If you have water inside of your tent you have not set up your tent
correctly. Open a vent!
Tents are designed (at least most modern, fairly good tents, Philmont tents
qualify) to keep water out and you and your valuables in. However no tent is
designed to be zipped up tight. Most tents have two zippers. Open the top
one at least 6-10 inches on both entrances or both ends. That way the
moisture from your breathing will vent and you should not have water in the
tents.......unless you spill water. If you have mesh panels in the doors of
the tents, sip them open 100%.
I even leave my water out of the tent and stick my head out to drink. Odd
but dry tent.
You will lose as moisture at night breathing at Philmont as you will
sweating during the day. If you zip your tent up tight, that moisture stays
inside the tent. It's hard to dry anything when the tent is zipped up.
Take a eight foot section of 3 or 4mm line and tie it from end to end on the
tent. Hang your socks and other "wet" items there. In a vented tent, in the
morning, everything should be dry. If there is nothing to tie the line too,
I run it outside the tent to a pole. Not zipping the tent up 100% anyway.
As for ground cloths. I rarely if ever use one. That is why I bought a
tent. I make sure there is nothing on the ground that would be sharp or
puncture the tent floor. I get on my hands and knees and check. Not only
do I now want my tent floor punctured, but I don't want something sharp
sticking me in the ribs at 3:00 Am.
The ground, even the desert sand is wet. Your tent in the morning is going
to have a wet floor (on the outside). (Or your ground cloth will be wet.)
Keep one of the guy lines staked out (blowing tents again) and flip the
bottom up facing the son. Fix breakfast, finish packing and the tent floor
should be dry.
By the way, stuff, don't roll modern tents. Tents come rolled because they
look better, stack better and sell better on the shop floor. But folding and
rolling a tent the same way, every time will eventually crease the tent
cause the nylon to wear faster there. Stuff a tent and you don't have that
problem. Poles and stakes don't fit in the bag that way, but I carry my
pulls on the outside of my pack, in a pole bag. They are protected and I
can stuff everything in my pack and worry about puncturing something or
breaking a pole. Also, if you split poles, stakes, line, and the fly, you
and split the tent weight about in half for two people. Fly's can be stuffed
under lines on the outside of the pack. In a rain storm it won't matter,
when you are done hiking throw the fly over your packs to keep them dry
until you get the tent up and then throw the fly on. Quick because the tent
is stuffed and the fly is out and open. Then throw packs in the tent.
If for some reason, and I have yet to find one except camping on rocks, I
use a ground cloth, I put it on the outside. I make sure that is does not
come close to the edge of the tent. At least six inches from the sides. I
rarely put any weight/pressure that close to the edge of the tent so under
the theory water should not seep in ????? and I should not puncture the
tent.
If you are worried about the tent, even the Philmont tents. Fix the tent,
rather than carry a ground cloth. It takes 24 hours to seam seal a tent. 2
tubes will fix a Philmont tent with no problem. Nikki Wax has tent water
proofing that sprays on and dries. I've used it on commercial renting units
that do every night all summer long.
When you get to Philmont set up the tent. Stake down one corner so it won't
blow away. Spray that side of the tent. It should dry at Philmont in a
hour. Flip the tent (un-stake and re-stake the tent) and spray the other
side. When it dries, seam seal the tent. (Get tent Seam Sealer! Nothing
else comes close to working as well. Follow the instructions. You don't
paint you dab. The purpose is to fill the stitching with the seam sealer so
water cannot get through. Next morning when the seam sealer is dry, I would
re-spray the tent with the water proofing. Voila, brand new tent, hours work
per tent and no need for a ground cloth. The fly is easy to do. If you want
the short version just do the fly and the edge of the floor bathtub wall.
That is any stitching in the floor and where it meets the tent fabric.
Floors are usually a different color because they have a thicker floor. The
bath tub so that water flowing will not get in a tent. The bathtub usually
extends up the side 4-6 inches.
If you do it right (follow the directions) you will make the Philmont tents
last a couple of more years. The new waterproofing also has UV protection so
the tent fabric lasts longer.
I know that Philmont wants you to carry a ground cloth, but that is to
protect the tents, not keep water out.
Jim
Jim
James H. Moss, JD, Editor
Outdoor Recreation & Fitness Law Review:
http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/law_review/index.html
The Outdoor Recreation & Fitness Law Reviews are publications for members of
the Outdoor Recreation, Adventure Travel, Hospitality and Fitness Industry.
For more information email me at: lawreview@snewsnet.com
Outdoor Law Specific Email: outdoorlaw@earthlink.net
Fitness Law Specific Email: fitnesslaw@earthlink.net
Professor: Ski Area Operations, Ski Area Risk Management Course Colorado
Mountain College
Email: jmoss@coloradomtn.edu
http://www.coloradomtn.edu/programs/sao/home.html
Professor: The Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, University of
Utah
Outdoor Recreation Risk Management, Insurance and Law
http://www.health.Utah.edu/prt/
2 Day Outdoor Recreation Risk Management Seminars
19th International Conference on Outdoor Recreation and Education (ICORE)
Oct 27-29, 2005 in Buffalo, New York at the University at Buffalo
www.aore.org/icoregeneralinfo.htm
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
The Wilderness Medical Society, 2005 Wilderness Medical Conference in
Snowmass at Aspen, Colorado, July 23 - 27, 2005 Info: http://wms.allenmm.com
or 1-800-627-0629, ext. 213
PO Box 16743
Golden, CO 80402
303-807-2275
Personal Email: jhmoss@earthlink.net
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Received on Thu Jul 14 15:45:33 2005
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