My Kelty tent got destroyed by hail in 20 minutes flat

Last summer I was camping near Estes Park and a hail storm came out of nowhere. My Kelty tent took a beating and the rainfly ripped in 3 places within 20 minutes. I had to pack up soaking wet gear and drive 2 hours home. Has anyone else had a tent fail that fast in bad weather?

3 comments

3 Comments

williamb291mo ago

Man that blows big time! I had almost the exact same thing happen with a cheaper tent once and it totally wrecked my whole trip. My gear ended up soaked and I smelled like wet dog for the rest of the weekend. I guess my camp setup was more like a swimming pool than a shelter. Honestly after that I started bringing a tarp as backup just in case. But 20 minutes is rough, you got my sympathy.

williamb291mo ago

Ngl that "smelled like wet dog" part hit close to home. I had a trip where my sleeping bag got soaked through and I was basically sleeping in a puddle for two nights. The smell never really washed out of that bag even after a few cycles through the wash. Honestly a tarp is such a smart move. I started bringing one of those heavy duty blue tarps from the hardware store and just keep it under my tent now no matter what the weather says. That extra layer has saved me at least a couple times when the ground got real soggy overnight.

rowanharris1mo ago

Whoa hold on, you said you put the tarp under your tent. That's actually not great for drainage. If you put a tarp under the tent and it sticks out past the edges, rain runs down the tent walls and pools right under the floor. You basically trap water between the tarp and the tent floor. Better to either cut the tarp so it's slightly smaller than the tent footprint, or put the tarp inside the tent. Learned that the hard way when I woke up with a wet sleeping pad. The tent floor needs to breathe a little so moisture can escape. Just something to watch out for next time.