I finally stopped ignoring the rainfly advice after one wet night

Last summer I skipped staking down my rainfly on a trip to Yosemite because I thought it looked calm, then a 3 AM gust dumped a liter of water into my tent. A guy at the REI return counter told me "if you don't seal the corners, you're basically sleeping in a bathtub" and I switched to using guylines on every pitch since. Anyone else learn that lesson the hard way or have a rainfly setup they swear by?

3 comments

3 Comments

sammartinez17d ago

Got a buddy who spent a whole trip in the Smokies rearranging his sleeping bag around puddles because he figured his tent was waterproof enough. He told me he woke up floating at 4 AM and spent the next hour digging a trench with a tent stake. Now he shows up to car camping with his rainfly already clipped on like a nervous dad.

iris_schmidt17d ago

and the thing that gets overlooked is how much the ground itself plays into it. I don't just mean pitching on a slope, but what kind of soil you're on. That spongy forest duff in the Smokies? It holds water like a sponge, so even a sealed rainfly won't save you if your tent floor is sitting in a puddle that's soaking up from below. I learned that after a night in Shenandoah where I had my rainfly tight and staked, but woke up with a damp sleeping pad because the ground was literally weeping moisture underneath me. Now I always scout for a slightly raised spot with gravel or compacted dirt, and if I'm stuck on leaf litter, I throw down a cheap foam pad under my tent floor.

colescott17d ago

And @sammartinez knows exactly what I'm talking about. That ground moisture is no joke even when your fly is perfect. I've started carrying a polycro sheet just for this reason.