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
Most every tent bag I’ve ever run across is waterproof enough even in driving rain. Even if it weren’t, the issue isn’t usually water getting
in but water getting
out. Tents, in my experience, get wet at night and often don’t dry when rolled in the morning. It doesn’t take long for the tent to dry when it gets set up in the evening.
A more waterproof bag will only keep the water inside the tent during the day.
I also don’t...and wouldn’t suggest...putting the tent in a pannier. That space is too valuable to waste it on something that is perfectly at home on the deck of the rack. My sleeping bag, by the way, rides there too but it’s in a waterproof Sea-to-Summit bag.