Packing Wet Single Wall Tents

[evyck da fleet]

A sham wow like towel and, if on the AT, a shelter at lunch time will allow you to dry a wet tent from the previous night even if its raining out. Just make sure not to leave wet muddy footprints in the shelter . If I can't find a shelter and it rains all day, then make sure everything in my tent is on the thermarest and wipe down the inside and then the thermarest before rolling out the sleeping bag.

[QiWiz]

Forum newbie here. I am looking at tents, and am considering several tents that are single-wall (tarptent protrail and double rainbow as well as a few others). One issue has been mentioned by a couple of reviewers: if the tent gets wet on the outside due to rain or inside due condensation and you have to pack it up, the whole tent gets wet. That is okay unless you have steady, rainy weather for multiple days and can't dry things out which lead to serious moisture problems.

I can see that this could be a problem, but I have stuffed double wall tent parts into one bag when they were damp and not had a problem with everything getting wet, though I was able to shake off the rain fly. Has anyone run into serious issues with this? Is it that big a deal if the mesh is damp? A model with a removable netting would be a solution, but sometimes simpler is better.

Thanks for any input--narrowing the field in any way would be helpful in the decision process!

Thanks,

Russ

If there is excess inside moisture after setup of any tent (single or double wall) you can use a packtowel or bandana to swab it out as needed. Not a bid issue IMO, and not a reason not to get a single wall tent. The same towel or bandana can be used to swab away condensation when/if it forms inside the tent.

[rocketsocks]

Hey hon, how bout you pack the tent while I fetch some water for coffee.

[Wülfgang]

In my long experience with single wall silnylon shelters, when they do get completely wet, the amount of actual moisture they hold is negligible. I set up my wet tent, get inside, and sometimes I'll wipe it down with my bandanna. If it's well ventilated, if the RH drops a bit and it stops raining for an hour or so, it'll dry out. I also take advantage of any "sun breaks" during the hiking day to take a break and dry stuff out. A few minutes of sun and wind, and a single wall tent is completely dry. That to me is one of the advantages of a single wall shelter.

Totally agree. Silnylon, despite being eclipsed by the trendy popularity of cuben, is still a great outdoor fabric. When it's really wet (high RH or constant precip), nothing will stay truly dry except perhaps items in a dry bag. I just shake my tent off, towel the floor, pack it up, and set it up wet again that night. Towel the floor again if needed. And here in the west where the RH is so low, 15 minutes in the mid-day sun will dry any single wall shelter completely.

[Tipi Walter]

Totally agree. Silnylon, despite being eclipsed by the trendy popularity of cuben, is still a great outdoor fabric. When it's really wet (high RH or constant precip), nothing will stay truly dry except perhaps items in a dry bag. I just shake my tent off, towel the floor, pack it up, and set it up wet again that night. Towel the floor again if needed. And here in the west where the RH is so low, 15 minutes in the mid-day sun will dry any single wall shelter completely.

In addition, silnylon stretches considerably when set up dry and getting wet.


Here's an example of wet silnylon after getting wet with snow.


I go out in the morning and restretch and repeg the tent to get it tight.

A big problem with silnylon is setting up a wet stretched tent and getting a low humidity morning with direct hot sunlight. It's been pegged wet, remember? Now when it dries it pulls very tight and puts stress on sewn seams and often has to be repegged again to loosen up.

[Tipi Walter]

Another good example of wet silnylon---




Very dry silnylon, same tent.

[Dogwood]

I seriously wouldn't be considering a single wall, double wall, hammock, tarp, tarp tent, bivy, etc based on possibly packing it up wet possibly getting other parts of it wet. If it's not raining when breaking camp I usually air out or drape any of these shelters on a branch, etc to dry some before packing. And, if need wipe off excessive wetness or dirt/debris with my ditty cookware pack cloth or a bandana before packing. If that wet which is not typical and if it isn't raining store on the outside of backpack. At first stop air it out further.

[Dogwood]

With most of my silny, spinnaker, and CF tarps/shelters, etc airing out for 5-10 mins as I'm packing everything else up packing up the shelter last is enough to get it dry, or dry enough. My typical scenario when weather is favorable is to cowboy camp avoiding wet from condensation shelters all together. I might even dry a shelter overnight without using/sleeping in the shelter if necessary. Way beyond psychologically NEEDING to sleep in a tent when not necessary. Zoom Zoom Zoom. Away we go.

[Deadeye]

I carry a small piece of a Sham-Wow or chamois cloth. When I get up, I'll wipe the tent down, then leave it up to air out and dry while I make my morning coffee. I may pull it out at lunch to dry more if it's still wet. If it's raining for days, everything will be damp anyway.

This. I usually carry a hammock, but same thing works - just wipe down the tarp before packing. Everything under the tarp - me, hammock, gear, etc. - is nice and dry.

[Wülfgang]

Another good example of wet silnylon---




Very dry silnylon, same tent.

I've had this problem as well. Set up tight, then awake the next morning to a saggy tent. I thought my pitch was just bad but the it's the fabric's properties.

That is a FORTRESS of a tent!

[Tipi Walter]

That is a FORTRESS of a tent!

It has kept me alive in some major events---high winds, blizzards, severe cold and 5 day rainstorms.

[DuneElliot]

I've had this problem as well. Set up tight, then awake the next morning to a saggy tent. I thought my pitch was just bad but the it's the fabric's properties.

That is a FORTRESS of a tent!

This is one of the things that makes me concerned about my SMD Lunar Solo.

[garlic08]

For those concerned with sagging silnylon, there are ways to mitigate it.

