Tent Life

phil · Post by **phil** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:02 pm

longjohns violate the tradition of "Scottish freedom".

How 'bout chaps?

:->

Gravity Mike · Post by **Gravity Mike** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:24 am

Atar wrote:What kind of temperatures can be expected at night? My sleeping bag is comfortable until about 5 degrees Celcius (41 fahrenheit). If thats not good enough I can allways buy some all cotton sweatpants and shirt for 2 dollars and sleep in those, then burn them at the end :mrgreen:

I'm one of those geeks that brings a thermometer to BM, knowing that your personnal feelings of hot/cold comparisons are not always right. Sometimes you're just cold (or hot) regardless of temperature.

Lows in '05 were 40-44 F; in '04 the typical range was the same, but 2 nights got as low as 37-38 F. I personally prepare for temps down to 32 F, cuz I'm paranoid and hate being cold.

There used to be a link to a Gerlach or Black Rock Desert remote weather station. It had histories and temp and wind speed, so you could actually look these things up - only my bookmarked link is dead. Does anybody know what happened to this?

Gravity

phil · Post by **phil** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:34 pm

Looks like the server at rawfire.torche.com has been taken down. www.torche.com responds with a meaningless page.

I started taking a thermometer in 2000. I have 1999 as the coldest year, but I didn't get temperatures. Overnight lows are as follows:

2000 - 40s (don't recall the time - probably 6:30ish)
2001 - low 50s (taken at 6:30ish all week)
2002 - low 50s (taken 6:30ish all week)
2003 - range from 40s t0 50s (taken 6:30ish all week)
2004 - 40 degrees (taken 6:00 am on Wed and Thurs)

1996 and 1997 were hotter during the day than the 2000s, and 1998 was warm enough at night for completely naked running around. One of our camp mates said he was naked 24/7 that year. I needed my battery-powered fan in the tent at night. For 2000, I show 95 degrees as the high on Monday, then highs in the 70s the rest of the week.

As a comparison, we went to Burning Man in 1996 on Friday morning (remember the burn was on Sunday night). Radio Free Burning Man reported the temperature at 107 that afternoon.

I also might mention that I looked at the thermometer in the tent before going out in the morning. It generally is 10 to 15 degrees warmer in the tent than outside.

magicshelly · Post by **magicshelly** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:00 am

[b]I was reading the post and I saw several about putting shade over your tent to keep it cooler.

So my question is

Should you put a tarp on some poles to just stand above your tent, or do you just cover the tent by just throwing the tarp on it? I think that a shade would easily blow away. Sorry Im just dumb when it comes to this tent stuff. I'm used to camping in the woods.

I will be bringing a medium grade tent, that sleeps about 6 and it has a covered porch attached. Last year at Joshua Tree I was hot in it at 9am.... So any sugguestions will be great.

Thank You
[/b]

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:20 am

There are a thousand answers to that.
A sturdy, 70mph wind resistant shade structure is
a very good thing to have. There are unlimited designs and conglomerations you can come up with.
Think sturdy and dusty with all your camping gear.

Seeing all the endless, amazing varieties of camping arraingments is one of my favorite things about BM.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:21 am

You want to put it above the tent - either with stand-off poles or something. If it's just laid on top of it, it will conduct the heat rather than reflect it off.

I did both - I had a stand-off semi-reflective (snow camo) cover over my tent (it was maybe a foot above the tent) and another reflective cover on the tent itself. Between the 2 I could be in the tent until about noon.

I had to work one night shift out there last year (NEVER AGAIN!!!) and tried a swamp cooler to break the heat, but it was (for the most part) innefective. I have some ideas on improvement, but I think the shade works better. Ventillation in the tent also helps a great deal - tho I paid for it in dustyness.

The answers are out there somewhere (after all, my mom's family lived in identical conditions for decades) I just need to rediscover them.

bb

Tapestry · Post by **Tapestry** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 12:10 pm

Gravity Mike wrote:
Atar wrote:There used to be a link to a Gerlach or Black Rock Desert remote weather station. It had histories and temp and wind speed, so you could actually look these things up - only my bookmarked link is dead. Does anybody know what happened to this?

Weather Underground page for Gerlach:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... ry=gerlach
Gives current conditions, regional radar, record temperatures and forecast.

Atar · Post by **Atar** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:53 pm

Pretty sweet

*bookmarks*

Tumbleweed · Post by **Tumbleweed** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:39 pm

T-bone wrote:I'm a BM virgin with grand ideas of going to the Playa this year. Most likely solo. The tent I'll be lugging out there is an off-brand 5-6 man generic dome tent. 10' sq and 6' tall, freestanding, two poles. Comes with plenty of tie-downs, especially if the rain-fly is on. Can I expect this to survive the week in one piece, or will a pole snap in the first windstorm?

More often than not, the Black Rock Desert will test the limits of your tent. In my experience, aluminum poles are better than fiberglass poles, which I find snap all too easily. As someone else mentioned, yours seems like a pretty big tent for just two poles. Personally, I'd hesitate to rely on such a tent for my shelter. But who knows? If you tie it down and anchor it enough, it might be fine. Oh, and also park your vehicle next to it on the side with the prevailing winds.

Tent Life

Tent Shade Cover?

Re: Tent Life