Hi,

New to camping and bought myself a Vango Spectre 300. Nice tent but after traveling with it for some extended week-ends in the rain, I am missing some kind of vestibule to put wet gear in and some place to cook and sit when it pouring down.

I was looking at the MSR (Mutha) Hubba tent (+ gear shed??) and can't figure out how you pitch these in the rain. Looked for video but the only you can find is pitching it on a dry day.

After my experience of having to pitch a tent 4 times in the rain, I am just wondering how this would work?
Am I missing something?

Tx for any feedback

I don't know what you're missing (or not). I don't even know what you're asking. To set a tent up in the rain, you put on your rainproof pants and jacket, pull up the hood, and set the tent up just as you do when it's dry. Or you do the whole thing one-handed while holding an umbrella overhead with the other hand. Or you instruct your butler to do it while you wait in the back seat of the Bentley.

Or you get wet. There are brands which are easier (Hilleberg, which attaches tent and fly so that setup consists of one step rather than two), or drier (Bibler, for which you crawl inside the un-erected tent and pop the poles into place while swaddled in nylon), or even almost effortless (Fastent, which used to produce springloaded tents which were erected by tossing them in the air and standing clear while they exploded into their inherent tent-selves), but basically if it's raining you're going to spend some time out in the rain. It's part of the charm of camping.

Hope that's helpful. If what you're asking is something unrelated, please feel free to ignore all or part of the above.

Mark

I travel with a large tarp.
It is the first and last thing pitched so it gives me a dryer place for setting the tent, sitting under a table (in a camping park), getting in and out of gear, striking the tent and loading the bike.
Best way to go.
Found the 16 foot square tarps (light weight) give the best room for tent, bike, table.
Happy Trails,
Paul

Sounds great. How do you stay dry while setting up the tarp?

Well, guess you will always experience some rain when camping.

I also use a tarp. Elsewise, I wonder why people always go for the "big name tents".
I got one from Rejka (Germany) for half of the money that I would have to pay for a Bibbler, N.F., MSR or similar brand. And the quality is even better (at least that's what I think).

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I think you would already be wet if you have been riding your bike!! Let alone pitching a tent.

If I see its about to rain, and its close to camping time, I will stop and pitch my tent before the down pour - but you can also use abandon houses, bus shelters, petrol stations, police stations - Pakistan is great for that to sleep in.

I have an MSR Hubber Tent and I love it - its light weight and quick to put up.

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Hi
thanks for the input,
I don't mind pitching in the rain, you're wet anyway from riding.
I was wondering how to set up the Hubba whilst keeping the inner dry and it seems that besides the shelter a tarp would be the solution.

Tx

I have a Hilleberg tent which has the inner and outer connected if you want them to be, while packed, so you just insert the poles and a minimum of 4 pegs and you have shelter. Wind requires more pegs of course!

If last night was wet though, and you had to pack it away wet, then most likely it will all be fairly wet. The outer should probably be kept seperate if its got wet, although since through ventilation is not the best the inner is often fairly damp too from condensation.

Some tents pitch outer first, so keep the inner dry. Single skin tents, if you can still buy them? are supposed to be bad for condensation. You really want to pitch any tent so the outer and inner do not touch at all, then inside should stay dry.

If your tent is inner first and its raining then you just need to be quick!

I would think with most tents that have a small porch for cooking (no petrol!) you are supposed to be lying/sitting inside the dry clean bit? If you really want seperate space in the tent to sit while wet and dirty to cook then maybe you need a campervan?!


If you do want a tarp I have a couple of these;

Reusable All Weather Foil Space Blanket - ADULT - SP Services (UK) Ltd

The corner grommets pulled out in stronger gusting wind than I should have left one up in, but we also have a couple of "Clingons" which are handy too;

Clingons - The movable, reusable, instant eyelet

That tarp is either emergency blanket, for attracting attention, keeping rain or sun off, and the clingons have a fair few uses too, so worth some space in my view. The tarp isn't made to last 10 years use, but isn't bulky and heavy or too expensive either.

Or you could get a hammock, which will be smaller and lighter and can come with a tarp.

