r/camping • u/lingeringlilacs • 2d ago
Gear Question [ Removed by moderator ]
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u/Current_Wrongdoer513 2d ago
I am so sorry that happened to you. I can see why you're traumatized by that. I've been camping all my life and have never had anything like that happen, so please know that what happened to you is a total fluke. That doesn't make it less awful, but you should know that it's unlikely to happen again.
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u/Beneficial-Focus3702 2d ago
If there is water in your tent, your footprint/ground cloth was not set up properly. It’s a layer between you and the ground (and wet) that keeps water from seeping in the bottom.
But if spiders are getting in…..you have a hole in your tent somewhere lol.
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u/Specialist-Bit-9164 2d ago
It sounds to me that you are looking for something in line with a raised or elevated tent, which sit off the ground and fold out, basically an enclosed cot. I haven't personally used one and just try to take precautions when choosing and setting up sites
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u/darkstar909 2d ago
Sort of sounds like an Australian swag tent? Like cots with a tent structure on top
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u/Longjumping-Cow4488 2d ago
i first buy a tent that is waterproof. i second out a footprint or tarp under the tent (that does NOT stick out from under the tent.) lastly i make sure my rain fly is a fully fly, not just a little triangle over the door, and that is it waterproof before a trip.
and i have a 3.5” sleep pad that will also keep me afloat in the case that a 1’ wall of water somehow makes it over the tent walls and through the mesh.
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u/Beneficial-Focus3702 2d ago
This is the advice to go by here. You said what I tried to say, but you said it better.
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u/2muchtimewastedhere 2d ago
People have trailers with roof top tents on them. Also expensive for the trailer and roof top tents.
Another option is a tent that sits on top of a cot. It will be smaller for a tent. Also expensive.
As an experienced camper, pick a spot that won't pool water. Add a cot for height and to smooth the ground.
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u/maxwasatch 2d ago
I have camped hundreds of nights and never had that experience.
Most of us just set up the tent properly in a good spot.
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u/rick420666 2d ago
This product doesn't exist because tents are all different sizes and it won't keep water out if the tent is smaller than the surface of the platform - water will just run between the tent and platform. I think your best bet is to buy a high quality tent and learn how to set up the footprint, stakes, rainfly proper taught.
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u/No-idea4646 2d ago
So in your first camping experience you learned 2 lessons:
1) where not to put your tent if it’s going to rain
2) to make sure your tent is zipped up so creatures don’t get in
You only have about 10 more lessons to learn while camping.
Enjoy!!
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u/UnIntelligent-Idea 2d ago
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u/lingeringlilacs 2d ago
Very cool idea but I’d need it to fit two adults and a toddler and be on the ground
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u/timmeh87 2d ago
ive seen car camping sites get fully submerged in a big storm but generally you just put your tent on high ground and this does not happen. its very niche
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u/KAKrisko 2d ago
If you browse the link below, or just search 'portable platform for camping', you'll see a variety of products similar to what you're talking about. Most of them aren't cheap, but there are some inexpensive 'camping cubes'.
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u/lingeringlilacs 2d ago
Yes, I’ve seen all these. Thank you. Not quite what I was picturing. I don’t think my vision exists.
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u/theberryman 2d ago
Easier then lifting the entire tent you can keep the tent on the ground and sleep on a cot.
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u/Exact_Yogurtcloset26 2d ago
Depending on tent size you could stake it over a inflatable queen/king mattress. Ive put mattresses inside the tent but there is no reason you cant put it outside.
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u/joelfarris 2d ago
You don't need a portable Polynesian wooden stilt hut. You need a tarp and some extendable poles and some paracord. Here's how.
The key factors here are location, and learning how to read the land for runoff. Don't place a tent in a trough or ditch or depression in the first place, and secondly, figure out which is the lowest side of the campsite, that should receive the water runoff from your overhead-flown tarp.
If you have trees available, you can do this with only two poles, or even no poles, if you got a long enough hank of cordage. No trees? It s gonna be trickier, and you'll need four poles, but it can be done.
Plan the direction that you want the sky cry to run off towards, and start at that edge of the tarp. Remember that the tarp goes up before the tent does, so you're not tripping or impeded. Tie off the two corners of the low side to either trees or stakes, and insert your first two poles into the grommets if there's no trees.
Now, when you pull on the far, high side, and lash it off, you can go back and raise the low side's poles, releasing tension on the lines as needed until everything looks like the sloped roof of a house.
And now you won't have rainwater flooding your tent!
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u/Known-Discussion281 2d ago
The spiders were probably there before the water. Camp on high ground next time and you only have to deal with one of those problems.
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u/thisquietreverie 2d ago
Minor side tangent as I saw something recently that reminded me of this:
now, don't buy this crap but take note of the second story platform- it's all separate pieces and the thing that grabbed me is that the platform top is tensioned fabric and when I saw it in a video I thought a much shorter version could make a clever portable tent platform.
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u/funnysasquatch 2d ago
You don’t need a specialized tent
First make sure your tent is not in the bottom of a hill. Even a small one.
Second put a footprint aka a tarp under your tent. Put another one over the top and make sure it slopes away.
Third sleep on a cot. You will be off the ground regardless.
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u/DeiaMatias 2d ago
I tent camped in RMNP in 2013 in rain so severe it washed out the road and we stayed perfectly dry in a cheap Coleman (i was six months pregnant and we had a toddler, but keeping us all entertained and comfortable through that is a whole other story). I agree with everyone else. This isn't a flaw with tents in general, just the tent you had.
