Originally Posted by
Dark Arrow
My wife and I are planning a trip to Norway later this year. We've been told to plan for rain. It got me thinking as I have been strapping our tent on the rear rack in it's own carry bag. The factory bag is Just nylon and not water proof by any means. It could rain during the day and be dry by the time we set up camp except our tent could still be wet. I run Ortlieb classic rollers in the back and was thinking an Ortlieb medium rack pack could house our tent and ground sheet maybe some other light bits too. I just spent the last hour going through the "show us your loaded rig" thread and see predominantly people just seem to strap their tent like I've been doing. The extra bag would be 760grams but would ensure a dry tent at night. If it rained at night I could still strap it on top of the bag to help "air it out". Any thoughts from experienced tourers regarding how you take your tent? It won't fit in a pannier,, well at least the poles won't/. Pics appreciated
Bear
I use the same panniers as the OP. I keep my tent and poles inside my panniers. Put the poles in the pannier diagonally and it should just close. If the poles truly do not fit, put the tent inside the pannier and strap the poles on top of the rack. Try not to lose the poles or you will be in for a seriously **** night. If there is no room in your panniers for the tent, feel free to keep it on the outside as well. Your tent does not care about getting rained on. Fold it with the floor on the outside. The interior will be dry when you unpack it. If this is not the case, buy a new tent. If the interior does get wet, for example from setting up the tent during rain, use a shirt to mop up the water. Source: two tours through SE Asian during monsoon season.