I've had owners of MSR tents tell me you can pitch the rain fly and groundsheet first and then hang the tent while under the protection of the rain fly during a rain. I have done this once with the Mountain Hardware tent I have but it was a pain. I think I would rather just pitch the tent quickly and mop up any water that gets inside. Something else to consider is the MSR uses a hub system that has 21 sections of poles if I read it correctly. You would want to get the frame set up before you get the tent out in the wet.

I have a mutta hubba (3man) and I just pulled it down in a thunder storm,(Red Chilli Kampala) and yes I started from the inside out, and I have also erected it on many occasions with the fly sheet first very simple to do, but you will be wet and if that is annoying may i suggest a hotel
Cheers
Paul

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Surprising no-body has actually given useful advice as yet, so in a vein attempt I'll give my two bobs worth, here it goes...

We have a 2.5man tent with 4 poles, in the dry and following setup instructions it takes two of us about 5-8mins to get it up and pegged. The inner part first, the poles inserted, then the fly over the top and peg the whole thing down.

In the rain, I usually do it by myself (I am the butler and my missus is under shelter somewhere, no not in the Bently!). The tent will inevitably get wet but the idea is to reduce the amount or water inside the sleeping section (the inner part) of the tent.

1) Unfold partly the inner section of the tent and lay it out on the ground ensuring only the ground sheet or external (bit that usually touches the ground) part is exposed.
2) Quickly unfold and lay out the fly over the top of the inner. This way it is protected from getting wet while you do the rest.
3) Prepare all poles and lay them in arms reach.
4) Lift the fly up and while the inner is protected from the rain, unfold it underneath the fly. (this bit takes some dexterity).
(Optional) 5) If there are clips or velco that attaches the inner to the fly, do this now before inserting the poles.
6) Insert the main poles (you may need to put in a peg or two depending on the rain or wind conditions to keep the whole kit from flying away.
7) Insert remaining poles. Once all poles are inserted secure the tent as necessary and adjust the fly.
(now have a )

In our experience this works pretty well. As we have a vestibule in our tent, we can take off our panniers put them in the vestibule and the only things that are wet is our riding gear...

Tip: If you have to pack away a wet tent, pack the fly and the inner separately so as not to get the inner wet. We use a dry bag for the fly, this way we can put it in our panniers without getting everything else wet. When the sun comes out again, hang everything out to dry. The idea is to keep dry things dry...

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Thanks for the link on my own thread and, yes, this is the useful nugget I was waiting for, rather than get wet and live with it, or buy a more expensive tent!!

I'll give it a try on a dry day, just to see.

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Just put my two bob's worth in,how about a Khyam Biker?Not the smallest tent on the market,but goes up and down in a couple of minutes.Loads of space in the large vestibule as well.Worth a look.

Turbo's method obviously works for his tent but because the design is different it's not how I set up either of the two flysheet first tents I have. Both are two man size and involve leaving the inner alone (and dry) until the fly sheet has been attached to the poles and pegged out. You then crawl inside with the inner and attach loads of clips. Doing this in the rain always gets the inner slightly damp because a. you're dragging the inner over wet grass to get it into place, and b. I'm wearing soaking wet bike gear.

I have a number of other "inner first" tents as well and unless it's thunderstorm heavy rain (if it is I usually wait a while) I can say I've ever noticed the inner get significantly damp in the minute or two it takes to set the inner up with the poles. That may be because I know the tents so well that I can set them up quickly - and doing it in the rain does tend to concentrate the mind. Remember that once the tent is set up and you're inside it there will be moisture transfer from you (breathing, damp clothing etc) through the inner to the flysheet. You'll see that as condensation on the inside of the flysheet in the morning.

We are, I think, stating the obvious here...

Your specific tent design makes a difference of course, what works for one tent will not work for another, etc.

Knowing your tent and being able to put it up withouth looking at instructions or having to run around and undo mistakes makes a difference.


But again what is obvious to one person is a puzzle to another . Our tent works quite well but if there is something that I have learnt from over 200 days of camping with our present tent (never more than 4 consecutive days at the same spot, meaning we pitch and tear it down very often) it's that the vestibule is absolutley essential in bad weather . We don't carry a tarp so there is no other shelter than our tent.

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