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Packing the Tent

Old 02-10-16, 02:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Ghazmh
Perhaps you could perforate an Ortlieb pannier and make it "breathable?"
I believe if you use any pannier with coated material, like cordura or packcloth, you will find that none of them "breathe". What goes in wet comes out wet. If the material was that porous, the contents would get wet in a heavy fog. And yes, I have used both "water resistant" and "waterproof" panniers. I'll take the waterproof
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Old 02-11-16, 06:16 PM
  #27  
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For ages I've had the same chammy cloth in with my tents, and am always amazed by how much water I can chammy off the fly and body sides.
I've always used plastic sheets for under tent, protects floor and keeps mud of it, I'd rather roll up just wet, not muddy.
I shake off the fly and plastic before rolling.

Last edited by djb; 02-12-16 at 06:27 AM.
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Old 02-11-16, 08:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Ghazmh
Perhaps you could perforate an Ortlieb pannier and make it "breathable?"
Your going to Ortleib hell for that one ; )
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Old 02-04-17, 07:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Squeezebox
If you get a piece of Tyvek wash it a time or 2 to wash out the stiffness. A few backpacking places sell it by the foot. Zpacks maybe, but it is out there.
How do you wash Tyvek? I'm trying it out for the second time as a ground cover and i'm using the thicker house wrap. It's stiff and NOISEY.
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Old 02-04-17, 07:32 PM
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Originally Posted by jwade
It's stiff and NOISEY.
Add more water.


-Snuts-
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Old 02-04-17, 08:27 PM
  #31  
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I'm a stuffer too.

My morning routine is to wipe the tent down to get off any dew. I go to the shower blocks and by the time I'm back the early morning sun has usually dried the fly. Then I take the tent down and wipe the bathtub floor if it needs it. Then I stuff the tent fly into a compression sack and put the poles and pegs in the bottom of my saddlebag and the tent on top next to my sleeping bag....also in a compression sack. If the tent is damp I'll spread it out at lunchtime.

Other damp items I sometimes have are clothes and I will drape then over my saddlebag and handle bar bag to dry while I ride. The D rings I sewed onto my saddlebag so I can attach a strap are great for drying damp socks.


Last edited by nun; 02-04-17 at 08:32 PM.
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Old 02-04-17, 08:28 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by jwade
How do you wash Tyvek? I'm trying it out for the second time as a ground cover and i'm using the thicker house wrap. It's stiff and NOISEY.
Put it in the washing machine.
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Old 02-04-17, 09:31 PM
  #33  
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I tour with four panniers. Smaller fronts are for clothing and food, larger rears are stuff sacks. Right is for the sleeping bag and the left is for the fly, tent and footprint. They get stuffed in that order because they get used as they come out. If they happen to be wet during the stuff session I can stop during the day to air them out, or if rains all day put them up wet the next evening. This happened more than once on the last tour.
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Old 02-04-17, 09:34 PM
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Originally Posted by nun
I'm a stuffer too.

My morning routine is to wipe the tent down to get off any dew. I go to the shower blocks and by the time I'm back the early morning sun has usually dried the fly. Then I take the tent down and wipe the bathtub floor if it needs it. Then I stuff the tent fly into a compression sack and put the poles and pegs in the bottom of my saddlebag and the tent on top next to my sleeping bag....also in a compression sack. If the tent is damp I'll spread it out at lunchtime.

Other damp items I sometimes have are clothes and I will drape then over my saddlebag and handle bar bag to dry while I ride. The D rings I sewed onto my saddlebag so I can attach a strap are great for drying damp socks.

