Tent Rainfly Modification

The purpose of this Instructable is 3 fold.

1) Improve air circulation and help remove condensation buildup inside the tent. As well as keep any condensation that does form away from your head/feet.

2) Add stability to the tent in high wind environments

3) Help shed rain away from the base of the tent.

This is accomplished by pulling the front and back of the rainfly away from the base of the tent.

The first picture shows the tent as usual. Don't get me wrong, this tent is the best I've ever owned, but there is always room to improve. The grey panels are the doors (sides) and the green panel is the front/back. It is the green panel that we are modifying. It will be pulled out via guy line to keep it taught and allow for air to flow into the tent.

The first step is to find the center point of the rainfly panel you want to guy out. In my case, the panel was 71" long, so I marked 35.5" (half way). We are applying the glue and loop to the underside of the rainfly panel, so be sure you have it oriented correctly.

Essentially, what we are doing is adding an attachment point to the front & back panels to attach a guy line to. The materials we will be using are pictured...

paracord (material used for the attachment point)

2 clamps

wax paper

Shoe Goo (I LOVE this stuff)

scrap wood

-1 board as a working surface

-2 flat pieces to press everything together evenly

-1 pieces to spread the glue

Stretch the rainfly, underside up, over the board. Add glue to both the rain fly and the paracord.

Carefully place the glued surface of the paracord to the glue on the underside of the rainfly. Lay wax paper on both sides to prevent any leak out. Then hold a piece of flat scrap wood on both sides to allow for even clamping pressure to the whole assembly. Finally apply the clamps. See order below

Clamp

Wood

Wax paper

Rainfly

Glue

Paracord Loop

Wax Paper

Wood

Clamp

The first photo shows the loop attached to the rainfly after it has dried completely as well as the guy line material.

The next step is to attach the guy lines. I choose to use bungee cord to help absorb and stress put on the tent due to wind. You could certainly use a traditional guy line cord like paracord or bankline. I have two loops of cord pictured. One will be attached to each end of the bungee guy line and hook around the tent stake.

I found the easiest way to attach the bungee guy line to the newly created tent attachment loop is to make an overhand loop in the paracord line then feed the bungee guy line through it as seen in the second photo. Simply flip the loop over the bungee cord and you have essentially created a square not, see photo 3.

Repeat on the opposite end for the loops that attach to the tent stakes Photo 4. Alternatively you can simply tie a loop in the end of the bungee directly or attach a triple slide line tensioner

Thats it! You now have a tent that allows for more airflow to eliminate condensation buildup, is more stable and directs rain away from your floor more effectively. This method can be used for all sorts of other mods requiring additional attachment points. I would just encourage you to attach loops on the underside of the rainfly whenever possible.

Happy Camping!!!