cathole (save #2 as the last step before packing/leaving).
- Good peak vent acts as a bug self-bailer... really don't even need the inner nest except in the worst skeeter conditions.

My other tent is the popular BA FC UL2... haven't used it since.

Just a thought.

daddytwosticks
11-19-2017, 16:49
One of the many reasons that I gave up on cottage industry made sil nylon tents and went back to a conventional double wall tents, such as my MSR Hubba NX1. :)

nsherry61
11-19-2017, 23:26
. . . Awning and vestibule side might be improved with bungees but doubt they will fix the sag. . .
I haven't used this particular tent. But I've pitched lots of tents and tarps, including silnylon ones, in a lot of weather, and actually, bungees, or even just heavy rubber bands pretty much eliminate the entire sag issue and dramatically reduce the stress on your shelter and stakes in wind.

In other words, if you are pitching a shelter in inclimate weather, especially if it is a silnylon shelter or a high wind situation, it is really silly not to pitch out your shelter with an elastic band somewhere on your guy points.