I always bring a big group, and we always look for campsites big enough for our 8 person tent:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W7BHJY/ref=twister_B00OY9GXTA?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

It's mostly been a great tent for us, has held up through wind and rain for years, and no one feels too crowded. However, every year it floods at least once. The roof vent on one side or the other winds up stuck to the rain fly, despite all efforts to prevent it from doing so. Where the two meet, water soaks through the rain fly and drips through the vent, soaking everything below. I know the rainfly should never touch the tent, but we've never been able to reliably keep it from doing so in the wind.

I saw mention of putting a mylar emergency blanket between the rainfly and the tent. Has anyone done this? Does that not just move the leaks from one area to another?

It's been a great tent except it floods? that's crazy, I think i'd look for other options, my tent is there to keep me and my gear dry.

Yeah, that's not a serious camping tent. Find a tent that has a rain fly completely covering it. Maybe an REI Kingdom 8?

I would fix the problem by sewing in a pullout on your rain fly to get it away from the body of the tent instead of trying to mitigate the problem with a Mylar blanket. The blanket will be a pain to hold in place and noisy as well.

Once you get the pullouts installed you can seam seal it to death and you should be fine.

Hammocks don't flood.

You need multiple smaller tents that better fit available tent pads. Use elevated pads when rain is expected. Buy quality.

I've never had water come in from anywhere except the vent, and only when the rainfly ends up touching it, usually in the wind. While I like the idea of upgrading, new gear is expensive and we can only do one or so upgrades a year. We just upgraded to an ultralight canoe from a heavyweight tank and I don't think we're ready to replace the tent yet. Maybe if good tents weren't so expensive, or if I could find one used.

Looking to modify, not replace (for now).

We all gather together in the large tent after dark to play cards, and that's half the enjoyment of the trip, so we don't want to split into smaller, more crowded tents. We just scout sites and make sure our behemoth fits.

Hammocks: I sleep in a hammock with the dog. I just can't convince the rest of the group that hammocks are the best.

I'll have to look at sewing in a pull out, but the problem area is in the center of the panel on the roof.

how about a lightweight tarp hung above the tent to cover-- not touch or enclose. Look at CCS tarps and how he has reinforced the center of tarp for a staff support from underneath or rope over tree branch overhead. (CCS = Cooke Custom Sewing)

Beat me to the tarp idea. It can double as an outside covered area on clear days/nights. I also agree the Mylar blanket will be more hassle than help. Dan's tarps are pricey, but well within market range and good gear is just good gear to get.

Fyresparxx: "I always bring a big group, and we always look for campsites big enough for our 8 person tent:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W7BHJY/ref=twister_B00OY9GXTA?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

It's mostly been a great tent for us, has held up through wind and rain for years, and no one feels too crowded. However, every year it floods at least once. The roof vent on one side or the other winds up stuck to the rain fly, despite all efforts to prevent it from doing so. Where the two meet, water soaks through the rain fly and drips through the vent, soaking everything below. I know the rainfly should never touch the tent, but we've never been able to reliably keep it from doing so in the wind.

I saw mention of putting a mylar emergency blanket between the rainfly and the tent. Has anyone done this? Does that not just move the leaks from one area to another?"

Okay, now you have officially piqued my curiosity. how many people are in your group and what are their ages? I can't imagine even one of my ex wives going with me on this trip......

I've always found Coleman tents to be lacking in one way or another. I lieu of replacing the tarp suggestion is a good one. Or adding the pullouts.

unshavenman: "Yeah, that's not a serious camping tent. Find a tent that has a rain fly completely covering it. Maybe an REI Kingdom 8? "

What he said...

nooneuno: Okay, now you have officially piqued my curiosity. how many people are in your group and what are their ages? I can't imagine even one of my ex wives going with me on this trip......"

We end up with a slightly different group every year, but usually 8 people, mid 20s-30s. We usually have 2-3 females, a handful of active duty or veterans, and sometimes a dog. I'm a USMC veteran, married, and the two of us use the trip as a way to get together with friends who have been spread across the country.


I'm going to put the REI kingdom 8 on my wish list and maybe pick one up in a couple years. For this year I'll try the other suggestions.

