water in my tent

[frank10]

Test it in the back yard under a hose rather than waiting for a wet night at camp.

[scottteng]

Another reason to love Florida. It does rain here usually in massive quantities for a short period of time. We even had a brief shower yesterday even though we are in a drought. Most everyone uses the infamous dept store tents even the troop has a mix of coleman and ozark trails. We all have a tarp or a cheap drop cloth that we throw over the tent for the downpours and then remove when the shower has passed. The other nice thing is that our rainy season is very warm so one is never cold and wet. The problem with extreme waterproofing is that it will get very hot and stuffy in the tent. If we were out and it was looking like a couple of days straight of rain unusual but it happens maybe twice per year without other complications that would cause us to cancel(wind and flooding). I would set up one of my tarps like an old fashioned dining fly all pitched one way and set my tent under it. If it gets worse than that you will find me under the picnic table in the shelter curled up in my sleeping bag. The boys favorite place to sleep is on a large tarp by the fire if a shower comes they pull a half of the tarp up to cover if anyone wakes up. Tents are mostly to hold your gear and keep bugs out of your clothes and occasionally sleep in.

[WVCubDad]

I own a Eureka! Apex 2 tent that I bought several years ago for CAP ground team outings. Now my son and I use it for our Cub Scout camping trips. We recently camped 2 weekends in a row thanks to a Pack Overnighter followed by a Council Cub/Adult camp.

 

On the first trip my son and his friend were staying in our tent while I was in a borrowed tent next door. We had 4 storms roll through that evening and on into the wee hours of the night. I kept waiting to hear a little voice say "Dad, let's go home" but it never came. In fact, both boys didn't realize it rained hard after they went to sleep. Even my borrowed tent came through okay.

 

The second trip was to our Council Scout Camp, Camp Rock Enon in Gore, VA. We set up on the platforms used for the summer camp tents. The platform my son picked was near the campfire ring and not under any trees! That night it rained after we turned in and in the morning even with the tent tied to the frame and not staked out like we normally do, it kept the water pretty much off of us. I say pretty much because I didn't get the angle right on the fly and little rain came under and hit the side of the tent by my feet. (Thanks for the garbage back tip over the foot of my sleeping bag, I'll use that next time.)

 

Until my boy gets bigger, this will be a good tent for us. One thing that I've started doing is stuffing it back into its stuff sack instead of folding and rolling it like I used to do. Don't know how much differnce it has made but it hasn't hurt so far. I've also been lucky enough to be able to air/dry it out completely after each of our camping trips. It's been well worth the $89 I paid for it.

 

John

Tiger Den Leader (for 3 more days, then Wolf!)

Pack 13

Potomac District

Shenandoah Area Council

[Owl62]

It is strange that water was dripping through the entire rainfly. I don't believe I have ever seen a totally waterproof tent. Every tent I have ever seen has leaked somewhere, sometime - most often through the seams. Tents or parts of tents may be coated with "waterproof" material, but sooner or later almost all will leak.

 

Rainflys deflect rain more than serve as a waterproof barrier. Rainflys should usually be pretty taut. It sounds like the rainfly in question may almost be mesh???

 

Some things to consider to reduce tents leaking:

 

Buy a good quality tent, with tapes seams, gussetted zippers, and a fly that covers the tent well. Be wary of tents that the rainfly does not cover or extend over all doors, windows, zipper, screens, etc.

 

Unless the manufacturer recommends otherwise, nearly all tents need to have all the seams sealed and resealled regularly.

 

Erect the tent in an area where the ground kind of slops away from the tent on all sides if at all possible.

 

Avoid erecting a tent where water will drip or run on it from other things like trees, rocks, etc.

 

Erect tents with the widest surfaces parallel with the prevailing wind.

 

Erect the tent according to the manufacturer's instructions.

 

Tent surfaces should be taut but not drum tight. Especially the tent floor and rainfly. A taut tent surface will help deflect rain.

 

Make sure the tent has plenty of ventilation - otherwise, condensation inside the tent could be a problem.

 

Use a separate "waterproof" ground tarp under the tent and make sure that no part of it sticks out from under the tent.

 

Consider using another waterproof tarp (I use clear plastic sheeting) cut to fit, INSIDE the tent. Reason is that most tent seams near the floor of the tent will leak and using an inside tarp will cause most of that water to go between the tent floor and the inside tarp helping keep the occupant and contents of the tent dry.

 

Avoid having ANYTHING touch the inside walls of a tent - it can and usually does cause leaking where the wall was touched.

 

Keep the tent in good repair. Stitching, patch holes, seal the seams, etc. Most tents leak through seams, open doors, holes, and where water is allowed to pool or stand on the surface of tents (especially near the bottom of the walls where the floor is attached).

 

Consider taking an extra tarp to erect over a tent is really heavy rain. I have even used a poncho for the same purpose.

 

Ive never tried the pulling a trash bag over the foot of a sleeping bag in wet weather inside a tent, but I will try it sometime. I have had the foot of my sleeping bag get wet. I usually use a cot so a wet sleeping bag is not usually a problem.

 

If you camp in the rain, you are probably going to get wet. But there are thing you can do to keep it to a minimum.

 

 

[orennoah]

The North Face has an excellent reputation for their lifetime warranty.

 

http://www.thenorthface.com/na/contact-us.html#warranty

 

I would contact them, first.

