Tarptent Rainbow questions/help

[Hosaphone]

Hey guys, I recently purchased a rainbow (single person, not the double). My biggest concern was the "misting" I've read so much about, but when I tested out my seam sealing job today with the hose on full blast I found I didn't get any misting at all! What I did get, however, was a whole bunch of water running down the backside of the tent (the large side opposite the entrance) that "caught" on the bug netting and ran inside. It didn't run all the way into the bathtub floor, but kind of pooled up in the netting. For some reason this didn't seem to be an issue on either of the small ends, it only seemed to happen towards the middle on the side across from the entrance.

This spot being wet isn't a huge problem as long as the water doesn't come into the floor, and I don't think it would. Also I could insure that I wouldn't touch the wet spot by raising the bathtub floor on that side, but it would be nice to keep it open if possible to help with condensation. It seems like the problem stems from there being an excess of netting there - there is a bunch that kind of extends out underneath where the water falls off the silnylon. The netting is pulled relatively taut on the head/foot ends which is why this isn't a problem there.

Has anybody else encountered this? It's not a huge deal but it doesn't seem ideal and seems like it ought to be easily fixable. I don't want to have to deal with having water there every time it rains :(



2) Are the little clips below the vents intended to keep the vest open or closed? I find that when the tent is pitched taut and you clip the vents to those little things it makes almost no difference in how open/closed the vents are.

3) Has anybody used the freestanding configuration extensively? For one thing, you still need to stake out the sides even using the trekking poles - I assume you just carry some long extra lines for this? I'm also a bit worried about damaging my trekking poles. I discovered that if I can stake out the sides I can keep the poles short enough that they don't bend too much and yet still get a taut enough pitch, but I'm still a bit worried.

4) Strategy for packing up in the rain / with a wet tent? I guess my plan right now would be to just fold up the pole and start rolling length-wise from the cross-beam in the middle? As long as you keep most of the netting covered by silnylon this should prevent rain from getting inside. It's a bit of a pain to stuff into the narrow stuff sack but if you roll it tightly it's not too bad.

After packing up wet, store the tent on the outside of the pack, even in the rain? The stuff sack is silnylon(?) so even without the seams on the sack sealed not too much rain should get inside, and it should be relatively easy to keep the inside mostly dry. And on a dry day after a rain you could wipe it down with a pack towel before putting it away.


I'm really happy about how roomy this thing is, and misting seems to not be nearly as big of a problem as the threads on here made me think it would be. I've been a tarp user for a while and I hope this will be a great refuge when it's too buggy out to go with just the tarp+bug bivy (sometimes you need more than a couple inches between you and the bugs to maintain sanity). My only reservation is that one wet spot that seems to form... It's supposed to be rainy the next few days so I will do some more testing and playing.

Any thoughts from anybody who has used one of these?

[Franco]

Hosaphone
What you just found out is that most misting is from not through the fly, that is condensation knocked off the fly by the rain.
And that is why we carry a cloth to wipe the top if needed.
(BTW, the usual hose test will have more water falling on the shelter than under non hurricane force rain. To verify this take note of how long it takes to fill a bucket . Hold the hose at the same distance from the bottom of the bucket you had from the hose to the fly. Then think when was the last time you had 10" of rain in as many minutes...)

What I did get, however, was a whole bunch of water running down the backside of the tent (the large side opposite the entrance) that "caught" on the bug netting and ran inside
There is a tie out point at the bottom of that middle panel. If that is in use and the bathtub floor is up (you need to connect the elastic ribbon at the bottom of each corner to the corner tie out line) the mesh will be going in almost horizontally to the floor , not sag and spill out.
Rainbow before :
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Rainbow after:
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For the after look , I clipped the corners, clipped up the floor at mid point inside and tightened the corner tie outs (mini guylines)
(maybe I did not understand this bit, post a pic if my understanding is not correct....)

2) those clips are meant to keep the vents closer to the fly in wind driven rain. Depending on exactly how you set it up the change may or may not be that obvious.
3) the freestanding option can be useful on platforms or rocky ground. Having the poles in place you can pile up rocks on top of them or insert a stake along the side if the corner is on rock or too soft ground.Most poles will bend in a bit but that is not a problem.
4) yes, right idea. Just grab the cross apex strut when you take out the pole , hold it up , fold the sides in to the width of that strut and then roll up.
I have seam sealed the bottom seam of my stuff sacs mostly because I try to use up the leftover silicone after sealing. When I pack up in the rain I then put the stuff sack upside down inside the front pocket of my backpack. On one of my packs I have to put it cross way at the top.
Not a big deal because it will not absorb water and because there is almost no PU at all it will not go mouldy even if stored wet .
(of course cleaning and maintaining it will prolongs the life of the product)
Franco

[Franco]

From the inside:
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the stake bag is floating a few inches above the ground.
BTW to get the right corner tension the tie out should look like this :
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Franco

[Hosaphone]

Hey Franco! Thanks for the super fast replies and thanks for the pictures! I hope Shires appreciates the time you spend on here! I did know I was supposed to stake out that back side - I LOVE how it's designed so you can easily tighten it from inside. I also did have each corner clipped to the tie out line. The mesh wasn't hanging out like it is in your second picture, but it sagged quite a bit and was far from being taut like it was at the head and foot ends of the tent.