I have to be honest. I would hate the idea of having 6-8 folks in one tent no matter who they were. Crowded, different bed times, snoring, middle of the night bathroom breaks, etc. Even with four folks we use two tents. Easier to find good tent pads as Old Salt mentioned. The smaller tents are also more versatile, at least in my opinion.
I figure I am always living in the same space in the canoe and in the campsite with the whole group so having a little separation at night is a good thing. Even on trips with three guys I bring my solo tent and we rotate each night as to who gets the luxury of their own tent.

It sounds to me as if your best bet is to modify the tent in some way, as SevenofNine suggests. Based on the photos, it looks like when the fly gets wet, it sags between the peak of the tent and the hoops on the left and right sides. If that's the case, you can sew a loop on each side of the fly at the sag point, to lift the fly and keep it away from the tent at all times. A shoe repair shop will have a machine strong enough to sew the nylon webbing to the fly. Then carefully seam seal it, or it will just leak in a different way.

If you set the tent beneath a tree, you can toss a couple of lines over a branch to lift the fly by your new loops, in the manner that mjmkjun described. Butthead masterfully pitches his tarps this way, and I'm sure he could share some photos.

If you don't want to be restricted to sites with branches overhead, you could bring a couple of collapsible 6' aluminum poles, or find long branches on the forest floor. Hold your pole upright with some line and two or three stakes. Then tie a line from the top of the pole to the new loop on your fly. Practice in the backyard with a garden hose to make sure it works, and that you have everything you need. Make sure your stakes are long enough to hold in a strong wind, because that's when you'll need them most.

Another tarp over the tent would work fine, of course, but it would have to be quite large to adequately cover the 17' tent, and cost more than you have in mind to spend this year.

It sounds like your group has a lot of fun. As the years pass, you may find that your group of eight shrinks to six or four, or even fewer sometimes. As you build your gear collection, consider the versatility of a quality tarp (for your common area) and smaller tents, as opposed to another eight man tent. If you modify your current tent successfully, you should be able to bring it along whenever the group size requires it, for many years to come.

TrekScouter, thanks for the compliment!

While I do use this suspension method with tarps the Lean may display the idea better. Tarp Grips or similar products are easily installed and removed as needed, to add pull-outs where desired.

I had similar "flooding" events in an old geo-dome 8 person I had. It's caused more by condensation (a bunch of occupants exhale/exude a lot of vapour as well as atmosphere), soaking the underside of the fly. Not so much penetrating the waterproof coating, more just collecting damp/moist air. Used to place soda/beer cans between the tent body and fly to prevent sag or contact, that's probably not a solution but home made fly supports could be. Here is one just made to show how simple they can be, a straw a rubber-band, and piece of plastic.


butthead

These solutions look great, and the pictures help a lot. I just picked up some waterproofer as a place to start, because iirc water doesn't always bead up very well on the rainfly anymore. I can pick up some seam sealer too and work on adding those pullouts.

I'm pretty sure it's not a condensation issue, because it only happens in heavy rain, and we've returned from other activities to a wet tent before. Like TrekScouter said, the issue is a sagging rainfly between the peak and the left and right hoops

I was thinking about running a shock-cord center line over the top from end to end to keep it off the vents, but those fly supports look like less hassle.

"I'm pretty sure it's not a condensation issue, because it only happens in heavy rain,"

Heavy rain is THE most condensation forming situation it can be in. Not saying a leak is improbable, but condensation will occur. That is how a solar still works even in a desert.

butthead

PS: The stand off I pictured is simply based on common fly vent supports used on many different tents. vent supports on a REI HalfDome. bh

I love the Tarp Grips!

butthead:
Heavy rain is THE most condensation forming situation it can be in. Not saying a leak is improbable, but condensation will occur. That is how a solar still works even in a desert.

I guess I hadn't really considered that, since it leaked when no one was in the tent and I thought someone had to be in the tent for condensation to happen. Learned something new!

22 lbs! That's a lot of tent. You can get a good 4 man tent for $100 if you watch sales. Or check out the 2 men tents. I have one that is very comfortable and have never leaked, with vestibules on both sides. Paid about $65 for it new on clearance.