[philmont] Innies vs Outies

Ground cloths.
   
  Open says me, the proverbial can of worms.
   
  Being that I was a Scout in the days before tents had sewn in bottoms, we used ground cloths extensively.
   
  At Philmont in 1959 as a Scout, I used my official BSA poncho as my ground cloth under my sleeping bag. What did I use for rain protection after the tent was set up and before retiring? Of course, the poncho. We set the bedrolls on a layer of crossed sticks built like a log cabin fire lay to keep them up off the damp ground until we crawled inside the tent and carefully spread out the poncho and unrolled the bedroll. Attention to detail kept us dry then and will keep you dry today.
   
  OK. there are two schools of thought on a ground cloth used with tents with sewn in floors.
   
  Innies and Outies.
   
  Inside
  Both have advantages over the other but the purpose of it is to keep one's bedding dry and for that duty, the choice location of it is INSIDE the tent. This is contrary to convential wisdon, but it works and works well.
   
  Inside, it is protected from sharp sticks and rocks by the tent floor and you don't have to worry about dripping water on the top of the edge running on top of the ground cloth and under your tent floor and soaking through to wet your sleeping bag as surely as a bad dream does.
   
  During one of those frequent monsonnal downpours that occur on occasion in the mountains of Philmont, you can pull the edges of the inside sheet of plastic up into the shape of a boat and remain nice and dry even though water is seeping in the bottom of the tent which it WILL DO.
   
  Outies
  The only thing a ground cloth does better outside under the tent floor is to keep the tent floor clean. That is not the purpose of it, but if your vanity insists you do this, then by all means do so, but be aware that at some time in the future in the middle of the night when you wake up in a wet bed, just remember that I told you so.
   
  When the ground cloth needs repositioning, which they all will, if its OUTSIDE, then guess what, you got OUTSIDE in the rain to fix it. Not a smart idea is it?
   
  This outie thing probably got started by a mother admonishing her son to "keep your tent tidy and clean sonny!". For Petes sake, tents are washable!
   
  Tyvek or Plastic
  Many prefer Tyvek, but heavy plastic will do very well indeed. The choice is yours.
   
  Double coverage
  Some choose both innies adn outies. This is quite similar to using two forms of birth control and if it's that's important to you or fear of wetness is scary and the thought will ruin your day/night, then by all means consider carrying the extra but unnecessary weight of double protection.
   
  Don't go just on my word, give them both a try in a real rain, vanity not withstanding, and tell me which works best.
   
  John LeBlanc
  Philmont crew 1959 and 2002

       
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Received on Tue Jun 5 23:02:46 2007