View Full Version : Tents for rainy weather
Another thread made me think of this.
I shot a couple of video clips, months ago, to illustrate how some tents are much easier to set up keeping the floor/inside dry than others.
Two major requirements : fly first or integral pitch and ease of set up.
This is the Tarptent Scarp 1 (the Scarp2 and Hogback are the same but larger) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwXCBKGFGNA
and this is the Tarptent Notch :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFrnmny7Ho0
Both clips , in real time, are just one take so not the best that they can be done in but pretty much what happens in the bush.
The Moment, BTW, would be faster and easier that the above...
Some recent on-trail experience: I just returned from a long weekend of hiking the Standing Stone Trail in PA. After a short night hike on Thursday in pouring rain I set my Stratospire 2 (in pouring rain). The interior was bone dry and stayed that way minus a handful of drops the entire night (which also poured rain the entire time). It got more wet packing it up in the rain than anything else. Fortunately the next time I set it up it dried off in under an hour.
Good experience.For multi day walks with all Tarptent double wall shelters if it is still raining in the morning, you can just un-clip the inner , store that in the pack , finish packing and then when fully dressed take down the fly.
At camp the same evening, you can set up the fly, then get inside and attach the inner out of the weather.
The SS2 is particularly good for that because of the large protected space under the fly.
Excellent idea! I was too miserable from just putting on my cold, sopping wet clothes to think very clearly. Fortunately I had dry conditions for the next setup so it turned out ok.
I just got done with my thru and had the Notch the whole time. I wouldn't use it on the AT again because It was less than stellar in the rain. Water always would splash up from underneath, very annoying.
Statue,
Do you have any photos of your Notch set up ?
The reason I asked is because the Notch has a bit deeper bathtub than some and has good room between the inner and the fly .
I took this shot just to show the usable length but should also sho the bathtub and a bit of floor to fly distance ;
24458
Iam 5'8" , on top of a thick Exped
oldwetherman
10-14-2013, 23:34
Statue. I did Springer to Duncannon this year. I used a Notch and it's one of only two pieces of gear that I have no complaints about. I'm not sure I understand what you mean that water would splash up from underneath? I had rain running/dripping off the edges of the fly but I never had any moisture get inside the interior. It did take me a time or two to learn to fold it so that the inner would not get wet when setting up in the rain.
My mesh lining would get wet if it was raining hard. When puddles would form on the outside of the tent the raindrops would splash up and into the vestibule and reach the mesh.
OK, I have not seen that complaint before on the Notch but if that remains a problem there is a "solid" inner made with breathable water resistant fabric. A couple of ounces or so heavier than the mesh.
I am part of Tarptent BTW.
stranger
10-18-2013, 18:29
That's not a design issue, it's a campsite selection issue, also if you spread leaves and duff litter around the tent you can really minimise any splashing, annoying sure but not the tents fault
Not always possible but yes site selection is very important.
Normaly you should camp away from water but because both my mate and I like the sound of the river flowing and because we were expecting rain, we avoided the "nice flat areas" and camped closer to the river on leaves.
It rained for two days and two nights, still most of the leaves under the floor were dry when I packed the tent up.
Take note of the size of the river the first day in the sun and the second day in the rain to get the idea of how much rain we had :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31PNJTJwdGg