pitching a tent in wet weather

[srforum112]

Walking the south coast this month and expect a few rainy days during the walk.
Last walk was hut to hut, this next walk is tents all the way.
My friend and I discussed how to put up and pack up our tents in the rain and how to keep everything as dry as possible.

Do you have have any tried and workable methods or suggestions to how to get your tent up without getting the inside wet and packing it up keeping the inside as dry as possible. Really don't want a wet mat and sleeping bag if possible.

Good thing is we have a 3 x 3m tarp so we will have a communal place to cook and sit.

Hopefully there will be more sunshine than rain.....

Sonja

[anne3]

from experience....in constant rain
-sea to summit pack liners do leak!!(I keep my sleeping gear and dry clothes in wp bag inside the pack liner)
-I have a Hubba Hubba that you can pitch the fly then get in and hang the inner,lot of stuffing around,
for those with Hubba Hubba tents, the footprints are no barrier to prolonged wetness use a small cheap blue tarp to suit.
-I used chux dish cloth to dry any wet spots in the tent
-pack covers work for the first wet day
-store you toilet paper in a dry sack, zip lock bags aren't wp
-my walking partner and I tried to keep a wet tent and a dry tent, wet tent was put up first for shelter and all our wet gear, if there was a break in the weather we would put the other tent up and use it as a dry sleeping tent
-be prepared for the extra weight that wet stuff adds to your pack
-try folding maps so the right spots can be seen through wp case
-everything eventually gets wet, wet person in dry tent and the condensation wets tent liner anyway.
-on AAWT we had to call my husband from our midpoint food drop and he came and got us. We went home for two days and dried all our gear, then got dropped back out on the track. my limit of comfort runs out after being wet for 4 days with a forecast of 4 more days of rain.
-you will never forget the special smell that a wet hiker has!

[wander]

Pretty what anne3 said plus;

- ever since my 1st tas walk I have used the multiple dry bag plan instead of the single pack liner. Sleep bag in a dry bag, sleep mat in a separate dry bag and so on.

- we pack the tent atthe top of our packs. One has the inner and one has the fly. We put up the fly then climb in up pitch the inner, then unload the dry bags we want for that evening into the tent. The balance stay in the pack.

- with the Oly we can unclip the inner from the 1st set of poles and stuff it back, climb into the resulting mega verstible, remove wet gear and dry off with small towel, stack wet gear in real vestibel and re-hang the inner back over the tp of our now dry body. We've really only used this technique in stinking wet and exposed conditions.

- most South Coast tents sites are well sheltered even from rain.

[tasadam]

For me it goes like this..
My tent is stored in the bottom portion of the Macpac Cascade pack, as is the Tyvek groundsheet, and pegs. The poles are attached to the outside of the pack, usually wrapped in the centre of a laminated map.
Poles come out and are assembled (30 seconds work on a good run)
Bottom portion of pack is opened and tent, pegs, and tyvek are extracted.
Tyvek placed in situ
Peg bag emptied somewhere like on a rock or on the pack.
Tent unravelled and as I pin down one end of it (2 pegs), wife starts feeding poles through.
As soon as they are in, other 2 pegs into the ground and the tent is erect.
I fix other pegs for guy ropes and tighten things, while wife unpacks pack from vestibule into the tent.
It's a cool system, it works, and it's quick.

EDIT I should add, Hilleberg Nallo2.

[photohiker]

I have it down pretty simple too.

Tent is stored on outside of pack. IF it's wet, who wants to start putting a soggy tent inside their pack!

Critical grear stored in drybags within drybags. Sleeping bag is stored in its WM bag, inside a drybag, inside the packliner.

So, dump pack, extract tent and tyvek. two pegs on the weather end, then insert the pole and put out the remaining pegs. Put pack in vestibule and leave it to shed water for a while if there's time. Gotta be careful about hopping in and out the tent a lot when its wet, you can only make it wetter in there!

A Wettex is best for mop ups, great for drying feet after stream crossings, removing raindrops from tent prior to packing, etc.

