Tent Living: Time for a New Roof

When I bought my Wilderness wall tent a few years ago, I had it treated with Sunforger water and mildew treatment. The thick, water-treated canvas repels water really well, but I've done enough camping to know that an extra layer or protection is always good, so I installed a rain fly above the canvas tent, too. The rain fly is a 20'x30' poly tarp, 10 mils thick, with heavy, reinforced grommets. It's significantly larger than the 12'x14' tent so there's plenty of overhang all around, and I mounted it a foot or so above the tent so it provides welcome shade in Summer, and helps to bear some of the snow load in Winter.

The poly rain fly protects the canvas from sun, rain, and snow. It's my first line of defense against the forces of Nature so it takes a real beating. Last Winter was a tough one in Virginia, and the heavy snow really took its toll on my two-year-old rain fly. It ripped out one of the grommets and put a few small holes in the fabric, and the poly material has deteriorated to the point where water is trickling through in a number of areas during heavy rains.

Original rain fly showing signs of fatigue after nearly three years of use

That first tarp served me incredibly well. It kept me safe and dry for nearly three years at a cost of around $30 per year. But now, I think it's too weak to take me through another Winter, so it's time to install a new one.

I pulled the old tarp off and dragged it off to the side. It had been a long time since I'd seen the uncovered canvas. It looked so small.

Before putting up the new rain fly, I decided to make some improvements to my installation. I have never been very satisfied with the way the rain fly sags toward the middle of the suspension rope over time. It tends to sag along the eaves, too, even though I have adjustable ropes there and can tighten them up from time to time. With the new rain fly, I want to be able to adjust it just once when I install it, nice and taught, and have it stay that way.

With my old installation, I tied a rope to a single grommet at each gable end and secured the other end of the rope to the support post. That kept the ridge line tight, for awhile, but the grommet eventually tore out. (If there's one thing I've learned about tarps, it's that you never tie a rope to a single grommet!)

With my new rain fly, I decided to lash the gable ends to a couple pieces of conduit in order to spread the tension across several grommets, like I do on the eave sides. I then tied a rope to the conduit, and secured the other end of the rope to the support post using a heavy-duty rubber tie-down (not shown). The tie-down keeps constant tension on the gable ends.

Putting tension on the gable ends

To keep constant tension on the eaves, I installed the same rubber tie-downs on the guy lines there, too. It turned the entire ran fly into a trampoline!