For the after look , I clipped the corners, clipped up the floor at mid point inside and tightened the corner tie outs (mini guylines)
(maybe I did not understand this bit, post a pic if my understanding is not correct....)

I clipped the corners but I didn't clip up the floor at the mid point (the inside elastic thing). Clipping the middle helps a lot with the netting but will block off some airflow and probably increase condensation? Do you recommend clipping up the middle to help tighten the netting whenever rain is expected?

It's also possible that my pitch just wasn't as good as I thought it was, or maybe I was overzealous with the hose and sprayed some sideways into the netting.... I'll do some more experimenting tomorrow and report back.

Thanks again!

[Hosaphone]

I just set it up freestanding downstairs (it's 1am here so can't really go outside!). Clipping up the middle looks like it should pretty much solve the problem except for one thing... The cord lock on the inside of that middle tie-out that I like so much, when that line is pulled tight, the cord lock pulls the netting out:

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Here's a picture of what it looks like without the middle clipped up:

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[Franco]

Hosaphone
getting a good night sleep is more important than fiddling with the Rainbow..
(one night I got up at around 2AM to try something out with the Scarp....)
Anyway, I can never get a good pitch inside. I set them up for seam sealing and they stand up OK but nothing like on soil .

Do you recommend clipping up the middle to help tighten the netting whenever rain is expected?
I cannot do that with my own (the one in my pics here is from stock...) and never had water pooling so maybe not that important.
You should still get plenty of air flow, the reason to have the side clipped up is to deflect wind and rain splashes but again it hasn't been a problem for me.
When you get the chance, fiddle with the corner tension and you will notice how having a side closer to the ground changes the other.
Also make sure the pole sits out correctly , it tends to set itself not fully extended (IE lift and spread out), just keep moving things like that around and you will be able to do it automatically in the bush.
Have fun
Franco

[Hosaphone]

Set it up outside just now and failed again :(

In these pictures you can see how the netting is taut in the middle where the tieout is, but along the sides it sags considerably:

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Closeup of water running down:

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The ends do seem to share the same problem actually, but since they are so much shorter the sag is not as bad there:
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[Hosaphone]

Here's an outside shot of the sagging netting:

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Here's a quick look at the pitch...


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[Hosaphone]

Also the tieouts seem like they would be way too short for setting up anywhere other than a golf course. You only get like 8 inches or so of space... The odds of hitting a rock and being unable to tie out at least one corner are huge. I guess I can easily extend or replace them, though.

[Hosaphone]

Quick shot with the side clipped up. You can see that the middle looks beautiful, but the sagging as you move away from the middle isn't really affected by clipping. However, the sag insures that no water will be able to run down into the bathtub floor... Maybe this is a design feature...? If the netting was stretched taut and went on a slope towards the floor, hard wind driven rain could hit the netting and run down into the floor which would be bad. I guess the sag actually would protect from this. I dunno. Everything else about the tent seems to be so brilliantly designed - I'd love to see pictures of someone else's 2011 rainbow to see if maybe I'm just not pitching it correctly.

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[Franco]

Hosaphone
The pics I took are from the current version. The one I use (as in my own not the TT stock) was made in 2005.
You are correct that the sides of the mesh will sag , only the middle can be taut but none should touch the ground and yes the idea is that if you have condensation running down from the inside it should seep out via the mesh not get into the floor. There is some "give" also to absorb a bit of a bump or unintentional pull.
Do not replace those corner tie-outs. They do work as they are.

Note that there are guyout points on the main pole as well as under the vents where you can also slot under it a trekking pole.
It always pay to have some extra guyrope , for example to set them up on a platform or to improvise a dead man anchor for those rocky areas or if setting up on snow.
Franco

[Hosaphone]

Thanks for the clarifications Franco! Looking back at your interior picture (the one with the stake bag), I can see that it is beginning to sag as it gets away from the center on yours as well. Is it normal for water to run down the outside and collect in the sagging area like in the picture I posted? Since it's mesh, as long as I can keep it relatively clean of dirt there should never be significant pooling of water there. But it seems like it would be better if the rain would just run right off the side to the ground like it does on the ends...

I suppose extending the guylines too much would actually change the way it pitches significantly.

[Franco]

I haven't really paid that much attention of mine, all I know is that i never had water inside my floor and that is what matters to me.
your pitch, on post 8, is fine apart from a slight pole shift to the left on pic 4 but no big deal.
you will be alright...
Franco