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My cheap tarp saved my tent from a river of mud last weekend
I setup camp at Ponderosa State Park and woke up to rain flooding my vestibule after 2 hours. Instead of moving my whole tent at 3 AM I just grabbed a 8x10 blue tarp I got for $8 at Walmart and dug a trench around the high side. I staked the tarp over my rain fly with extra paracord so water ran off away from the door. It was janky looking but the floor stayed bone dry the rest of the night. Has anyone else jury-rigged a cheap fix to keep your tent from flooding?
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the_susan1mo ago
Grabbed a cheap poly tarp from Home Depot a few years back and did the exact same thing during a freak storm in the Smokies. It wasn't pretty but my tent stayed dry while my neighbor's gear was floating. That $8 investment saved my whole trip honestly. People overthink gear sometimes when a simple tarp and some cordage does the job just as well. Your janky fix sounds smarter than moving camp in the dark for sure. Sometimes the ugliest solutions work the best in my experience.
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verawhite1mo ago
Read that exact same thing happened to a buddy of mine in the Smokies too.
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lucasw821mo ago
Happened to me too but with a blue tarp from Walmart during a sudden downpour in the Smokies. I just tied it between two trees and let it sag over my tent, worked perfect all night. Folks laugh at the janky setups but when your dry socks stay dry you're the real winner. That $8 tarp has saved so many trips I now just keep one rolled up in my car at all times. Ugly fixes beat fancy gear that fails every time.
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mila_harris1mo ago
That ugly fixes beat fancy gear that fails every time" is so true. My friend Jen had a similar thing happen last year at a campsite in Oregon. She woke up at like 2 AM to water seeping into the bottom of her tent and just grabbed the blue tarp she had stuffed in her trunk for emergencies. She didn't even have proper stakes so she used rocks and sticks to weigh it down over her rain fly. Looked like a total mess but her sleeping bag stayed dry while the guy next to her had to pack up his whole soaked tent at 3 in the morning. She still talks about that tarp like it's her favorite piece of gear. It's funny how the simplest stuff can save your whole trip sometimes.
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