The Joys of Drying Out

[Guest]

No, not stopping drinking. It has been a while since we returned from a sodden family camper. It rained for 3 days and nights and everydamn thing is wet. And downpour mud spattered at the bottom.

Not just wet, but packed up wet, three tents and two tarps, dampish sleeping bags, many moist stuff sacks, four wet chairs, shoes and boots and raingear jackets and pants and hats and No, we are not having a yard sale, we are just trying to dry everything out dammit.

It has also been a while since we used some of the family gear selections. The Big Agnes Hubba Hubba clone has an ember hole on the rainfly. The 4 man Sierra Designs tent needs the rainfly seam sealed. Actually, while I am at it, working in the shop on a big flat table surface, most of the older tent rainflys could use some seam seal.

And the giant NRS RiverWing tarp needs all kinds of work.

https://www.nrs.com/product/2772/nrs-river-wing

Our River Wing is at least 15 years old, made of heavier material than the latter iterations and, from the latest version NRS photo, has more of a catenary cut along the top arch. And it was not, ouch, $400.

I cannot speak for the new version, but the RiverWing is a fantastic base camp or car camping tarp, a giant hexagonal parawing, wide enough to cover a picnic table with chair room or walk though space on either side.

The hexagonal shape is much more convenient that a low point end diamond shaped wing. I do not like a group tarp where I have to walk around the perimeter, way the hell out past the guy lines in the rain, just to get to the other side where someone is Bogarting the snacks or bourbon or funny plant material.

The Riverwing was intended as a tarp for group rafting trips, and subsequently made of heavy duty material that packs down to the size of a slender Navy duffle bag. Two end poles and a minimum 6, or better 8 or 10 guy lines. Properly erected that giant wing is freaking bombproof in any wind condition.

I had not used the RiverWing in a while, preferring either a smaller diamond shaped parawing when solo or with a single companion in windblown conditions, or the big Sil-nylon Cooke Custom Sewing Tundra Tarp with Hoop center line and prussics with multiple companions.

http://www.cookecustomsewing.com/tundratarp.htm

I doubt anyone has ever regretted buying a CCS Tundra Tarp. Maybe wished it was bigger, but material, design and feature wise the Tundra Tarp is as good as it gets tarp wise.

Hummm, properly erected. The missus has been using the RiverWing on ladies trips. As a flat tarp strung between trees. Seven of the ten guy lines, cut to length with idiot proof DIY line tensioners stored in the duffle bag, have vanished in some past leaf litter pack up. Most of the stakes too.

I did not contest the Missus need for max headroom belief that at least one side of the tarp could be tied off on high to trees, sans a drainage parabola. I did sit on that side and dump the 2 gallon water puddle every few minutes. Ahem.

None the less that giant wing tarp was ample shelter for a picnic table and four camp chairs, even in wind driven rain and spatter.

Back to packing up the yardsale. And, once everything is dry, patching and sealing tents and making new guy lines for the RiverWing tarp.

All reflective guy lines on the RiverWing this time, including replacing three the non-reflective lines that still exist. What the hell was I thinking 15 years ago, especially for a clumsy companion stumble into the guy line group trip tarp?

 

[flyingbison]

No, not stopping drinking. It has been a while since we returned from a sodden family camper. It rained for 3 days and nights and everydamn thing is wet. And downpour mud spattered at the bottom.

Not just wet, but packed up wet, three tents and two tarps, dampish sleeping bags, many moist stuff sacks, four wet chairs, shoes and boots and raingear jackets and pants and hats and No, we are not having a yard sale, we are just trying to dry everything out dammit.

I know that feeling. Last year, I packed up wet and muddy gear on every.single.trip. I've been debating doing a solo trip this weekend, but now the chance of rain on Saturday night keeps creeping higher.

 

[latremorej]

Man, I know that all to well. Every summer, my father had two weeks off in July. We picked one of the two weeks for a family camping trip. I swear, the week we didn't go camping, high sky's and sunny weather. The week we camped... rain and more rain. The good side is that I learned how to set up tarp city at an early age!

My luck hasn't changed much. With my current job, I'm forced to pick the whole upcoming years vacation weeks in December, and we go rain or shine! Packing up wet and home drying all the gear is a common occurrence.

Jason

 

[Guest]

Man, I know that all to well. Every summer, my father had two weeks off in July. We picked one of the two weeks for a family camping trip. I swear, the week we didn't go camping, high sky's and sunny weather. The week we camped... rain and more rain. The good side is that I learned how to set up tarp city at an early age!

This is all very trip familiar here as well, especially returning from Scheduled well in advance, for this week, rain or shine Adirondack family vacation paddling trips in summer. So much wet stuff.

We saw some humorously ineffective What are they thinking? tarp set ups at other sites during this trip, and tent bound refugees from blue poly mayhem. Saturated souls started fleeing for home on Saturday morning. That big hexagonal RiverWing really is a wonderful choice in heavy rain. Especially when set up as a proper catenary cut parawing. Ahem.

This was the first long trial period of hard rain using a 10 x 10 flat tarp, stretched across the cap of the tripping truck and staked out on either side.

I sure as hell never needed the reflective side facing up, but I could leave the side windows slid wide open under side awnings, and when I lifted the tarp covered cap door water did not run down onto the foot of my bed. A couple of minutes to set up and that little poly tarp resolved any tripping truck issues with keeping the bedroom dry.

I knew it was a heat reflective solution in hot sunny weather

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums...ammocks/64398-​tripping-truck-tarp-solution

But it is equally effective in driving rain.

Also, oddly, the tarp cover sounded nicer. When bedding down inside the cap it sounded familiarly like, well, rain on a tent. Somehow a more soothing spooshspatter than rain pounding hard against fiberglass.

The worst of the remaining clean up has been removing the dirt and mud spatter left from the spells of driving rain. We knocked the worst of that off in camp, but the now dry residue needs some brush work.

It is always surprising how far up an exposed tarp pole the dirt spatter line can reach, the bottoms of the poles were dirty to the 12 inch line. Also a good example of why canoes with wood gunwales or brightwork are best kept well above the ground in outside storage. That dirt spatter is wood death. And best friend of anyone looking to buy a rotting derelict fixer upper.

Drying out is now familiar Mark II. It is raining at home and forecast to continue for some days, so the two drying lines that run the length of the basement are now in full use, with sundry stuff bags and rain gear hung from every available hook. It looks like a tornado when through an outdoor store.

Even with a fan and dehumidifier running the basement is no sunny clothesline in the yard, but in some ways it is more convenient, most of the gear is stored on shelves there and 4 x 8 foot sorting table is available

The stuff I need to seam seal, repair or replace awaits.