Hi friends,

I recently purchased a brand new Big Agnes Blacktail 2 person tent (after a squirrel ripped up my trustworthy Kelty in the BWCA!) and after using it for 2 nights over Dec 16 weekend in the woods of central MN, the rain fly leaked a bit. The thing is, it was only a drizzly kind of thing and not even a real rain (which is weird it is even rain in Dec instead of snow) but when I woke up there were a few droplets of water on my tent fabric. Didn't get my sleeping bag wet but makes me extremely worried and not at all confident it would hold up in an actual rain. My previous Kelty was absolutely dry even in a downpour so I was hoping the Big Agnes would be the same, no such luck.

So- is there something I can do? Some kind of extra protection I can add? I bought it from Amazon and think I missed the return window so that is a bummer. I had done a ton of research and landed on that tent but not working out so far. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!!

I'd bet on condensation instead of leaking. What can you do about it? Stop breathing while inside the tent. Maybe better to remove the fly when the rain quits and shake the droplets off, then let it dry.

Camping in warmer weather will help it too.

As stated before more than likely condensation- moisture from your breath and body condensing on the cold under side of the fly. Maximize venting (leaving the bottom of the fly doors open etc.) but almost impossible to avoid in cold wet weather that requires you to batten down the fly.

Big Agnes has a good reputation for customer service. You might want to contact them and let them know about the problem. A few years ago they replaced a friends rain fly that was giving up the ghost prematurely.

Before calling, you may want to set up the tent on the next day that a good rain is forecasted and see if it still gets wet with no one in it, thus verifying that it is condensation or not.

You can test the rain fly for leaks with a hose.

If condensation is the issue there are methods for managing it .

The photos are an example of condensation that formed on the underside of one of my single wall tent canopies:

Yes, your moisture problem sounds a lot like condensation. When I used to camp in cold weather I would use my UCO candle lantern inside my tent. The flame would warm my tent a bit but more importantly it would keep the condensation away. Be sure to leave ventilation if you choose to use a candle inside your tent because even with a candle you are generating carbon monoxide. If you have a crossflow with two windows open you will be fine. You also need to keep it away from your tent sides, like in a vestibule area so you won’t tip it over. I would let it burn all night long because it uses an 8 hour candle.