RE: [Philmont]: Re: wet tents

Several solutions/preventions
 
1. Several companies make waterproof stuff sacks. I always carry two.
One for my sleeping bag so that it never gets wet. One for my tent, so the
tent dirt and water never ruins anything else. I get up on the morning and
open the sleeping bag up to air/dry as much as possible dependent on the
weather and then stuff it in the waterproof stuff sack. No one can get my
bag wet. Outdoor Research has several that I have used. They weight a
little more (oz per stuff sack), but the weight is worth the effort.
 
2. Good stuff sacks can be seam sealed. If you stuff sack is fairly
water proof, seam seal it with tent seam sealer as an alternative.
 
3. Don't have anything except tents with flys. On rain days the tent
goes in it's own waterproof stuff sack. That way the water will stay in the
stuff sack and not get anything else wet. Poles always go in a pull bag
strapped on the outside of my pack (with stakes.) You can then set up your
poles without having your tent lay out in the rain. I take the wet fly and
attach them to the outside of my pack. Not to dry, just to keep the really
wet stuff away from my drier stuff. I try and do a quick roll/fold and then
slide under the straps on the pack. At night, set up poles. Open pack grab
tent. Open up tent, and throw pack inside tent. (Holds tent down and keeps
pack dry.) Set up 2 poles and put fly on. Set up rest of Poles/tent and
stake out.
 
If you really want to stay dry, purchase a Bibler/Black Diamond
mountaineering tent. Open tent up, throw pack in tent and crawl inside.
Open poles up and stick in all four corners and tent is up. Single wall 2
pole tents. Great for really bad dads, light weight, less than 2 pounds and
will lighten your wallet significantly!
 
Tents that are wet won't mold/mildew if they are set up every day even if
constantly wet. On a Tatenshini River Trip and two Amazon jungle trips, it
has rained everyday all day. (Tat trip 14 days of 24 hrs of rain!). I knew
the Tat was going to be wet, so we took an extra dining tarp and would move
our tents under the tarps to set up and take them down. Sometimes to dry a
little also. Land, set up tarp, set up tent under tarp, move tent out from
under tarp and stake down. Next person set up tent, then kitchen was set up.
Used opposite system in the morning.
 
I've used this system with Scouts. Takes a little patience because you can
only set up 1-2 tents at a time. Also allows those Scouts whose packing
skills are on the weak side to pack in relative dryness in the morning.
 
I am a firm believer in water proof stuff sacks. They don't compress as
well as most stuff sacks and take a second longer to allow air to escape,
but worth the effort. You can use them to carry water in emergencies, etc.
Even better, by them in dark/black colors. Fill them full of snow in the
morning and lay them out. When you get back to camp after carrying a load,
you have a liter of water you don't have to boil snow to make. If you are
out of water, when you get back that can be a real life saver.
 
Jim Moss

  _____

From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of RRRLITHGOW@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 4:03 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: Re: wet tents

What do you do when it's raining when you pack up your tent in the morning
and still raining when you set it up in the evening? Luckily, this only
happened to me once during a backpacking trip and I had my tarp inside my
tent so I concentrated on just keeping that tarp dry and staying in the
middle. What do other people do? When you pack the tent up wet in the
morning, the wetness seeps through the entire tent during the day and you
don't want a wet sleeping bag to boot.
Reggie Lithgow
NWSC Council

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Received on Sun Oct 3 14:02:26 2004