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Why does nobody talk about how much rain fly tension changes after a few nights?
I set up my tent at Ricketts Glen back in June and the fly was drum tight, but by the third morning it had a saggy spot near the foot end that pooled water in the rain. I tightened the guylines maybe half an inch and the pooling quit, so it was clearly just fabric stretch and not a bad seam. Then last month in the Catskills I noticed the same thing happen faster, within a night and a half, and that was after about 40 nights on the tent total. The shock cord on the pole sections also felt looser when I packed up, which makes me think everything stretches at its own pace. I started giving each corner tensioner a quick tug after setup and again before bed, and the sag is 90 percent gone now. Curious if other people retension their fly after the first night or just leave it until something leaks.
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davis.ruby2h ago
Isnt that kind of fussing exactly what you don't want to be doing at camp? Part of the appeal of getting out there is not messing with tensioners twice a day like you're tuning a guitar. I've run tents for years and just let the fly do its thing, and yeah it sags a bit after the first night, but silnylon and polyester both relax and then they stop, it's not a leak waiting to happen. Half an inch of stretch is not the same as a failure, and chasing every bit of sag means you're out there with cold hands fiddling with line when you could be eating dinner. Maybe the real fix is a tighter pitch from the start or a fly with less stretchy fabric, not making retensioning part of your nightly routine.
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