Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I find how you pack is personal preference.
Of course, but...
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
My tent without poles is stuffed with my rolled up air mattress, a pair of sandals and a couple other things in my front right side pannier. Wet or dry, it gets stuffed there. And the other stuff in that pannier is all stuff that won't be any problem if it gets moist and stays that way for a day.
Putting the tent poles in the pannier seems to just invite the poles to wear a hole in expensive panniers. And, as I said above, I don't put anything wet in waterproof panniers. If nothing else, hanging them on the tent and sleeping bag on the rear rack allows them to dry more quickly so that I don't have to hang them up and hope they dry during the night. In my experiences in the eastern US, that usually doesn't happen anyway because everything is covered with dew in the morning anyway.
That doesn't happen here in the west, by the way.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I used to roll up my tent and pack it rolled up in the tent bag, but for several years now I have just stuffed it into the pannier, the tent bag is left at home. The tent stakes which often are dirty are in a bag to keep other things cleaner, the stake bag is on top of the tent in the pannier. I only pack stuff in that pannier that can get moist.
Again...and I not being critical here...I don't see the logic. The bag for the tent doesn't weigh much and, in all of the tents I've ever purchased, there is a bag for the poles, a bag for the stakes and the bag for the whole schemer. The length of the bag is set by the length of the poles in their folded state and I've never had poles that would easily fit in pannier except on an angle. That takes up a lot of room.
Additionally, many people here seem to be trading a purpose made bag for a heavier, bulkier compression bag.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
Tent poles I usually strap a tent pole bag on top of the rear rack or in some cases it is strapped onto the side of a drybag that is on top of the rear rack. If I am packing heavy and use the 31 liter Ortlieb duffel on top of the panniers, the tent poles will fit in that.
And, again, not being critical, I don't see why you wouldn't just strap wrap the tent around the poles and stick the whole thing on the rear rack. It frees up space in the panniers or makes it so that you can carry smaller panniers which avoids some of the sail problem when using front bags.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I do not like to pack wet clothing in an Ortlieb or in a drybag, clothing (especially if recently worn) is much more prone to mildew. But the tent and other things that are much slower to mildew when packed together in one pannier are really not a problem if packed moist for a day.
It's not the "moist for a day" that I find problematic. Drying out the inside of an Ortlieb or similar bag is difficult at best. Keeping it wet for longer becomes much more problematic.
I have had campsites where I've waited for an hour or more before packing the tent for it to dry out. Following some rainy nights, I've even had to pack a tent very wet. At the end of the day when I unpack the tent, the tent is wet through and requires at least some drying before I set it up again. This is, again, more of a problem in the eastern US than here in the west.
To my way of thinking, putting a tent that wet into a pannier would add to the problem by requiring drying of the pannier as well. It just seems to me as making your life harder. Different strokes, I guess.