Wet tent dilemma

[smith4188]

Hola!

Yesterday I completed a 32-day tour from the Isle of Man to the Costa del Sol. It was utterly fantastic! But anyway...

I was half camping/half hotelling. My tent is a Hilleberg Nallo 2 GT, which was great, but every morning, whether it had been raining or not, the outside of the tent was wet through (there were lots of clear, cold nights with plenty of morning dew). Then of course the tent gets packed away and so the inside gets wet through. This didn't matter too much because most evenings that I camped were warm enough to dry the tent out within 20 minutes or so, and on damp nights I stayed in hotels. But had I been forced to camp every day for cost reasons (which is becoming increasingly likely) the inside of the tent would have been soaking when setting up on non-sunny days. I was leaving early each morning so there wasn't time for the tent to dry out before packing away.

Is this just a typical tent problem (hadn't done much camping before this trip) or is there some top tip that someone can pass on?

Cheers,
Steven

 

[willem]

We also have Hilleberg tents, and we also experience this. You can disconnect the inner tent and pack it seperately first, but it is a bit of a hassle. Putting them up and packing them in one go is one of the advantages of this kind of tent, after all. In our experience it is rarely a real problem, however. Even if your inner tent gets a bit wet, it rarely gets very wet.
Willem

 

[ComedyPilot]

Welcome to CC, don't make it a brief stay.

The only thing I can think of is to stay longer before setting off, or set up earlier to dry it off.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I bought a Nallo 2GT this year and it is by far the best tent I've used.

I wouldn't worry about the inner tent getting wet as it is waterproof. Just make sure you zip it up before you strike camp.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Oh, and a warm welcome to the forum.

 

[JackE]

I had a Nallo 2 for several years and understand your problem very well. I found disconnecting the inner each time far too fiddly. I used to unroll the tent and spread it out as best I could during the lunch break when (hopefully) the midday sun would dry it out a bit more. I now have an inner first pitching tent (Lightwave t0 Ultra) and I just peel off the flysheet very carefully (so as not to drop too much moisture on the inner), give it a good shake and it's ready to pack away (almost) dry.
Dealing with the inevitable condensation on the inside of a flysheet is one of the hassles of camping which we all have to cope with.

 

[Brains]

Just dry it when you can - The lunch time stop is usually a good time, if you can't dry it, then don't panic, it's a normal touring/hiking problem.

 

[gwhite]

The most important thing is to make sure it is perfectly dry before packing it away for a long period.

 

[P.H]

If you decide you want to pack a wet tent and be sure of a dry inner, seperating them is the only way to do it.
I like to set off early, my tent is nearly always wet when I pack it. Like JackE I've gone back to an inner first tent (TN Solar 2.2) The inner tent has got damp twice when putting it up in around 50 nights use, instead of being damp nearly every night. Also, it's heavy that water you're carrying around! I'm no weight weenie, I don't count the grams, but if I'm carrying extra weight I like to get some benefit from it!

 

[smith4188]

Thanks for all the advice. Ummm, Gerry...not sure whether or not I fastened up the inner when I packed away - I suspect not. I suppose that separating the inner and outer is the proper way to do it but that would be too much hassle with the Nallo.

One other stupid question: I bought the Nallo off Ebay. With it came a black rubbery piece of material about the size of the sleeping half of the tent. Is this what others have referred to as a footprint? Again, showing my naivety, but what is that for?

And thanks for the warm welcome. I was ready to smash the bike into little pieces once I'd got home, but now I sort of think I'm hooked.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I don't know what the black rubbery bit is. The footprint for the Nallo GT covers all of the ground area of the tent including the vestibule. It also has toggles to attach to the tent.

 

[Amanda P]

We don't have a Hilleberg tent, but as you get into autumn, this gets to be more of a problem with any tent.

I've just got back from a trip through Holland, Germany, Denmark and Norway, and this was a problem. We solved it by putting the tent up as early in the evening as poss to let it dry out, mopping out the groundsheet with a towel if necessary, and by hanging the tent up (sometimes inside out) for half an hour or so at lunchtime, when it was usually warmer, sunnier, windier or generally drier than first thing in the morning.

Carrying a wet tent (significantly heavier than a dry one) is a bit of a bummer though.

 

[JackE]

This article: http://www.lightwave.uk.com/en/info_condensation.php from the Lightwave website might be of interest. He's obviously plugging his own tent designs but the basic principles are the same for any tent. By the way, Carol McDermott is a bloke, a tough New Zealander by the sound of his mountaineering CV !!!!!!!!!

 

[Bodhbh]

I now have an inner first pitching tent (Lightwave t0 Ultra) and I just peel off the flysheet very carefully (so as not to drop too much moisture on the inner), give it a good shake and it's ready to pack away (almost) dry.

I had one of these for, I think, 3yrs now. I know very little about tents, so I did the usual thing when you have to make a purchasing decision and are out of your depth - and bought the 2nd cheapest thing in the shop. Which happened to be the Lightwave t0 (it was at Tiso). Recently, another cyclecamper had commented it was free of condensation relative to his - all I could do is shrug - I guess the design allowing airflow is why. It is quite snug although in there.

 

[Beardie]

If the black rubber thingy is comfortable to lie on, it's probably a sleeping mat.