Tips for putting a tent up in the rain

[elizabethcharlotte]

I'm getting quite nervous now about our little camping trip at the weekend. The forecast is very changeable but I'm really worried about how difficult it will be to put up our family tunnel tent in the rain. Any tips?? Other than cancel!!

Keep everything in the car, wear shorts, t shirt, crocs and a raincoat (less wet gear to deal with afterwards) and just get on with it. Outer up before inner if possible, keep inner in car until you need it.

Practice! Never ever let the first time you put up a tent be the day you are relying on it for shelter.

Just get the tent up and park as close to it as you can

If you're only going for the weekend, I'd reconsider!

Have a complete change of clothes for each person in the car in plastic bags along with a dry towel each. Hide them under the seats or somewhere. That way if all else fails you can all get warm and dry. I agree about wearing the minimum - bare feet and crocs/shorts/tshirt. You will get hot and bothered pitching tent anyway.

Make sure tea making gear is handy. Know where the nearest pub/café is for dinner on the first night in case it is miserable weather - and know the opening times!

Marking place as I'm normally a fair-weather camper but am off camping early next week.

We could well be pitching in the rain on Monday too. Good advice above, pretty much what we shall be doing. Make sure the tent is at the top of the boot though so you don't have to unpack everything into the rain to find it.

Waterproof coat and trousers. Or shorts if warm enough, because legs are easier to dry than trousers. As many people as possible sit in car until tent is sufficiently "up" to get inside. Designated tent-erectors just go for it as fast as possible.

If you haven't pitched it before, find a video online and watch it lots before you go, so you don't have to have one of "those" arguments half way through.

Make lots of hot coffee when done. It will be the best cup you ever tasted.

And remember me .... the first time we ever camped, it bucketed down while we pitched a very, very heavy polycotton tent. And meanwhile our three year old was vomiting at 5 minute intervals in the back seat of the car. You may find it hard to believe but we really did have a lovely holiday!

Make sure the tent is packed to be accessible without having to unload anything else on to wet grass / in the rain.

Get it up as efficiently as possible, maybe have all the pegs to hand in a small cross body bag, to save running back and forth for them.

If you have a tunnel tent, or s polef Search online for 'tne cross camping method' and you can find a range of videos as to how to quickly put up various tents quickly and efficiently.

Marking place for a soggy week in Wales. Fuck.

IF IT'S properly pissing down how do you manage to keep the ground sheet dry?

Good tip re the shorts!!

No shoes in the tent on pain of death. Wet coats and shoes taken off in doorway and put in the right place (which does get a bit damp). We take a portable hanging rail, which is good for drying coats off and means they don't get strewn around. And we take a floor cloth for mopping up damp patches before they spread. So only a very small area in the doorway actually gets wet.

We do have a really good porch on our tent though, which totally stops the rain getting directly inside. It's big enough for us all to sit under shelter. We camp in Wales regularly so we've learned to appreciate it!

LEM when I was at Guide camp our leader used to make us wear swimming costume and shorts in the rain, so clothes stayed dry. We must have been a terrifying sight!