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Tent Fly = Warmer?
#33264 09/15/13 09:06 AM
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I'm using a 3 season tent and lately have been leaving the fly at home this summer to lighten my load. This week's forecast for Reno is lows in mid to upper 40's. I'll be about 3,000' higher up at Marlette Peak Campground. Anybody have any advice about the insulating value of my tent fly versus the added weight?

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
RenoFrank #33265 09/15/13 01:27 PM
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Wind is what makes the difference. I always take a fly with a 3 season meshy tent - it's good for wind-driven rain, wind-driven cold, or wind-driven dust.

Lowest July-Aug-Sept temp I have had in Sierras is 18 F, and 20 twice. Good thing we were out of the wind.

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
RenoFrank #33266 09/15/13 02:17 PM
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I agree about the wind, but look at it from a slightly different perspective. If I am using a fly, I prefer there to be *some* sort of air movement in order to minimize condensation from forming on the underside of the fly, then settling on my bag, heightening the potential to be colder due to the damp.

Does your tent have a fly/ground cloth combo option? I've done that a few times this summer, with good results.


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Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
RenoFrank #33271 09/15/13 05:58 PM
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I bring a thermometer on every trip and often check it at night when I am not sleeping. I have found that it is much warmer inside my tent (as much as 10 degrees warmer), even though I use a tent with ultralight materials (either BA Fly Creek or BA Seedhouse). I do think the double wall makes a difference. Both my tents have a lot of mesh, while the fly is solid material, so that may factor in. The other factor -- my tents are very small volume...so easier to warm up.

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
Akichow #33272 09/15/13 06:47 PM
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Best of all worlds - open the vestibule or leave off the fly altogether to solve the condensation problem, but use the fly whenever other conditions warrant it.

The old saw: better to have it (the fly) and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

I use a BA Seedhouse, too.

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
Harvey Lankford #33274 09/16/13 06:54 AM
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My 3 season tent is significantly warmer with the fly on. It also makes a easily felt difference if we zip up the fly completely down to the bottom or not. The tent has vents on top we always leave open, but even with that crossflow, it easily is 10 degrees warmer in there.

This August we used the fly every night while on the trail, finding moisture on the inside of the fly just once (Fish Valley, no wind night). We did sleep without tent two nights before and after the hike, and those felt significantly colder, even though we were at much lower elevation during those nights (Portal and Tuolumne Meadows).


vents open, fly unzipped on one side (can be open on both for even better ventilation before you have to pull it off)

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
Fishmonger #33276 09/16/13 07:31 AM
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Only reason I find to use the tent (BA FlyCreek UL1) w/o the fly is for bugs. On JMT in August, whenever it was warm/calm/dry enough not to need the fly, I went Colin Fletcher. Including in the middle of the beach-formerly-known-as-Lake-Edison. Those were few, but the best nights of the trip. Found I got more condensation on the bag w/o the tent than with it a couple of times: ice at Sunrise/Long Meadow, e.g. Operative word here is "meadow", of course, even well off the vegetation.

Otherwise, with any wind, or highest elevations (lowest temps) generally, it was tent w/fly. Don't think the fly/ground sheet combo would have worked in many spots, with all the intermittent flash mini-flooding going on, even apparently high spots were collecting water. Glad the BA FC floor was so tight several times.


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Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
saltydog #33348 09/20/13 10:41 AM
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It seems to me that a tent without a fly would weigh more than a bivy sack. It would also take up more room in your pack and take more time to set up. If you guessed wrong about precipitation, you could be really hosed (i.e. soaked). My bivy was all the shelter I needed for winter ascents of Boundary, White Mountain Pk., Split, Langley, Russell, and Middle Palisade. If I’m going to save weight by leaving the rainfly at home, I’ll leave the whole tent at home and bring a bivy.

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
bobpickering #33350 09/20/13 02:48 PM
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Just curious, what bivy do you use for winter?

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
JimC #33358 09/21/13 09:28 AM
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It’s a Bibler. I’ve had it about 20 years. It’s Gore-Tex on top and coated nylon on the bottom. No poles. Weighs 18 ounces. I’ve always done more day hikes and fewer overnight trips, so it hasn’t been used zillions of times, but I used it one night on last month’s trip to the Kaweahs.

Re: Tent Fly = Warmer?
bobpickering #33432 09/24/13 04:26 PM
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Great! Thanks for the info. My tent weighs just under 2lbs and I'm looking for a way to shave a few more ounces.


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