I'm curious how that camper long flap works without any support. Do your legs rub against it? The weight isn't bad. It's around a kilogram but you don't need a rear rack and saves much of the weight of the bag. Plus that flap extension seems ideal for a wet tent. How much of a pita is it to remove or do you just leave it on the bike when you camp?
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Old 02-04-17, 09:56 PM
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Originally Posted by bikemig
I'm curious how that camper long flap works without any support. Do your legs rub against it? The weight isn't bad. It's around a kilogram but you don't need a rear rack and saves much of the weight of the bag.
I used the Camper Long Flap on my daily commute bike to carry clothes, books/papers, etc. Worked fine without any support since I had lots of room between the saddle and rear tire on that bike (20" wheels on my Bike Friday). It did lightly touch my legs but not to the extent where it was all bothersome. On my other bikes (with 700c wheels) I do need some form of support to keep it from rubbing when it's partially loaded - this obviously depends on how much clearance you have between saddle loops and the rear tire. For touring I prefer a pair of rear panniers for the convenience of easy removal, separation of items, and additional space on top of a rack for temporary items like groceries, firewood, etc.
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Old 02-05-17, 03:51 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by jwade
How do you wash Tyvek? I'm trying it out for the second time as a ground cover and i'm using the thicker house wrap. It's stiff and NOISEY.
I stuff it into the washer and let 'er go. Twice. Then on the third go round I add Nikwax Direct Wash In. You do know that Tyvek is not waterproof, right?

My summer tent:

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Old 02-05-17, 04:22 AM
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Hmmmm... all the tents I've used, I lay out with the floor on the ground, outside face down... then fold one edge into the middle, then the opposite end into the middle, then outer edge to opposite edge, and repeat if I have to, then roll tightly, squeezing out air as I go, to fit the bag that goes on the top of my rear rack.

This way, any dirt on the floor remains separated from the rest of the tent. It's a neat and tidy way to fold and easy to unfold, too. By using a separate rack-top bag (in all cases, the one the tent came in), I keep the pannier contents clean and dry, and if I need to dry the tent later in the day, I can unpack it and lay it out.
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Old 02-05-17, 08:30 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by bikemig
I'm curious how that camper long flap works without any support. Do your legs rub against it?
No...or at least I don't notice any rub


The weight isn't bad. It's around a kilogram but you don't need a rear rack and saves much of the weight of the bag. Plus that flap extension seems ideal for a wet tent. How much of a pita is it to remove or do you just leave it on the bike when you camp?
It's easy to take on and off the bike, just three straps. It's not as fast as clipping a pannier onto a rack, but as it only takes 30 secs I don't mind. I will often leave the bag on the bike over night.

Tire rub can be an issue when not using a support and it's vital to pack the bag tightly so that it doesn't droop. Also the buckles of the mounting straps need to be inside the bag so it can be tight against the saddle also minimizing droop. I have a 56cm bike and have 2cm clearance between the bag and the tire.

The Carradice Camper longflap weighs 2lbs, which isn't good. I have a Carradice Overlander saddlebag that is as big, made out of nylon and weighs half as much......but there's no longflap so I prefer the Camper.
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Old 02-05-17, 08:49 AM
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Originally Posted by nun
No...or at least I don't notice any rub



It's easy to take on and off the bike, just three straps. It's not as fast as clipping a pannier onto a rack, but as it only takes 30 secs I don't mind. I will often leave the bag on the bike over night.

Tire rub can be an issue when not using a support and it's vital to pack the bag tightly so that it doesn't droop. Also the buckles of the mounting straps need to be inside the bag so it can be tight against the saddle also minimizing droop. I have a 56cm bike and have 2cm clearance between the bag and the tire.

The Carradice Camper longflap weighs 2lbs, which isn't good. I have a Carradice Overlander saddlebag that is as big, made out of nylon and weighs half as much......but there's no longflap so I prefer the Camper.
Good to know. 2 pounds really isn't bad if you back out the weight of a rack (maybe 700 or so grams). The camper long flap is positively svelte if you use this as your baseline.

