Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 Tent Review

A great little tent for sure. One big weakness is the 1200mm waterproofness rating on the floor. Over the years we have seen tent floors drop from 3000+ down to 1800 and now a miserly 1200. I would not use this tent in wet conditions where drying out might be difficult. By comparison the MSR at 10000mm is going to be bone-dry even in the NW camped on sodden moss or meadow for days of rain at at time.

I was section hiking the AT in Georgia around Labor Day when they got 7" of rain in 48 hours. I set up camp at Justis Creek Campsite which has tent pads cut into the hill. It is a new site along a relocated section of trail and the tent pads were muddy and packed hard. I set up my SpinnShelter/Alpinlite Gear Bug Tent 1.25 combo and went to sleep. Well it REALLY started to rain in the night and the tent pads pooled with water. My Bug Tent with silnylon floor was in the middle of a pool of water and didn't leak. I wouldn't want to do it again, but it was waterproof.

Oh yea – nice review Ray!

Yeah, the materials do keep getting lighter Richard. But we are the ones driving that, right? I do most of my hiking in California which normally sees little rain at night when the tents are up. That is why I try to get them used in Minnesota. The storm that it was in had water running under half the tent for about 20 hours. In the picture with the wind shoving the pole over the tents set up on the property line with the place next to me so the kids can see the tent outside their windows. There is a dip right at that line which is between the right side and the center stake. That became a creek. Not a bit of water came through. My Tarptents have seen some wild weather too with never a leak.

Thanks David. As far as the MSRP we go with what they say, not what retailers sell it for.

Marc, it can set up on rock the same as a Hubba. You would need to wrap line around rocks through the stake loops to pull the vestibule out the same as you would the MSR. My four stake comment is to use the vestibule normally. Something needs to hold one end to pull from the other.

My feeling is that a tent should be able to use all its features. A vestibule is pretty important to me, especially when sharing a tent. That is why I include the weight of as many stakes as it needs to do so. (I will make sure to clarify that.)

"There is a dip right at that line which is between the right side and the center stake. That became a creek. Not a bit of water came through. My Tarptents have seen some wild weather too with never a leak."

Hi Ray – by your own admission you used the factory footprint. I suspect that would have helped with increasing waterproofness. Or did you not on this trip? Thanks,

For tents with really lightweight floors I found a trick a while back that works for really wet areas. Thing is I am not sure how much weight it adds to the tent, but the idea is to spray the light floor with silicone tent coating, giving it several coats both on the inside and out. The stuff is cheap, so you can recoat the outside (tent floor to ground) side after a long trip if needed.
It seems to work. I have a Mt Hardware Stiletto that I use in Oregon and Washington a lot and began to get some seepage into the floor one trip. I coated it when I got home, then a month later sat through a long winter rainstorm (7 days straight but did pack up and hike everyday) in Big Sur and didn't get any seepage at all.

Ray wrote:

> I do most of my hiking in California which normally sees little rain at night
> when the tents are up.

I think this comment should be noted with care. I am sure it is fine when pitched in dry weather, but there is no way I would ever buy a tent (or rely on a tent) which required that you pitch the inner first without the fly over it. We often have to pitch camp in heavy rain: this generic design would fill up with water while we were getting it up.

The vestibule problem is as Ray says – doesn't work in the rain.

Horses for courses.

Cheers

"sewing some Mosquito netting to the bottom of the fly thus eliminating the need for the tent body what-so-ever. "
I can't see how you would prevent insects getting in on the door side. Also if you get a bit of side rain your floor might get wet.
Franco

I am jealous of the weight. Unfortunately, what I am looking for is a tent for an upcoming trip to Norway. Clearly this is not the tent for that trip. Even if the Hilleberg and Helsport offerings are heavier, they are also much better adapted to bad conditions.
Willem

"I think it's important to note that the Fly Creek floor is polyurethane coated silnylon so comparing it to non-coated sil is pointless."

Really? The hydrostatic head is very similar so no, the discussion is far from pointless.

Hey Mike – we were comparing the 1200mm rating of the Fly Creek floor to silnylon with the same rating. We were trying to determine whether 1200mm is sufficient for wet weather and because many of us do have experience with silnylon that is rated to 1200mm, we felt that was a good comparison. Obviously 800mm will not be as waterproof and no one would question that.

Mike – yes, please let us know how you make out with the Fly Creek floor as I am familiar with your neck of the woods and the uh, moisture (did the WCT in May of this year and had rain, rain, and then a little more rain!).