The Phil-list Oct_2004: RE: [Philmont] - philmont Digest

From: Garrett, Russ <Russ.Garrett@bullivant.com>
Date: Wed Oct 06 2004 - 19:25:38 CDT

We took trek 30 on 721 last summer. It rained every day but two and for
long periods. We had to address drying tents. I realize that tents are a
personal preference, but if you have a tent that clips to the poles (as
opposed to sleeves),can be set up without the tent and has a separate
rainfly, you can, in most cases, take down the tent under the cover of the
rainfly. For that matter, you can set up the tent inside of the rainfly.
That way, the tent itself isn't rained on as you're setting it up and taking
it down.

Russ Garrett
Bullivant|Houser|Bailey PC
805 Broadway Street, Suite 400
Vancouver, WA 98660-3310
mailto:russ.garrett@bullivant.com
direct dial: 360.737.3363 - fax: 360.695.8504
http://www.bullivant.com
Seattle . Vancouver . Portland . Sacramento . San Francisco . Irvine . Las
Vegas

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Parmly [mailto:PARMLYD@pilottravelcenters.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 12:34 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: RE: [Philmont] - philmont Digest - V01 #1156

-----Original Message-----
From: philmont-request@troop47.com [mailto:philmont-request@troop47.com]

Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 1:02 AM
To: Philmont
Subject: [Philmont] - philmont Digest - V01 #1156

philmont Digest Wed, 06 Oct 2004 00:01:57 -0500 V01 #1156

Today's topics:
     'RE: [Philmont]: First timers & The Tooth'
     'Re: [Philmont]: First timers & The Tooth'
     'RE: [Philmont]: Bear Activity this summer'
     'Re: [Philmont]: First timers & The Tooth'
     'My Tents Wet What Do I Do?'

----------------------------------------------------------------------

We had rain 11 out of 11 on our 2004 itinerary (717N1). Our tents were
either soaking wet from rain or very damp from dew every morning.
During our prep hikes we hit upon the idea of using the space bags that
compress all the air out as our tent storage solution. We were all
"stuffers", not "folders", any way and the compression bags allow a
bulky tent to be squeezed down into reasonably small package. We used
one bag for the fly, one bag for the tent. That kept the true "wetness"
of the tent fly separate from the "dampness" of the tent interior. We
also used some of these bags for particularly bulky items like fleece
jackets, etc.,

Coleman sells a space bag, and Target has them also. Glad also makes
some jumbo zip-locs that are very helpful for many things, cost less
than the space bags, but don't have the cool little air release 1-way
outlets.

One problem that developed was in the rough treatment the bags received,
the gripper/slider thing to lock the top shut got a little torn up,
making it a trick to get them completely airtight and to STAY
compressed. A few of us packed an extra one or two in case any
completely gave out. They never leaked any water and they stayed
compressed long enough to get them into the ruck when packing up. No,
we do not put them on the outside of the pack, but put them at the top
of the opening since they are one of the first things pulled out upon
reaching camp.

Like John LeBlanc said, packing up a wet tent is just a phact of liphe
at Philmont. It sucks. Embrace the Suck! (Our crew motto.)

Dave Parmly
Advisor Crew 506
Knoxville, TN
I used to be a Bobwhite...SR424
IWTGBTP...in 2008!
------------------------------

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 20:23:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: John LeBlanc <philmontjohn@yahoo.com>
Subject: My Tents Wet What Do I Do?

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Let me give you my take on fifty- five years of camping in the rain and
wet tents. Simply put you deal with it.

Our area gets 53 inches of rain per year. Thats more than any other
part of the lower 48 except the Pacific NW in Washington State and
Oregon. So we deal with it.

With virtually 100% humidity, rain or shine, we pack up wet tents and
put up wet tents.

First off, it you are stranded in the middle of a tent on a tarp to stay
dry and the tent is soaked, then you got the wrong tent or it needs a
good seam sealing/waterproofing treatment or you need to be more careful
on site selection.

Before I get too far, internal frame packs are not a positive help in
the regard to isolating wet tents. What they do is help spread the
wetness to all other stuff, even the dry sleeping bag and clothes. I
don't use an internal frame pack.

If your tent is wet in the morning, then just pack it up wet. Simple?
Well, sort of.

Actually, when you get up, take everything out of it and suspent the
floor up wo it will air and help to get drier. Before putting it up,
selevt a site where it will get the first rays of the morning sun to
help dry it some. Every little bit helps.

Then...............

Pack it up into it's own bag and tie it on the OUTSIDE of your pack
where it belongs and has belonged ever since the BSA handbook was
written and before.

I prefer the Ureka Timberline series of tents with their extremely
steep, flat roofs for the simple reason THEY SHED WATER LIKE A DUCKS
BACK. Shed water does not soak into the tent.

They aren't the roomiest of tents like the domes are, but I don't want a
roomy tent, I want a dry tent.

I do not advocate tying on a loose flapping tent to help it dry. All
that does is catch on every snag on the trail to rip holes in it.