First, try to select a dryer site. Stay out of meadows near creeks, for instance. If you care to learn how to dry camp, you can get away from creeks and lakes and many things improve--fewer bugs and rodents, warmer temps, and fewer people, for instance.

Second, more practically for most, retension your guy lines often. Pull them tight (you can't harm the stuff by pulling too tight) before you go to bed. If you need to pee during the night, pull the lines tight again.

Some designs, like my old TT Contrail, allow you to reach front guy lines from inside. I can tighten mine without leaving my sleeping bag. I also set my front pole at an angle, allowing me to raise the peak and tighten the ridge line anytime during the night simply by moving the base of the pole a few inches.

[Tipi Walter]

For those concerned with sagging silnylon, there are ways to mitigate it.

First, try to select a dryer site. Stay out of meadows near creeks, for instance. If you care to learn how to dry camp, you can get away from creeks and lakes and many things improve--fewer bugs and rodents, warmer temps, and fewer people, for instance.

Second, more practically for most, retension your guy lines often. Pull them tight (you can't harm the stuff by pulling too tight) before you go to bed. If you need to pee during the night, pull the lines tight again.

Some designs, like my old TT Contrail, allow you to reach front guy lines from inside. I can tighten mine without leaving my sleeping bag. I also set my front pole at an angle, allowing me to raise the peak and tighten the ridge line anytime during the night simply by moving the base of the pole a few inches.

I have a agree-disagree reaction to this post. First off, "try to select a dryer site" is rarely a good choice for me because I want to camp near creeks, in meadows, on open balds, or otherwise in nasty places wherever I want to go. Why not? I have this freedom because I carry a shelter which will endure any site I choose. Plus, a sudden sleet storm or rainstorm can happen anywhere at any site, thereby my tight silnylon tent gets wrinkled up.

"Retension your guy lines often" is something I agree with, but not only guylines but the entire peg tabs around the tent fly. But you can pull too tightly on your stake out points and damage not only the tent poles but the vestibule zipper, especially when a wet tent is pegged tightly and direct sunlight causes the tent to tighten like a drum. Not good.

One time I was camping on Medicine Creek near Laurel Springs NC and I staked out my Westwind tent vestibule fly too tight and when trying to zip the fly door shut the fly ripped parallel to the zipper due to the tension on the fly. This was partly caused by UV damage.

If stakes are pulled too tight it puts undue stress on fly seams, pole configurations and zippers.

[lonehiker]

Garlics advice on choosing dryer sites is sound. If the logic doesn't apply to you, then simply disregard. Most would be well served by his post. I do agree that guy lines could be pulled too tight. But his point of taking the slack out periodically is fine.

[nsherry61]

I've had this problem as well. Set up tight, then awake the next morning to a saggy tent. I thought my pitch was just bad but the it's the fabric's properties. . .

An easy solution to sagging nylon is to integrate shock aborbers into your guy lines. Something as simple as an appropriately sized rubber band or as fancy as a custom made elastic guy line work surprisingly well. This will significantly reduce both the problem of sag and the problem of too much tension after drying. They also reduce the stress on stakes in storms so the stakes are less likely to pull out and your tent less likely to tear in heavy wind.

Example of a rubber band shown here attached to a cheap tarp grommet. The rigging in the first image provides double the tension of the rigging in the second image, so you can even fine tune your tension with little effort.

tarp guy 1.jpgtarp guy 2.jpg

[Deadeye]

I don't think I'd trust a rubber band as the direct connection, but I have seen bands or shock cords used to tighten the slack in ways that leave the full cord in place if the elastic breaks. I've also seen water bottles attached to guy lines as automatic tensioners.

[nsherry61]

I don't think I'd trust a rubber band as the direct connection . . .

I've fiddled with all kinds of shock absorbers over the years. Many systems work well. The rubber bands have become my favorite because they are so simple, so light, so cheap, and work so well.

Interestingly, years ago, I had a NOLES instructor teach us to tie a loop of shoestring between our guy-lines and our tarps/tents so the shoe string would break before damage was done to the shelter by a high wind or tripping event. The implication being that the guy lines might be stronger than the shelter and it is far better to have a broken guy-line (shoe string/rubber band) than a damaged shelter.

FWIW, I challenge you to attach an appropriate sized rubber band to your tent or tarp and pull on it hard enough to break the rubber band. It can be done. And, you will probably never be worried about it breaking accidentally again. They just stretch too much and are reasonably tough unless they are really old and rotten. Then you have to cough up another $1 and buy another 5 years' supply.

[Wülfgang]

An easy solution to sagging nylon is to integrate shock aborbers into your guy lines. Something as simple as an appropriately sized rubber band or as fancy as a custom made elastic guy line work surprisingly well. This will significantly reduce both the problem of sag and the problem of too much tension after drying. They also reduce the stress on stakes in storms so the stakes are less likely to pull out and your tent less likely to tear in heavy wind.

Example of a rubber band shown here attached to a cheap tarp grommet. The rigging in the first image provides double the tension of the rigging in the second image, so you can even fine tune your tension with little effort.

tarp guy 1.jpgtarp guy 2.jpg

Not a bad idea. I did this with my Warbonnet Superfly tarp when I was hammock camper. It literally saved my bacon one night in very high winds---we guessed them at 40+ mph gusts. Let me tell you a hammock tarp is like a SAIL in high winds. If I hadnt used shock cord on my ground ties, I'm convinced the wind would have taken my tarp and it would have been a long, wet night.

[handlebar]

This is one of the things that makes me concerned about my SMD Lunar Solo.

My SMD Wild Oasis (same as Lunar Solo, but without floor) survived over 1 foot of heavy, wet snow on the PA Mid State Trail on April 23. It also did well in high winds nearly at the summit of James Peak in CO.