Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
In the morning if it is not raining and if the dew is not too heavy, take the fly off it and let the tent body dry a bit. Shake off the excess moisture before packing up the fly. In the morning the relative humidity is pretty high since the air temperature is usually pretty close to the dew point, so you can't get it really dry unless you delay your start. So, just live with taking down a damp tent.
The relative humidity is usually lowest in the heat of the day. So, pitch your tent as soon as you make camp. But delay putting the tent fly on for a quarter to half hour to give the tent body more time to dry out.
I frequently leave the waterproof portion of the fly that serves as the door open to let my tent breath out better.
The newest tents that have a lot more mosquito netting seem to dry out faster than the older ones that had minimal netting. Also, the more you can stake out the fly away from the tent body, the more air flow you can get thru the tent.
You are not going to be hauling a dry tent around, so just live with it and try to dry it out the best you can each afternoon. If you stay at a hostel for a few days, take a bit of time in the afternoon to set up your tent in the back to dry it out.
This pretty much covers all the bases. If possible, I hang the fly up in the morning to try to get some of the water to roll off, then I do the old flap it over the head to get rid of as much water as is left. At the end of the riding day, I erect the tent without the fly on. I will again try to hang the fly in the sun or spread it out on the ground in the sun. Both will usually dry pretty quickly, especially if there is a breeze.