Me and my OH are on our first camping trip to Longnor Wood. We arrived yesterday and pitched (happily in good weather!). Today it's v rainy and windy, and although tomorrow is supposed to be good I think we will probably be packing down on Friday in the rain. Can you give me any advice as the best way to do it? Also we've noticed the entrance to the tent is getting quite waterlogged, I don't want it to run under the tent so any advice to that too?
Just pack up as normal but get the tent dried out asap. My favourite is to pitch it loosely on a fine but breezy day (not when it's blowing a hooligan)with all door and window zips undone. They usually dry out pretty well that way although SIGs may require a bit of special attention with plenty of dry rags.
Water getting under the tent is a fact of camping life I'm afraid.
------------- Of all the things I have lost I miss my mind the most.
You may be ok with an Outwell because I think the tent bag is waterproof but the one and only time I had to pack a tent away in the pouring rain I ended up with the car boot full of water. It's surprising how much water a wet tent holds! Better, if you can, to stuff it into a bin liner and keep it upright until you get home.
Don't you just hate it when the grass outside your tent door gets sodden? I have seen people trying to sop it up by using blankets and bits of carpet as doormats but they usually end up with sodden and muddy blankets and carpet and the inside of the tent still gets wet and dirty. Not a lot you can do really but try to camp on higher ground next time or on a slight slope with the door facing downhill, or try to pitch so that there is no trough in the ground just outside the door.
What HT James has said is solid but I would like to add a couple of small provisos . . . . . .
First off. If your tent is one that erects as one, ie the outer and inner go up together, you don't want to get the inner wet so while packing away try to fold the tent in such a way as to maintain 'wet to wet and dry to dry' - then just hang out as normal when you get the chance. Don't panic too much over hanging it out, it's not going to suffer overnight. but try not too leave it more than about three days or so - certainly not much longer.
Second, if you are camping at this time of year (and welcome, by the way) even if the tent looks dry when you pack it away you'll be incredibly lucky if the thing is actually truly dry! Don't take the risk, it's not worth it, and hang the tent out anyway.
As an aside, I found that hanging the tent out 'as a matter of course' is always beneficial because it's amazing how many times you'll think the thing is dry when it's not. Some tents can be a formidable investment and getting into the habit will certainly pay dividends in the long run!
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It's impossible to get lost; you always know where you are. Of course, you might not know the exact relationship between where you are and where you thought you were . . . . . . .
A footprint groundsheet is helpful in these situations. Obviously that's one for next time if you don't currently have one. It doesn't help with the wet but it helps keep mud off the flysheet when folding up a tent with a SIG.
If you don't have a footprint, it could help to drag the tent away from any muddy patches created near your door when it's collapsed and before you fold it up.
I have the Carolina and last time I camped I packed up in the pouring rain!
Just strike camp as quickly as possible, roll wet to wet and as soon as possible on your return home, unpack. Now the next bit depends on your house really but some folk leave the tent in the bath for a while is it is really dripping wet then drape it around a spare room 'fluffing' it up and turning it every couple of hours - that's what I did last time as the rain continued to fall after I got home. it was bone dry in 3 days. I draped it around my conservatory.
If th forecast is OK and you have the space, by far the best way of drying it is to pitch it again and let the wind blow through it. I would still air it off even when you think it's dry by having it indoors and turning it as described.
You could do the same if you had a garage or large shed but whatever you do, don't leave it in the bag for longer than a day or the dreaded mildew will set in. Check guy ropes and seams in particular - they are often the last to dry out.
As for soggy doorways, I use the rubbery interlocking mats at the door - it certainly stops a lot of the muddiness and makes for a more pleasant entrance! Some folk use cardboard boxes flattened to make a 'doormat' outside the tent.
------------- Anne - mad mum to one - foster mum to many - adoptatent to you guys!
Hello Traviata.
You've already been given good advice.
As someone who (last month) packed away a wet Outwell in the rain (it weighed about 2 kg more than dry), I can hopefully add more.
I refrained from purchasing a matching footprint, and went for Eco-Mats to avoid pooling under the SIG.
Loose packing as already stated is the way to go.
If you have the time and spare towel, wiping as much dirt off the SIG as you can assists in keeping the main fabric clean.
Because I opened the front door to allow the air to escape, ingress of water occurred. This was observed when I erected the tent at home after arrival.
As the bedroom pod is removeable, I removed it and brought it into the spare bedroom to fully dry. Previously (despite being careful) I found a couple of Mildew spots on the main SIG under the pod.
Ensure all the guys are dried out fully (as stated by Anne)
I wiped all the windows with a clean dry towel.
Despite doing all I did to ensure it was fully dry, there is always a nagging doubt?????
The number of flies and bugs I found inside annoyed me, but the vacuum cleaner and towels left the inside 'Spic and Span'
Hope you get yours sorted before packing away until the Spring.
Kind regards James
------------- In the beginning there was darkness.
Then I bought a tent.
I'm not destitute, I'm just poor.
Hi, i got a front extension canopy for my icarus. That puts a stop to any water getting in and mud. Also if you can hang your tent out when home on a dry day that's a good time to give it re. Proofing. Just spray it all over and lots on the seams and zips. Then bob.s your uncle. Set for next year.
------------- HI DE HI.
Unity- March 29-31.
Warner Farm July 25-30.
Lots of weekend tripsat Unity.
Summer breeze festival-July
unity- august
If we have to pack up in the rain the tent goes in a poly liner and as soon as we get home we hang it in the loft over the rafters, out the way and dry in a few days!!
Scrounge a cardboard box (ripped into flat sections) from a local supermarket to put over the muddy patch while you empty the equipment out of the tent. When you've got all your equipment folded etc. and ready to bring it out of the tent, back the car as close as possible to the tent so that you can load it into the car without it getting soaked. If your tent has a canopy, then try to back the car under the front edge of the canopy.
If packing up in the rain, we remove the bedrooms (as they are dry), They go in the car in the tent bag, then the soggy, sopping, heavy tent crumples up in the trailer with the plastic boxes. All the dry stuff goes in the car.
------------- Yes, the car is bigger than the 'van.
James is right - Eco-mat or something underneath the tent before pitching saves a lot of muck on the SIG. Some while back I won an outwell tarp and, providing it's not going to be a howling gale, just bucketing, I'll pack this - if I remove one of the three section uprights, this brings the height down and helps keep the wet out the door. And a tarp is easier to dry than the tent, plus easier to clean if you find yourself stuck under trees! It's also nice when you're on your own and lots of people come and help you put it up and it can make for a great shelter for others - met a lot of really lovely folks that way.
Well as expected we had to pack the tent down on a very windy and rainy morning. I took out the inner bedroom pod and packed that into a black bag. We then quickly got the poles out and folded up the tent as quickly as we could. Got it in it's bag with the poles. When we got back we spread it out in a tiny spare bedroom but that wasn't ideal. Luckily we have a friend with a big back garden and the weather was ok the following day so we put it up and let the breeze go through it. We also gave the inside a good wipe down/sweep to get rid of the condensation and odd leaf! Annoyingly I've found a tiny hole in the plastic window at the front but will repair that when we get it out to check before we go away next year. We were lucky that we managed to get it dry and pack it away before the rain came! Thanks for all your advice. As a footnote we used a Footprint which was great for keeping the mud off as it was so rainy when we were away.