Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

[Internetpilot]

I'm looking for add-on tent awning suggestions -- or perhaps I should just use a tarp and some poles?

This is my tent:

As you can see, it doesn't have an awning or vestibule (like my previous large dome style tent did), and I find I'm really missing it. However, you're not going to pry me or my boys out of this tent -- we love the size, vertical walls, the hinged doors, easy of setup, etc., but we primarily camp in Florida and that pretty much translates to a 50/50 chance of rain on every camping trip.

I've seen that Coleman offers THIS, which looks perfect except that it's only rated as a sun shade with no water resistance. Would my best bet be to just get a somewhat color coordinating poly tarp and two poles and just drape it right over my tent roof? I know those get really warm in the sun, so I wasn't too keen on having that draped over my tent all weekend. I was also looking at the rain fly that Coleman now offers as an accessory for their Instant tent models.


Basically, we car camp, usually in Florida State Parks or other nicer campgrounds, setup camp for a weekend or longer, and don't hike around/break camp until we leave to go back home. So any solution can be as "permanent" as the tent.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I've seen some pretty ingenious stuff in this forum in the short time I've been reading here!

Thanks!

[Internetpilot]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Further brainstorming results:

I would just use a poly tarp, and tuck the top under the eave of the rainfly. Even though the mockup above shows tent poles, I'm almost thinking that a freestanding PVC pipe frame would allow this to be more stable in wind/rain as well as easier to setup. The problem with using 4 poles instead is that it would require even more guylines than the tent already requires.

Anyone see any glaring issues with this?

[stanleycamps]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

I'm not sure what the dimension of your tent are but perhaps a large, water proof canopy is what you're looking for. You might even be able to fit an RV awning to your tent since these tend to be lightweight and easier to setup than the pvc rig you're considering. Is your tent already waterproof? Are you looking to simply protect the entrance from rain? All in all, though, you do have a nearly endless amount of options and outdoor equipment to choose from. :cool:

[Shadow]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

I think if you sew some D-rings or something under the edge of the tent rainfly you could attach a tarp to it, and then use a couple poles to make a porch in front of you door.

[Internetpilot]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Thanks for the suggestions. I think it's time to setup the tent in the back yard, do some brainstorming, and come up with an easy design with biggest emphasis on simplicity. I like the D-ring idea, but due to the low height of the door (and my 6'3" height), it might end up being better just putting a tarp over the top of the whole tent and using poles. I really only need it when it rains, and then it would actually help to have the tarp over the top of the tent, too.

I'll post pics of whatever I end up with. Thanks again!

[Internetpilot]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Can't post pics because I haven't received the tarps yet, but I decided to go with just a tarp over the top. I already have several tarps, so I picked up a couple of poles and tried out the solution, and that definitely seems to be the easiest way to go (although not the prettiest). I bought a couple of white tarps -- one that's the perfect dimensions to use as a complete rain fly and another more rectangular one to go over or under that (perpendicularly) with half of it being used as an awning. White isn't exactly color coordinating with my grey/navy blue tent, but I didn't like how the silver/grey one that I already have cuts out the daylight so much).

If not sooner, I'll definitely get a couple of pics of the final solution when camping in a couple of weeks. I live in Florida, so I when I plan camping more than a few weeks out, I don't even look at the weather anymore. Florida = RAIN. So I'm sure I'll get a chance to use it!

[stanleycamps]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Sounds like you found a solid fix to your problem. Do post pics. I'm interested in seeing what you came up with.

[Internetpilot]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

The problem with a separate screen canopy solution would be that rain would run off the canopy roof, channelling right to the double doors of my tent, which will make the problem worse than not having an awning at all. Even if I have the canopy set at its maximum height (which would likely be higher than the roof edge of my tent), I'd still have run-off problems.

I received the tarps and they look pretty good. I'm going to setup the tent in the back yard and try to get the guylines, poles, etc. worked out BEFORE I go camping this next weekend. I'll post pics of what I end up with.

[Internetpilot]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Well...that was pretty much an epic fail. Haha. I was trying out my solution on my tent today with a mild breeze, and this solution is never going to work. A tarp over the top of a lightweight modern tent is just simply not going to work except under perfect weather conditions. If you install guylines or ropes tight enough to just hold the tarp on in even mild winds (like what I had today), you really risk collapsing the tent, and if you don't have the ropes tight enough you get parachuting or the wind catches the tarp, pushing it into the tent and again risking collapse of your whole tent.