[Taurë-rana]

For me it goes like this..
My tent is stored in the bottom portion of the Macpac Cascade pack, as is the Tyvek groundsheet, and pegs. The poles are attached to the outside of the pack, usually wrapped in the centre of a laminated map.
Poles come out and are assembled (30 seconds work on a good run)
Bottom portion of pack is opened and tent, pegs, and tyvek are extracted.
Tyvek placed in situ
Peg bag emptied somewhere like on a rock or on the pack.
Tent unravelled and as I pin down one end of it (2 pegs), wife starts feeding poles through.
As soon as they are in, other 2 pegs into the ground and the tent is erect.
I fix other pegs for guy ropes and tighten things, while wife unpacks pack from vestibule into the tent.
It's a cool system, it works, and it's quick.

Hmm... very helpful Adam, I'll have to find myself a wife somewhere, that seems to be the key here!

Sorry, couldn't resist...

[Macca81]

Do you have have any tried and workable methods or suggestions to how to get your tent up without getting the inside wet and packing it up keeping the inside as dry as possible.

i think it depends on the tent. the old olympus tents i used when i was at college could be put up fly and inner together and at no stage was the inner exposed to the rain. my S2S Dart is designed to be put up with the inner first and then the fly over the top, however with some care it can be done with the fly draped over so as to keep most of the weather out... and i think there are probably other tents that would be almost impossible to put up with the fly intact. others, like the hubba, the fly can be put up totally seperatly, then the inner clipped in later.

[srforum112]

Thank you for your posts. The information has been really helpful.
I have a MSR Hubba tent and will practice putting the fly up intact followed by the inner.
I gave up on pack covers the last walk in tassie, have a pack liner and individual dry bags for gear.
Hopefully with all this good advise I'll be able to stay as dry as possible in any wet weather.
Will find out soon enough.
Sonja

[durks]

Tent is stored on outside of pack. IF it's wet, who wants to start putting a soggy tent inside their pack!

Storing a tent on the outside of your pack seems like a bad idea in the Tassie scrub ...

To deal with the problem of packing wet - and muddy - tents in a rucksack, I've replaced the single storage sack that came with my tent (a Terra Nova Quasar) with two compressible Exped drybags; the fly goes in one, the inner in the other. So even if the fly is soaked, or the inner covered in mud, nothing else in the rucksack gets affected.

If it's raining, I try to pack as much as possible in the rucksack first, then finally strike the tent, which goes into the rucksack more-or-less last.

[photohiker]

Tent is stored on outside of pack. IF it's wet, who wants to start putting a soggy tent inside their pack!

Storing a tent on the outside of your pack seems like a bad idea in the Tassie scrub ...

Depends on your pack and your tent, I guess. Outside doesn't need to mean strapped where it will scrape every branch you pass, plenty of packs have exterior pockets that will take a tent.

[Turtle81]

Hi all, Im quite new to all this and had never heard of this Tyvek ground sheet some people have mentioned so i googled it (good old google) and found DuPont™ Tyvek® is that the stuff? next question were can i get my hands on it as it looks like a nice light ground sheet!

[tasadam]

Re Tyvek...
A bit of reading for you.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=212

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1229

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5233


DuPont Tyvek is the stuff, but there are a number of types. The one called Homewrap works fine.

[Turtle81]

thanks!

[Liamy77]

For me it goes like this..
My tent is stored in the bottom portion of the Macpac Cascade pack, as is the Tyvek groundsheet, and pegs. The poles are attached to the outside of the pack, usually wrapped in the centre of a laminated map.
Poles come out and are assembled (30 seconds work on a good run)
Bottom portion of pack is opened and tent, pegs, and tyvek are extracted.
Tyvek placed in situ
Peg bag emptied somewhere like on a rock or on the pack.
Tent unravelled and as I pin down one end of it (2 pegs), wife starts feeding poles through.
As soon as they are in, other 2 pegs into the ground and the tent is erect.
I fix other pegs for guy ropes and tighten things, while wife unpacks pack from vestibule into the tent.
It's a cool system, it works, and it's quick.

Hmm... very helpful Adam, I'll have to find myself a wife somewhere, that seems to be the key here!

Sorry, couldn't resist...

nah for you i would reccommend 2 or 3 attractive companions that way you dont even need to carry your gear !

for me i havn't had to worry in WA for the last 6years- but i have a silnylon tarp shelter i often carry - throw it up for lunch too, then do what evewr underneath- bivvy, tent, cook, dry wet stuff etc... when able it can extend the vestibule out heaps too... i would like a lighter one (800g) but it is 3m x 3m and can be pitched as an A frame if needed... has guy lines built in... still need a new tassie tent as my old olympus FINALLY died (they dont like my sisters cooking methods )