[at-l] (Guest Post) condensation in tent?

[Clifford R. Haynes" <chaynes@megalink.net (Clifford R. Haynes)]

You have a couple of things going on.
1. The wet spots in the zrest are because the dew-point (the place in your
insulation from the ground where the temperature is right for the watervapor
from the inside of your sleeping bag to condense to water) is in those
little dents where the water is. More insulation under you will move the dew
point away from the sleeping bag. And maybe fleece over the pad to allow the
vapor to wick away from the bag and matt.
Another option would be a vapor barrier sleeping bag liner. The water vapor
(sweat) stays in the vapor barrier so it can't condense in you sleeping bag
on the matt. But this has it's problems too, you may wake up with the cloths
you are wearing damp from the perspiration.
2. The tent is more or less the same problem, only compounded by water vapor
from breathing. If the dew point is inside the tent, the vapor condenses on
or in the tent. More ventilation is about the practical option for getting
the condensation out of the tent. Of course you also need to be sure you
don't move the dew point to inside the sleeping bag insulation. This can be
a common problem for folks that pull there face inside there sleeping bag,
or try to dry cloths in the sleeping bag. You wake up with a wet sleeping
bag.

Hope this helps.
Rocky

> trouble with our z-rests in the cold weather.
> We've been waking up in the morning and
> there are little puddles in all the indents,
> making our sleeping bags and everything
> else soaked.  The tent floor underneath the z-
> rests are dry - the weather makes no
> difference and this happens even if we set up
> the tent in a shelter.  What can we do to stop
> the wetness?
>
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