Cycling UK Forum

OK, I never initially set out to do this, but it has always held my curiosity?! What is the weight of my tent packed up with dew water in the morning?

I always pack my gear for a touring trip and I like to weigh it out of curiosity - including my tent, as it is, complete with footprint, any extra ten pegs (should I choose) and an extra heavy duty cover. I like to use a heavy duty cover to protect the tent from abrasion from the bungees, the rack and anything else it may rub against.

So I have just bought a new tent: the Hilleberg Soulo, replacing it's much lighter sibling the Akto. It is smaller internally and in the porrch, but there is a bit more head room and better ventilation. I'm about to go on a cycle-tour so I gave it a test this weekend on a ride-out:ride-back to Glastonbury. There was a heavy, cold fog this morning when I packed the tent away. Although I 'shaked' the tent to remove the excess water, the heavy duty bag I use will not allow it to dry out whilst cycling.

So I weighed it again when I got back - a small one-man tent: 450g heavier!! I dried it out, repacked it and weighed it again: 450g lighter!!

I normally use a chamois cloth or sponge, but I will use it a lot more diligently from now onwards!!

Good experiment and interesting result!
I've often wondered how much water I'm carrying around. Scaling that up to my Hilleberg Stalon must produce about a kilogram.

To help aid drying the flysheet while on tour I use an Alpkit net sack and bunjee it on to the rear rack for an hour or two, turn it around then and by lunchtime its dry.

If you want to cut down on condensation in the inner caused by ventilation or vapour from your breath overnight, hang a micro fibre towel from the loops on the ceiling, roof when bedding down and it absorbs a lot of the moisture.

Never actually weighed it wet but i'm sure my Taurus Ultralight weighs double when wet - which unfortunately it has ended up being packed too many times - not a bit of dew but sopping wet from continuous heavy precipitation.

Could be a big issue on a heavier tent but carrying a big bottle of water would add more to my payload (and thats something i often do in warmer weather).

Interesting result. Thanks for sharing.

Andrew

Very interesting -and the johnb micro towel hanging idea also.

I once got caught in a heatwave, having to sit out the hottest bit of the day in an uncomfortably hot shade, miles from anywhere. After the first hour, temperature climbing all the time, I realised my flysheet was still damp from the morning - I wrapped it over me, laurence of arabia style, magnificent! Lived to tell the tale!

nmnm wrote:Very interesting -and the johnb micro towel hanging idea also.

Credit for that goes to Nick from Austria whom I met in France.

While choosing a tent he discovered the tent he wanted had known condensation issues, but he bought the tent and solved the problem with the towel that he carried anyway.

I like that principle (I say principle because there are situations where it may not be so effective) with the micro towel hanging - my Hilleberg Akto suffers quite a bit with condensation problems which can be overcome at the expense of over-ventilating and not retaining any heat. I'm about to do a 10-day tour using the Soulo after doing many tours with the Akto so I'm keen to compare the two (hoping I've not wasted a lot of money as well!). I also have the mesh inner tent for the Akto, which is great, but the condensation still forms on the inside of the fly sheet and when you sit up in the morning you can still get a damp head!

There are plenty of times when it is raining so heavy there is no alternative other than to pack the tent away dripping wet and to try and dry out later and I'm sure that will add even more weight to my little curious experiment. Sometimes, in the mountains at very low temperatures, the condensation freezes very quickly and with a reasonable amount of gusting wind it shakes of the newly formed ice and it can be like a mini-snow storm inside the tent - If I manage another mountain trip I might give the towel hanging a try!

I have heard that said about the Akto a few times, would it not be possible to have an adjustable vent placed in the upper side of the innertent, that you could adjust depending on weather or humidity.

It does have an adjustable vent: the top triangle of the outer door can zip open and the top triangle of the inner door can open to mesh - there is an external hood with a wire tip to keep out the elements. Both the ends of the outer can also zip open to allow air flow as well. It is a well made tent and a good design with a lot of positive points; the only negative point being the condensation that it can suffer in some circumstances (not all). It is a very light and spacious one-man tent - I think the condensation problem is not helped by the distance of the inner tent from one's head at either end of the tent when you are asleep, due to the geometrical shape of the tent, which can leave the inner tent less than 12 inches from your face.

Yeah I understand that but what I mean is you have no crossflow of air on the inner. If you had a vent high up on the inner on the side opposite the door and had the mesh part of your door open the current of air could help solve the condensation issue.

My tent has two doors opposite each other and I leave the flysheet inner material on the door at the bottom on one side and at the top on the other and the air current between the doors mesh panels sorts out any chance of condensation.


A piece of thin plastic in the vestibule area sorts out a lot of condensation issues on the inside of a flysheet and helps keep things clean too.

sorry this may sound like a stupit question but where and how would you hang the micro towel in the akto.also now that i'm here is it possible to buy a ground sheet for the mountain hardware spear 2 man tent i tried the internet myself but no luck maybe someone would know if i could something else that would work .
sorry op