Tent flooding

[Colter]

I didn't have a bathtub floor on the AT and never got flooded out. I had to be careful about site selection.

Even when I have a shelter with bathtub floor I try to make it a rule to avoid setting up where my shelter might end up in standing water. I'm not going to bet that there aren't needle holes or pinholes in my floor that will let water in. I avoid packed ground, bare earth and low spots. I imagine what the area will look like if it pours.

That's just me.

[Feral Bill]

For other places, such as national parks with designated hardened sites, you can easily end up with substantial groundwater and no viable hanging spots. Best to hope your bathtub floor does not get water inside, either.

[Francis Sawyer]

Lots of advice..... You will still get wet. Raingear, tarps, tubs, galoshes yadda yadda one way or another if you're outdoors for an extended period of time you will get wet. If you do not dry out you will continue to be wet.

[TX Aggie]

Lots of advice..... You will still get wet. Raingear, tarps, tubs, galoshes yadda yadda one way or another if you're outdoors for an extended period of time you will get wet. If you do not dry out you will continue to be wet.

Truth.

Embrace the suck.


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[ggreaves]

Lots of advice..... You will still get wet. Raingear, tarps, tubs, galoshes yadda yadda one way or another if you're outdoors for an extended period of time you will get wet. If you do not dry out you will continue to be wet.

... except if you're sleeping... in a hammock... under a tarp... off the ground... where all the water.... you know... lands eventually.

[Ender]

... except if you're sleeping... in a hammock... under a tarp... off the ground... where all the water.... you know... lands eventually.

I've got wet in hammocks before, even with a perfect tarp pitch. Sometimes, it just doesn't matter what you do.

[ScareBear]

I've got wet in hammocks before, even with a perfect tarp pitch. Sometimes, it just doesn't matter what you do.

We heard/saw a guy cussing and yelling at 3am...he must have pitched his fly incorrectly, or something. His hammock filled up from the rain. Like a bathtub, it was...

[Ender]

We heard/saw a guy cussing and yelling at 3am...he must have pitched his fly incorrectly, or something. His hammock filled up from the rain. Like a bathtub, it was...

Haha. Yep, it'll happen if water gets in there in any quantity. The worst time I had, I had set up my tarp perfectly, sides against the wind and stakes as low as possible, ends battened down tight.

Wind didn't care about my perfect pitch and blew in the rain from every direction at what felt like a thousand miles an hour. Got very wet, had a small puddle under me.

But heck, it happens, no complaints. Luckily for me it was a weekend trip so I was going home the next day anyway. Dried out all my gear at home.

[Slo-go'en]

We heard/saw a guy cussing and yelling at 3am...he must have pitched his fly incorrectly, or something. His hammock filled up from the rain. Like a bathtub, it was...

I had that happen once. Pulled the tarp back for better ventilation on a hot summer night - then the thunderstorm came. Also saw it happen to a newbie hammock'er at Hawk Mt shelter. He managed to get his down sleeping bag completely soaked on his very first night out. Plus it was like 40 out. Never did see him again.

Then there is the issue of where to put stuff you don't want to get wet like your clothes. Then there is the wind. A hammock tarp is much noisier flapping around in the wind then a tent is. So, while a hammock has some good points, it also has issues.

[ggreaves]

So, while a hammock has some good points, it also has issues.

none that can't be effectively mitigated with a little knowledge and practice.

[Timinator]

I see a lot of mentions about the duplex tent. I was thinking more along the lines of the hexamid solo tent. Is this not a good choice? Duplex seems pretty overkill for a single AT hiker.

[TX Aggie]

I see a lot of mentions about the duplex tent. I was thinking more along the lines of the hexamid solo tent. Is this not a good choice? Duplex seems pretty overkill for a single AT hiker.

Someone else posted this a week or two ago. I'm not in the market for a zpacks tent, but found it very informative.

https://youtu.be/pJBPqdFWrIw

[JC13]

I see a lot of mentions about the duplex tent. I was thinking more along the lines of the hexamid solo tent. Is this not a good choice? Duplex seems pretty overkill for a single AT hiker.

After being stuck in the coffin of most 1 person profile tents, you will wonder why you didn't get a 2 person. This usually happens when you get stuck in the tent for extended times in extenuating circumstances.

[Puddlefish]

... except if you're sleeping... in a hammock... under a tarp... off the ground... where all the water.... you know... lands eventually.