The right comparison would be a rack with really lightweight bags (say the Arkel dry lites). This gets you to 1200 or so grams (assuming a 700 gram rear rack) (the camper long flap is 980 I believe) but you end up with more storage space (the Arkels hold 28 liters and you gain the top of the rack for that wet tent. That's not a bad trade off and the arkels plus lightweight rack might be the way to go. The tubus fly and arkels get you to 900 grams (less than the Carradice) with more carrying capacity.

Last edited by bikemig; 02-05-17 at 08:54 AM.
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Old 02-05-17, 08:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
I do not think you are going to be able to reduce the volume of the tent enough to make a compression sack worth it.

I generally do not bother with compression sacks for anything that is not insulated, since only insulated stuff reduces volume so much with pressure.



I did something similar, front right Ortlieb Frontroller has the tent body, fly, footprint if I carry one (usually don't), small stuff sack with stakes - the stake sack keeps the dirt from the stakes off the tent. Also in the same pannier, rolled up air mattress and flip flops. Tent poles in the tent stuff sack are strapped onto rear rack with velcro. Note that I do not even bring the stuff sack that the tent came with since I just shove it in a pannier.

Staehpj1, I suspect you are not using four panniers, since you are an ultra light camper not sure if you even use two. But in your case instead of the Ortlieb Frontroller that I use, I think a lightweight drybag of about 8 or 10 or 12 liters would make more sense. Then just strap that on top of the rear rack - or maybe hang it from the front bars in bikepacker fashion.

Instead of a tent footprint, sometimes I bring one of those one-time-use disposable emergency space blankets. I only would use it if I was camping on gravel or rock and was afraid it would chafe my tent. But if there is soft ground or green grass or loose sand, I just put the tent on the ground. Since I started carrying that instead of a footprint, I have never camped where I thought I would actually need it, so the emergency space blanket is still brand new.

In the photo, the tent poles are in the blue bag under the pita bread.



Hubba hubba tent, I know several people that really like it. I suspect you will too.
All my TENT gear is Stuffed in The Front Panniers

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Old 02-05-17, 09:12 AM
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I separate and stuff my tent into two bags, one for the inner and a waterproof drybag one for the outer, plus I use a footprint because it makes external pitching easy and only weighs a few hundred grams. Tent gets split between my partner and I. Never had a problem with mildew, don't cook in the tent ever, so nothing for mildew to eat. If it's raining the inner gets packed away first underneath the still set up tent, then the footprint and fly go into the wet bag... Tent gets stored in a large stuff sack at home so there is less chance of tight creases forming.
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Old 02-05-17, 10:58 AM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by bikemig
Good to know. 2 pounds really isn't bad if you back out the weight of a rack (maybe 700 or so grams). The camper long flap is positively svelte if you use this as your baseline.

The right comparison would be a rack with really lightweight bags (say the Arkel dry lites). This gets you to 1200 or so grams (assuming a 700 gram rear rack) (the camper long flap is 980 I believe) but you end up with more storage space (the Arkels hold 28 liters and you gain the top of the rack for that wet tent. That's not a bad trade off and the arkels plus lightweight rack might be the way to go. The tubus fly and arkels get you to 900 grams (less than the Carradice) with more carrying capacity.
Yes, the Arkel Drylites look very interesting. However, I like the simplicity of the saddlebag and front bag combo. Having only two smallish bags means I can carry them on planes and trains as hand luggage and not having a rack makes it easier to pack the bike. Also, without the extra width of panniers it's easier to carry my bike up stairs in motels.
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Old 02-05-17, 01:39 PM
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In my early days of camping, I'd been caught by rain near the end of the day while setting up camp. At that point I'm already wearing rain gear which had been at the very top of a back pack or quickly accessible. The tent has been rolled up so and has been the next item below rain gear. The end I want facing the wind is on the outside of the roll and can be quickly staked out to prevent wind from blowing the tent away. The fly is partially clipped on at the same end for the same reason but also also to keep the rest of the tend and mesh as dry as possible. Using this procedure the tent goes up quickly as it is not necessary to sort tent or fly to figure which end is which.
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