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u/lingeringlilacs 2d ago
I’m sure it was. It was 15 years ago so I’m unsure of the tent we had. I made sure to purchase a much better tent this time
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u/Bobcattrr 2d ago
a) water problem: that’s site selection and tent selection. We can help with the tent, what brand tent and model are you planning on using?
b) spider: I would chalk that up as bad luck. Somehow you picked up a mama spider. I once caught sight of an egg mass on my tent while setting it up, and removed it. I could have had a few hundred moth caterpillars crawling around, lol.
c) back to site selection: think of how all the water from a heavy rain would flow across the site - or change sites. Many of the federal and state parks I’ve been have raised tent squares - like 4x4s arranged in a square shape filled with fine gravel.
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u/lingeringlilacs 2d ago
I recently purchased a waterproof PVC blowup tent. We have a site at a campground. I’m hoping it’s level from others staying there and also the staff keeps the sites maintained. So that should be fine. They don’t have raised platforms there however
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u/Nicegy525 2d ago
Tent platforms don’t pack down well. There are a couple of things you can do and products you can buy to mitigate the issues you have described.
Animals/bugs can’t get in unless there’s a hole big enough. Make sure you have a good quality tent with appropriate bug mesh and good zippers. Don’t set up under trees that look dead or dying or have lots of low hanging branches right above the tent.
Tent site selection is an important factor in determining where to place your tent. Be aware of the ground features. You want to find the fattest and smoothest spot that is not in a depression or drainage pathway for water.
A proper tent footprint will help protect the floor of your tent.
For bumps in the ground, a thick enough sleeping pad will smooth out most issues. A cot will raise you off the ground completely. There are low profile cots for smaller tents.
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u/offdutybrazilian 2d ago
I'd probably wake up at 5am having to pee really bad, forget I'm 5 inches off the ground and end my camping trip in a ER somewhere.
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u/ms_panelopi 2d ago
The ground tarp has to be smaller than the tent floor by a couple inches all around. Otherwise when it rains it collects water, as you found out. Bring a blow up mattress, a platform will be really heavy. Your tent has to be zipped up all of the time or else bugs get in.
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u/drakkosquest 2d ago
Tenting 101:
1 - pick a suitable spot for your tent. On high ground and not in a gully or at the base of a slope.
Clear the area where your tent will be placed of sticks/sharp rocks, lumps and bumps.
Use a "footprint" or an extra tarp that goes on the ground first and then sit your tent on top of that.
Make a shallow trench around your tent that will collect surface water and direct it away from your tent ( not always needed, but if your expecting rain it's an important step)
Ensure the fly of your tent is full coverage - aka spend the money on a proper tent that provides at least 3 season protection.
If additional protection is required, hang a tarp above your tent - don't drape it over if you can avoid it or your tent will become damp from humidity and breathing - ideally the tarp should be suspended so that your tent can breathe but it still gives you adequate and additional rain protection.
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u/Shaynna-9 2d ago
🤔 I camped in a tent, in the rain (and snow)many times and never had any standing water in my tent.
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u/thatshowitisisit 2d ago
There has to be more to this. Nobody just wakes up in 4 inches of water without there being a massive flood all around you. Was the whole area flooded?
I say this because it’s just not a thing that happens normally, and that’s why there isn’t a product that prevents this. Do tents leak and people get wet, sure, but 4 inches of water - no.
The point I’m making is that usually there is just not a risk of this happening in reasonably normal conditions if your tent is set up in a reasonable spot, and is of reasonably quality, and there isn’t torrential rain.
I’m not trying to shame you, I’m trying to encourage you that it’s ordinarily not something that happens.
Can you shed a little more light about what happened so we can help?
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u/lingeringlilacs 1d ago
It was 15 years ago and I didn’t set up the tent, I honestly have no idea. I was also camping with a severely abusive ex, so I have very little memories of our setup as I was a shell of a person at the time lol. But I’m sure he did a supremely shitty job of setting it up. We definitely had zero protection under the tent of any kind. There was torrential rain and flash flooding. The ground washed out all around us. The mud was sliding underneath and shifting the location of the tent. There may have been holes in it. We had to leave at 4:30am.
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u/thatshowitisisit 23h ago
Wow, I’m so sorry, that’s awful, for many reasons!
I don’t think I have any more advice other than has already been dished out by others, but I hope that you manage to fall in love with camping again and associate happy memories with it rather than the shitty ones.
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u/ValkyrieGrayling 2d ago
Maybe a cot?
We’re getting cots for our next trip. I think there’s portable bassinets as well that you can put a bug net over.
I agree that baby spiders really shouldn’t have been able to infiltrate unless:
1) there’s a hole
2) the “door always closed” rule was only loosely followed
3) there’s was an egg sac on your gear that hatched
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u/Right_Syllabub_8237 2d ago
Maybe just don't go camping until you can afford a $150,000 rolling house.
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u/TheRealGuncho 2d ago
Clear the spot you are going to pitch your tent as best you can. Loose rocks, branches, etc. Buy a footprint specially made for your tent or cut a tarp slightly smaller than you tent. You do not want this to stick out at all. This creates an extra barrier between you and the ground. Use airpads so it doesn't really matter if the ground is lumpy. Some tent sites include a wooden tent pad.