Just realized I've been setting up my tent wrong for years

I was camping in the Gifford Pinchot forest last weekend and a huge storm rolled in. My tent started leaking at the corners, and I was getting soaked. Another camper walked by and pointed out that I had the rain fly pulled WAY too tight, which was actually forcing water through the seams instead of letting it run off. I had always thought tighter was better. Has anyone else had this happen with a specific tent model, like the REI Half Dome?

4 comments

4 Comments

claire_craig321mo ago

Wait, you can actually pull a rain fly too tight? That explains why my old tent always got damp at the bottom edges during heavy dew. I had a cheap Coleman that did the same thing, and I just blamed the tent's quality. It makes sense that the material needs a little slack to work right.

kevin_williams1mo ago

Yeah, I read something about that once in an old camping guide. It said if the fly is drum-tight, it can actually push condensation down the inside of the fly and straight onto the tent walls or the ground sheet. @claire_craig32, you're right about needing a bit of slack. The material needs to breathe a little and have some room to move without pulling on the seams. I mean, it's a weird balance because you also don't want it so loose it flaps in the wind. Maybe it's just me, but I always leave just a tiny bit of give when I stake it out now.

maryr431d ago

Hold on, isn't that old camping guide talking about something else though? I think the problem with a drum-tight fly isn't really about pushing condensation down. It's more about how the material gets pulled so tight that it loses its shape and can't shed water right. The water just sits there in little dips instead of running off. Plus, when it's that tight, the seams get stretched to their limit and that's when you start to see leaks. Not from the fly being too tight, but from the seams being yanked apart. So yeah, a little slack is good, but not for the reason that guide said.

the_max1mo ago

Hold up, I gotta disagree with the whole "too tight" idea. I've been camping for twenty years in all kinds of weather and I've always cranked my rain fly down as tight as humanly possible. The goal is to stop wind from getting under it and ripping your tent apart. A loose fly is a noisy, flapping mess that will drive you crazy all night. I've never once seen a properly sealed seam fail because the fly was too tight. That leak sounds like a bad seam seal job or just an old tent, not a tension problem.