Tips for switching to single wall tent

[kb46]

I have decided that weight is a priority and I’m eyeing off a DCF tent. The obvious trade off will be having to manage condensation. What tips do you have for keeping gear safe from drips and packing up and getting moving quickly in the morning.

[headwerkn]

Have a cloth handy to wipe down the inside as required.

Ensure the tent has a mesh gutter design so that any condensation that rolls down the inside wall lands and drains through it, rather than gathering on the floor. Almost all of the UL single wall tents have some variant of this basic design, but a few don't. The Big Sky Wisp 1 and its 3F UL equivalent being two that spring to mind. Also make sure the tent is pitched so that the gutters are held properly open. This can be a challenge at times with non-freestanding tents, or when on uneven ground or longer grass/vegetation.

If you're tall, have a thick mat, big feet and/or a bulky sleeping bag and contact between your footbox and the foot end of the tent is likely, wrap your WP jacket around the bottom of your sleeping bag to help accidental contact from wetting your sleep system.

Unless you're a late riser/mover, it can be difficult to have a completely dry tent to pack off before packing up camp. Unless I know I'll have a good few hours of open sun at the next camp, I'll set up my tent when when stopping for lunch, or if doing a side trip off the main room up a peak, to air it out properly. DCF tents dry super fast - 5-10 mins with a hint of sun and breeze.

Plus all the usual condensation-avoidance measures - don't park too close to water or on wet ground (hard to avoid in Tassie) or at the bottom of a ditch/valley, keep the tent as open as possible for as long as possible to ventilate, don't cook inside/closed up unless you absolutely have to, etc.

[TentPeg]

I use a breathable waterproof emergency bag as part of my sleep system in my single layer tent. Put all your gear that you don't need to access overnight in your pack. Then all the condensation and airborne dampness issues disappear until morning.

[thoyeabout]

I've used trekking pole single wall tents for about 7 years now, a SMD Lunar Solo and now the Xmid 1 pro. At first I thought I had made a big mistake given the amount of moisture I was having in the tent each morning. However, once you learn to maximise ventilation in the tent you see a drastic reduction the condensation / moisture and I just have a small cloth to wipe down the excess before I pack up each morning. There are some climate situations where you may get more moisture and that's just unavoidable, but I still feel the weight advantages of the single wall tent are worth it.

[sandym]

They (Integral Designs and also Black Diamond) used to make single wall tents from goretex or tegraltex (or some other gortex clone). We had a couple of these when we lived in Canada and used them exclusively. As the material was breathable, the condensation generally was not too bad, but, Canada is much colder than Australia and the warmer air in Australia does hold more moisture. I guess you could consider one of those tents (BD probably still makes them, but I think ID went out of business) but they would be heavier than the ultra-light sil-tarp type tents.

I don't think I've ever put away a dry tent in Australia on a multi-day hiking trip! Maybe a few times in the NT, but elsewhere the air just holds so much moisture and there is so much dew that the fly is always soaked.