My friend with a hammock/tarp had to take a zero day to recover from some mild hypothermia. A corner of the tarp flopped loose during a rainstorm, and by the time she woke and hopped out of the hammock to deal with it, her hammock turned into a bathtub.

My tent had a bathtub floor, and I still was careful in choosing my tenting sites. If you camp early before the crowd arrives, you have more options, if you stealth camp well off the trail, you have more options. There will also be times where your options just don't exist. That relatively flat spot you identified on the map might have giant rocks, or someone might have gotten there first. It might be miles of steep ground before you reach flat enough terrain.

That said, I never got wet from ground water, and I don't think the bathtub floor was ever the determining factor in wet or not, as I never woke surrounded by a puddle. Some of that might have been luck, as I did tent in some hollows when only small amounts of rain were forecast. In those cases, I did count on the bathtub to bail me out.

Rain blowing at high speeds under a two inch to the ground tight pitch, that's what got me soaked a few nights. Set the foot into the wind, or somewhere between the current wind direction and the forecast wind direction. It's one thing to get wet feet, and just toss a bag over your feet, it's another thing to have the wind hit you on the side and get everything soaked.

[ggreaves]

My friend with a hammock/tarp had to take a zero day to recover from some mild hypothermia. A corner of the tarp flopped loose during a rainstorm, and by the time she woke and hopped out of the hammock to deal with it, her hammock turned into a bathtub.......

...Rain blowing at high speeds under a two inch to the ground tight pitch, that's what got me soaked a few nights. Set the foot into the wind, or somewhere between the current wind direction and the forecast wind direction. It's one thing to get wet feet, and just toss a bag over your feet, it's another thing to have the wind hit you on the side and get everything soaked.

The first instance you mentioned would have been a problem in a tent or a hammock or a tarping setup. You're relying on a staked down tarp or tent fly to keep you dry. If that comes undone you're sunk in any case. In the second case, you wouldn't have gotten wet in the hammock. When the side of the tarp is below the bottom of the hammock, you can't get wet even with sideways rain. Maybe a little dirt splatter on the outside of your underquilt protector but you'll be quite dry. All I'm saying is that all other things being equal, a hammock will keep you drier than a tent or other ground setup over time.

It doesn't really matter though. The OP has his heart set on a Zpacks tent. His original question was about needing a bathtub floor in one and I think that getting one's a good enough risk management decision for dealing with a wet ground on a thru hike.

[rocketsocks]

location location location

[handlebar]

I see a lot of mentions about the duplex tent. I was thinking more along the lines of the hexamid solo tent. Is this not a good choice? Duplex seems pretty overkill for a single AT hiker.

I've got the hexamid solo plus and use the separate ground sheet from Zpacks. Haven't had many problems with water penetrating under the edges, but keep a small pack towel handy to soak up any that does make it in. If rain is expected, I am careful that the ground sheet is well inside the edges of the hexamid. Had only two situations when I had to soak up small amounts of water that leaked in, Once when there was a thunderstorm that turned into thunder snow then several inches of heavy wet snow that weighed down the tent and allowed water to come in. In this case I'd arrived at the campsite after dark and hadn't pitched the hexamid very carefully----who would expect snow in late April east of Tuscon AZ, even up on Mt. Lemon. The other time was along a canal beneath the Lake Ocheechobee dike along the FL Trail. There were winds gusting to 50 or 60mph buffeting the hexamid and I had to hold onto the trekking pole supporting the tent to keep the tent from collapsing. Fortunately, we knew the storm was coming and had a very good pitch using all the stake out points. Managed to keep the sleeping bag dry in both cases, even though I had to soak up some small puddled water.

BTW, plenty of room for me and my gear inside the Hexamid Plus.

[Jayne]

My tent and my backpack are the heaviest aspects of my gear system. I plan on replacing the tent and then the bag gradually while on trail but the tent is certainly something I'd like to replace asap.
I'm strongly considering buying a zpacks tent but I 'm not sure whether to buy a tub bottom section. What are the odds my tent will get flooded on the AT without tub flooring?

I would say high. Bathtub floor is no guarantee though - Murphy strikes hard when your out in the woods. One other option though is your sleeping pad - I always use an inflatable pad for comfort, but it also does a good job of keeping my sleeping quilt up off of the ground. It's really a question of how much risk your comfortable with in a particular circumstance.