hey, just got back from 6 days on the AT (sams gap to sleeping bear farm) and had a concerning experience on the last night. we had a 20 minute torrential downpour around midnight and i had a whole bunch of spray coming through the screening (under the "eaves") of my GG The One tent. we were on hard packed dirt which i'm sure contributed greatly to the issue. i had to sit up and collect all my stuff on my lap and wait for it to stop before having to wipe down the floor.

this got me to wondering what you tarpers do in heavy rains. even if you stake down your sides, don't you still have both ends to worry about ground spray, not to mention blowing rain?

My solution has been to wrap myself in my bivy sack and use a Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Dry Sack to hold all my odds and ends at night. At night, everything I have either gets hung in the bear bag, goes in the bivy, or goes in the Dry Sack. The Dry Sack replaced my old, non-water resistant stuff sack I used to worry about getting wet.

http://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/7

Good luck figuring out a system that works for you!

Best,
ViP

Nevermind.

Edited by Red_Fox on 07/17/2010 14:13:54 MDT.

I had this happen to me (It rained 7 inches in 48 hours on this trip!) on some tent pads at Justis Creek (GA) on the AT with my SpinnShelter - Alpinlite Bug Shelter combo. I noticed it was not coming through the Spinn or through the floor, but was splashing up from standing water beside me. I had a map with me that was on waterproof paper, which I unfolded and covered my legs, and I spread my rain jacket over my torso and went back to sleep, but it was not a fun experience. I should have pitched the SpinnShelter lower, almost to the ground, which would have solved the issue, but being in a otherwise well protected area, it never crossed my mind. I know to avoid hard packed earth and tent pads but it was getting late and I didn't feel like tackling the next climb to get to the next flat spot The next time I see tent pads, I will just keep on walking.

Edited by Mocs123 on 07/13/2010 14:30:41 MDT.

Michael,
I have the GG One and the Tarptent Moment, so I will give you a couple suggestions.

1. Always look for softer ground because you really get a lot of splash off hard surfaces.
2. Make sure the floor is standing up. I use the guylines on the floor and stake out with the corner guylines.
3. You can stake the corners to the ground by just shortening the guylines up.
4. Adjust the heights of the trekking poles to get the side away from the door the closest to the ground as you can. You shouldn't have any issues with splash on the door side since the vestibule helps protect.
5. Something I haven't tried, but that might work is take a couple extra trash bags. Fold them narrow and long, then lay them over the meshing (might need couple clips to hold down if windy. This way you could setup for ventilation, but have a quick solution for the rain.

I think a little practice in the backyard will help you figure out the adjustments that could fix your problem.

Brad

I just started tarping less than a year ago. I am still learning new pitches. I have a big 8x10 sil tarp whitch allows for several pitches. If I suspect hard rain I pitch 3 sides to the ground. Otherwise I do an A frame at a height witch allows me to stake it to the ground, in a pinch.