[pct-l] tarps?

[elee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Eric Lee (GAMES))]

Sly wrote:
>
That tarps don't have condensation is a misconception, they certainly
do.
>

My unscientific experience is that tarps can have ferocious condensation
problems, but it's usually under different conditions than with
double-wall tents.

Tents tend to have problems in lengthy periods of rain.  Because there's
not enough ventilation, the air inside the tent eventually becomes
super-saturated with moisture which begins to permeate everything - your
sleeping bag, your clothes, the tent walls, etc.  If you stay holed up
in your tent during a multi-day storm, you can end up soaked even if a
drop of water never penetrated your shelter.

Tarps usually don't have that problem because there's plenty of
ventilation.  In my experience, tarps and single-wall tents will get
soaked with condensation on clear, cool, still nights when the
temperature is close or below the dew point; especially when pitched in
the open (i.e. not under trees).  Under such conditions, the tarp fabric
will quickly radiate away its heat and actually become cooler than the
surrounding air, causing heavy dew to form on both sides of it (like a
cold can of soda).  When you wake up in the morning, if you bump your
tarp you'll get an instant shower.

There are all sorts of exceptions to those rules of thumb, of course,
but that's what I've found.

Eric