 

Good luck and let us know what they do.

[Gunny2862]

Also, to avoid rot causing leaks for as long as possible make sure that it does get Underline completely Stopunderline dry before storing it for your next adventure. It's okay to bring it home wet if you must but ensure it is dry before putting it away. This will also help stop some funky tent odors that will make it unpleasant to sleep in before noticeable damage (rot) is done.

 

Followup newbie question - do other people actually see these leak problems? It has never (find large piece of wood and knock) happened to me. Canvas, nylon, Goretex, new, old. Tent, Bivy Sack. CONUS, Overseas.

[BrentAllen]

Lisa,

Small world - I have that same tent. Due to the design, there are several areas where fabric comes together at odd angles and the seams are very bad about leaking - especially right above my head when sleeping. If the seams aren't sealed regularly, they will start leaking - first hand experience speaking.

 

I now own a couple of Alps Mountaineering tents, and the Peregrine stays in the garage. Back in October, I was camping in the Peregrine while my son and 2 other boys were in an Alps Taurus 4-man. It rained very hard that night. I didn't get real wet, but I had more water in my tent than the boys had in their's. In fact, their's was very dry, and I was very impressed! I think most of the water in the Peregrine came from the rain splashing up against the lower part of the tent, under the rainfly. At certain areas, the rainfly is very close to the walls of the tent. This water was pooling on the floor, not coming through the top. With the Alps, the fly sets out farther from the walls. Plus, the Alps sets up quicker and easier, and cost a lot less.

 

The Peregrine is a very popular tent, so I may put it up on ebay. I like the room in the tent, but it is very hard to get in and out of in the rain without letting in a lot of water. The vestibules are on the small side, and I'm kind of partial to larger ones.

[dScouter15]

I have a nice Timberline A-Frame tent that normally keeps me pretty dry. But, here in the great plains, a good storm with high winds can cause some leaking inside the tent. What seems to happen the most is that the rain is blown under the rain fly, or the soaked rain fly is blown into contact with the side of the tent, where it then sticks, allowing water to seep through. What I've found is best is to try to minimize the damage and discomfort that the water will do. First, make sure you put an additional tarp underneath your tent. Make sure that the edges don't stick out, as they will collect water. Then, when you arrange your tent, keep stuff away from the edges as much as possible. I put my cot right in the middle of the tent, and my pack underneath it. The most important stuff (dry clothes, a book, etc) stay in the middle of the tent, and less important stuff (water bottle, mess kit, etc) get pushed towards the edges. That way, if water does seep through the walls, none of my important stuff gets wet (oh yeah, make sure you put anything REALLY important in plastic bags). I've woken up after a good storm to find puddles of water around the perimeter of my tent, but me and my clothes were still dry. Then, just open the windows on your tent the next day, and it will dry out nicely.

 

Just a thought - sometimes its easier just to work around the problem, rather than going crazy trying to prevent it.

[GNX Guy]

Ok, According to Gonzo1, I guess my tent is a toy because it has a window. Bring on the rain and 75mph winds

 

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20075-cat550002_TGP&rid=&indexId=cat550002&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat550002&id=0024840

 

(This message has been edited by GNX Guy)

[Gonzo1]

GNX Guy,

The kind of "toy" I referred to is the kind of tent some people buy at the local dollar store and are just plain CHEAP!

 

I guess if you spend $419 or more for a tent and it happens to have a window in the rainfly, it must be good.

 

Big difference between your tent for $419 (or more) and the $15 special at Big Lots!

 

 

[Mrw1]

I had a tent that I used (and abused) for several years that had an initial leak in the fly and it did not seem to be at a seam. No obvious holes either. I found a good spraying with a can of silicone boot waterproofing spray fixed it right up.

 

You would want to do this with the tent fully set up on a dry and non-windy day for best results.

[Gonzo1]

Make sure nothing touches the sides.

 

I leave my pack outside the tent, since I waterproof the pack and pack everything that shouldn't get wet into name brand zip-lock bags, then I lean it against a tree and put a large trash bag over it. Once covered, then rain or dew doesn't get inside.

 

 

[kraut-60]

If you are considering a new tent, I would suggest the Isis2 from Eureka. It weighs in at under 3lbs and is very weather tight due to its well designed rainfly with vestibule. I got mine late this spring and the first time out it rained...well, deluge would also describe the weather that weekend. Stayed nice and dry inside, and the tent body has lots of mesh at the top,back and sides for positive ventilation.

 

The vestibule portion of the rainfly will effectively keep your shoes/boots dry, but not enough room for a regular backpack ( I normally bungee my pack to a suitable tree and put the raincover on it no matter what the weather is).

 

The vestibule also features a window that if one unzips the solid portion (not the bug-screen mesh part) of the door while laying in the tent, you get a nice view directly of the sky over your tent. This is nice as the daylight is a better alarm than my watch, and does allow me to see what the weather looks like before rolling out. The mesh is no-see-um so privacy is not comprimised.

 

I use a clear plastic ground sheet cut to fit the tents footprint, and roll it with the tent for carrying. One nice thing is that the tent is free standing so I can hang it in my garage to dry it ( I have a 4 car garage and I put many hooks in the rafters to hang tents, it looks like a sail loft after a wet weekend with all the tents drying in there).