Tent
From KayakWiki
There are great tents on the market these days. Seal the seams of any new tent with Seam Lock. Use Seam Lock even if the seams were "factory taped". Factory sealed seams will leak and there's nothing worse than a leaky tent.
Groundsheet or Footprint
To protect the floor of the tent from abrasion, it's a good idea to use a footprint or groundsheet. Some paddlers prefer to just use a tarp, while others will buy a footprint sold to fit their tent. The footprint will have loops or clips to keep it attached to the tent. The footprint is the same shape of the tent but is a bit smaller - if the footprint extends past the wall of the tent, it will catch rain and form a puddle under the tent.
You can make your own footprint using a light, tough fabric. Sew in small loops of elastic or bungee to hook onto the tent poles at the corners of the tent to hold the footprint in place.
Give some thought to selection of a tent. Since you will not need to be carrying the tent on your back all the time, a super light weight (tiny) backpacking tent may not be the best choice. Think about spending hours in the tent waiting out a monsoon before making the choice. In a similar way, remember the kinds of places where you may camp. If trees are not going to be abundant, make sure your tent has internal poles. And of course, make sure the tent will easily fit through the opening on your cargo hatch.
[edit] Pitching a tent
- Water (and cold air) will drain to the low spots in your campground; you may be tempted to pitch a tent on a low spot since dirt, leaves and other soft bedding material collect there. Don't do it unless you're prepared to wake up in a puddle.
- Create air circulation in your tent for moisture to escape. Otherwise, you may get a terrarium effect - large droplets of water inside the roof of your tent.
- Never store (or spill) food in your tent. It may attract scavengers, large and small. Few appreciate a midnight visit by a bear. Almost as bad is a mouse chewing a hole in the nice waterproof corner to visit and eat your breakfast.
[edit] Storing a tent
- In the kayak - consider splitting the tent into three or four stuff sacks
- One for the tent canopy
- One for the tent fly
- One for the tent poles
- Optionally, one for the pegs and fiddly bits. You can also put this sack into the pole sack
- The reason for splitting the tent up is ease of packing in the kayak. The poles can lie in the lowest part of the hull and the other sacks stuffed wherever convenient. If everything is in a single sack, the poles prevent compression and bending of the big sack and there are fewer opportunities for stuffing large sacks into the kayak.
- In your home - keep the tent packed loosely so that folds do not become tightly compressed.
- Always dry the tent thoroughly before storing away in your home. Once mildew sets in, the life of the tent will be very short.
Do I fold or stuff a tent?