I think I would've been better off with my original PVC frame design (see drawing a few posts up), and that's probably what I will fall back on. Anything else is just too unstable in even mild wind, and I wouldn't even want to think about this solution in rain worse than light sprinkle.

As for tarps, I cannot recommend Tarpaflex.com. The poly tarp material is nice enough, and it was nice getting white instead of being stuck with usual blue, brown, or silver, but the workmanship (especially the grommets) was simply horrible. One of the grommets fell off just taking the tarp out of the bag for the first time, and most of the other grommets were bent or otherwise malformed. Walmart's tarps at 1/2 the price are better quality -- just not the color I wanted.

Oh, well...had to try.

[stanleycamps]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Maybe you need better stakes? Have you ever tried "vampire" stakes? They are about a foot long and are designed to keep tents anchored down in severe winds. I bought them in a local camping store when I went to Burning Man but I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. These things kept our flimsy Walmart bought tent anchored tight in very high desert winds.

[Internetpilot]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

No, the stakes aren't really the problem (all of mine are already close to 12") -- I think it's more the size of the tarp. It's just too much material and it catches the wind to either balloon/parachute up or it pushes down in the tent (which is probably the worst scenario because that can easily bend/break tent poles). My tent is a huge 10x14 and because it's a cabin style tent with vertical walls, the rainfly is about the same dimensions as the footprint and not very aerodynamic in the wind. I really wanted to get a small nylon tarp and just attach that somehow to my rainfly, but that was rather cost prohibitive. The cheapest I found was a $60 6x8, but it got poor reviews for water resistance, which is the main reason I want an awning. Regardless, it probably wouldn't hold up well in the wind either, and my rainfly would be at risk

I'm just going to make a PVC pipe cube with a sloping roof and put a poly tarp over it to make a roof and one side wall. I won't glue most of it so I can easily break it down. I also think it will be more useful because it's freestanding so I can move it around for personal sunshade or to cover gear away from the tent, etc.

Another idea I'm mulling over is to install some sort of gutter type of design to the rainfly edge that's over the main door we use, and then just use my large freestanding beach umbrella. Any run-off from the umbrella and rainfly will be diverted away from the door via the gutter solution, so I won't end up with puddles when going in and out of the tent in the rain.

Gee, can you tell that I get rained on a lot when I go camping in Florida? Haha. The problem is that it's soooooo unpredictable, and not having a proper plan/solution for rain can quickly ruin a camping trip with my two young boys.

[stanleycamps]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

This might be out of your current budget since you already have your large tent, but have you given any thought to using smaller 2 or 3 person tents? You mention your two boys and yourself camping so possibly using two small tents vs one big one is a good option. Typically smaller tents, I'm thinking ALPS and Eureka but there are others, give you stronger designs the smaller they are.

[Internetpilot]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

My large tent is surprisingly strong and well designed -- it's just when you start attaching or otherwise adding things to the design that I start to see potential problems. We've been in like 20-35 MPH wind gusts and despite being a giant nylon cube, it held up fine. However, add a tarp on the roof and then another for an awning, it starts messing with design physics.

My initial reason for wanting to add an awning is because here in Florida we more often than not end up with it unpredictably raining when camping. In addition to being able to want to go in and out of the tent door to the cooler, etc., without having water pour in the door, we also need a single tent big enough to shelter all of us together while it's raining. Separate tents would end up obviously separating us for the duration of the rain.

At the campgrounds that allow it, I'm going to try hanging a tarp in the trees, and just use the free standing beach umbrella to help shelter the door when going in/out of the tent. In the end I think the resolution can only be sacrificing some criteria in my preference for tents. I really liked my supersized dome tent that had a nice roof height vestibule/awning built-in to the rainfly, but the usual caveat of sloping walls in a dome is just such a waste of space, which is why even though my current cabin style tent is a slightly smaller footprint, it's seems like a much larger tent....but no vestibule/awning. Sigh...

[stanleycamps]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Well, it's a shame so many parks don't allow you to hang anything on the trees.

[busere]

Re: Add-on Tent Awning Suggestions?

Well, it's a shame so many parks don't allow you to hang anything on the trees.

Good thing we don't have that rule here in Virginia. That would really mess with all the AT backpackers that use hammocks w/rain flys for shelter.