I also don't advocate spening all my spare time diddling with a wet tent
trying to dry it. A soaked nylon tent will dry in less than 30 minutes.
Just put it up thirty minutes earlier at the campsite for the night and
let it dry then. Use the saved time during the day to smell the roses,
take pictures and watch the grass grow.

When you hit camp, put up the tent or if it is really wet and the
weather looks like it will be really dry, then dry it in the sun for a
while if that is a must do with you. For me, it's not.

However, that is never the case at Philmont as it WILL rain every day
somewhere and most of the time that somewhere is where you are.

Wet tents are not all that much of a problem at all. Iv'e struck and
packed wet ones and put up wet ones for days on end.

If you use a quality pad like a Thermarest (prefer full length for
obvious reasons) then a damp or wet floor is not a problem at all. That
is unless you toss and turn all night long.

Your choice of tent sites is going to determine how soaked the tent is.
A proper site that drains water rather than pools it under the tent and
the tent won't be soaked but only damp.

Of course, by observation, I know that not everyone has garnered this
skill yet. Dan Beard wrote about that in earler editions of the BSA
handbook. Do your homework.

Simply put, you have to work at it.

Working at it is a skill. For an interesting take on this skill,I
suggest you go to the Northern Tier Canoe Base website at www.holry.org
and then alumni essays and then read "A Charlie Guide Can Make The
Difference" to see what I have to say about working at it to keep dry.

John LeBlanc

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
vote.yahoo.com - Register online to vote today!
--0-143143476-1097033009=:91432
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii

<DIV>Let me give you my take on fifty- five years of camping in the rain
and wet tents.  Simply put you deal with it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Our area gets 53 inches of rain per year.  Thats more than any
other part of the lower 48 except the Pacific NW in Washington State and
Oregon.  So we deal with it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>With virtually 100% humidity, rain or shine, we pack up wet tents
and put up wet tents.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>First off, it you are stranded in the middle of a tent on a tarp to
stay dry and the tent is soaked, then you got the wrong tent or it needs
a good seam sealing/waterproofing treatment or you need to be more
careful on site selection.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Before I get too far, internal frame packs are not a positive help
in the regard to isolating wet tents.  What they do is help spread
the wetness to all other stuff, even the dry sleeping bag and
clothes.  I don't use an internal frame pack.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If your tent is wet in the morning, then just pack it up wet. 
Simple?  Well, sort of.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Actually, when you get up, take everything out of it and suspent
the floor up wo it will air and help to get drier.  Before putting
it up, selevt a site where it will get the first rays of the morning sun
to help dry it some.  Every little bit helps.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Then...............</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Pack it up into it's own bag and tie it on the OUTSIDE of your pack
where it belongs and has belonged ever since the BSA handbook was
written and before.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I prefer the Ureka Timberline series of tents with their extremely
steep, flat roofs for the simple reason THEY SHED WATER LIKE A DUCKS
BACK.  Shed water does not soak into the tent.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>They aren't the roomiest of tents like the domes are, but I don't
want a roomy tent, I want a dry tent.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I do not advocate tying on a loose flapping tent to help it
dry.  All that does is catch on every snag on the trail to rip
holes in it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I also don't advocate spening all my spare time diddling with a wet
tent trying to dry it.  A soaked nylon tent will dry in less than
30 minutes.  Just put it up thirty minutes earlier at the campsite
for the night and let it dry then.  Use the saved time during the
day to smell the roses, take pictures and watch the grass grow.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When you hit camp, put up the tent or if it is really wet and the
weather looks like it will be really dry, then dry it in the sun for a
while if that is a must do with you.  For me, it's not.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, that is never the case at Philmont as it WILL rain every
day somewhere and most of the time that somewhere is where you
are.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wet tents are not all that much of a problem at all.  Iv'e
struck and packed wet ones and put up wet ones for days on end. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If you use a quality pad like a Thermarest (prefer full length for
obvious reasons) then a damp or wet floor is not a problem at all. 
That is unless you toss and turn all night long.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Your choice of tent sites is going to determine how soaked the tent
is.  A proper site that drains water rather than pools it under the
tent and the tent won't be soaked but only damp.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Of course, by observation, I know that not everyone has garnered
this skill yet.  Dan Beard wrote about that in earler editions of
the BSA handbook.  Do your homework.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Simply put, you have to work at it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Working at it is a skill.  For an interesting take on this
skill,I suggest you go to the Northern Tier Canoe Base website at <A
href="http://www.holry.org">www.holry.org</A> and then alumni essays and
then read "A Charlie Guide Can Make The Difference" to see what I have
to say about working at it to keep dry.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John LeBlanc</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><p>
<hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br><a
href="http://vote.yahoo.com">vote.yahoo.com</a> - Register online to
vote today!
--0-143143476-1097033009=:91432--

------------------------------

End of philmont Digest V01 #1156
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Received on Wed Oct 6 19:41:52 2004

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