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A lot of folks are quick to suggest to tent shoppers to "make sure the tent has a bathtub floor (floors with water barrier properties that go partially up the walls of the tent to keep water from entering the tent through the floor)"
I understand the thinking, but I question the reality. Before the option of the super-waterproof plastic floors, tent floors were usually straight nylon or canvas much like the materials of the tent wall. Sure enough, if rain or puddles formed around the floor, then that water got into the tent.
Then came the bathtub floor. This is often a woven compressed plastic material similar to the stuff tarps are made of. Typically stiff and crinkly and slippery.
No question it is waterproof. You can have puddles of water at the edge of the bathtub floor and you can pat the flooring and feel the water on the other side wanting to get in.
HOWEVER, I have often had the phenominon of finding water on the INSIDE of my tent in big puddles trapped inside by the bathtub flooring indeed transforming the floor of the tent INTO a bathtub. I am tempted to take my pocket knife and poke a hole in the bathtub flooring to let the water OUT!
My old Eureka tents do not have bathtub flooring and they seem to have a dryer floor even in big rain. Of course the Eureka tents are probably better at keeping the rain out in the first place.
So, I wonder about the effectiveness of bathtub flooring in tents. Are they worth the especially unnatural feel, crinkle noise, added weight, added volume, and even water trapping properties?
What are your experiences and thoughts?
I understand the thinking, but I question the reality. Before the option of the super-waterproof plastic floors, tent floors were usually straight nylon or canvas much like the materials of the tent wall. Sure enough, if rain or puddles formed around the floor, then that water got into the tent.
Then came the bathtub floor. This is often a woven compressed plastic material similar to the stuff tarps are made of. Typically stiff and crinkly and slippery.
No question it is waterproof. You can have puddles of water at the edge of the bathtub floor and you can pat the flooring and feel the water on the other side wanting to get in.
HOWEVER, I have often had the phenominon of finding water on the INSIDE of my tent in big puddles trapped inside by the bathtub flooring indeed transforming the floor of the tent INTO a bathtub. I am tempted to take my pocket knife and poke a hole in the bathtub flooring to let the water OUT!
My old Eureka tents do not have bathtub flooring and they seem to have a dryer floor even in big rain. Of course the Eureka tents are probably better at keeping the rain out in the first place.
So, I wonder about the effectiveness of bathtub flooring in tents. Are they worth the especially unnatural feel, crinkle noise, added weight, added volume, and even water trapping properties?
What are your experiences and thoughts?
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