I think it is often important to consider that tents are not perfect in foul weather. Several years ago I was paddling on the Wisconsin River on a sandbar with about 15 others when a storm hit in the evening. The winds were at least 50 mph while the local authorities said between 80-90 mph. Lots of trees down, and a nearby tornado that luckily we did not encounter! My 3 to 3 1/2 season tent was anchored VERY securely by lines to wood and supplies buried under mounds of wet sand. The tent was fairly new and in good condition yet with the strong winds you could literally see the water wafting through the air. Using a flashlight, it was like headlights on a foggy night. Within a few hours despite the tent being fully closed up we had taken on a LOT of water, maybe half a gallon to a gallon had collected in a low area! The bags were all pretty much either very wet to soaked and while a soaked synthetic bag is not great, I have heard it is far better than a soaked down bag in terms of providing you with some insulation. I think it also probably drys faster. Now that is an extreme weather example, but my point is that I was very glad that I had a synthetic bag. There have been cases with using an ultralight summer tent with fairly unprotected screening even with the fly on, that just a regular strong wind can drive the rain through and on to the bag. Bob *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Sep 26 2003 - 15:03:41 PDT
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