Tyvec, polycryo, or nothing

It depends on what silnylon they used and how old it is

The only thing you can do is try it and find out

If it's not waterproof, it's not like streams of water flow through, more a gentle seepage

Bring your polycro and if it leaks too much water than use the polycro

Or put the polycro between tent floor and your sleeping bag, and see if the polycro gets wet enough to justify. Normally you'de want the polycro under the tent floor, but just as an experiment put it on top

From past experience and I believe is the proper procedure, if it is going to rain, you put your gc inside, under your pad/sb combo. If it is under your shelter, it will act as a wick and suck water under the shelter. However, if you can tuck the edges way under the shelter, that may prevent water from wicking under the shelter. New materials may be better than what I have used over the years.
Duane

My vote is in favor of bringing nothing extra.

I've owned and used the BASL2 tent in the past (prior model, not current 2012) and I believe that you do not need a groundcloth. IIRC, the new floor is lighter but IMO you should not need extra ground cover if you take decent care in site selection. And if you do *need* a groundsheet, then shame on BA. Another reason not to take extra protection.

Geeze, my polycryo footprint weighs in at under two ounces. It's brilliant. Rain or no, it keeps the outside of my tent floor clean and adds a layer of puncture resistance for my sleeping mat. It does everything a high end footprint does for minimal cost and weight gain.

try a walmart mylar space blanket from camping section, trim as needed. Will weigh 1-1.5oz.

polycryo is too hard to replace. space blanket is cheap and readily available.

If this was your only groundsheet to sleep on, Id second the polycryo. But to be used under a tent, mylar is lighter , more readily available, and cheaper, and works great.

I don't use a ground cloth when I use a shelter with a floor, but I never pitch in areas where water could gather.

If you are careful to pitch in a lightly elevated area, it shouldn't matter much if your floor leaks.

I have noticed a tendency for high percentage of people who use floored shelters to pitch in depressions and in the morning often complain about water leaking in through their floors.

People who are experienced with and use floorless shelters are usually more careful about where they pitch and so don't seem to have that issue.

I have a BA Seedhouse SL3 with footprint the kids use. We got 12 hours of rain in CO last weekend and the tent floor was soaked through in many areas.

This was due to a couple of factors:

Pitched on a flat surface where water accumulated underneath
The SL2 and 3 floors are paper thin.

For Scout camping, my son takes his Seedhouse 2 which is alot more robust and waterproof. Kids are hard on tents.

Just have a good sleeping mat and you can float on top of the water…

I was in an older version of a tarpent Rainbow during the same storms and I stayed dry. :)

Only bring a footprint if you want to help lengthen the life of your tent floor rather than adding more waterproofing. The kids had rain running inbetween the BA footprint and the floor that caused some of their issues. Just my opinion.

Steve,

I completely agree with pitching on a slightly elevated area, but I have to say that more often than not, I can't find such a perfect place. Further, sometimes, especially if the weather is not cooperating, there really isn't limitless time to search for or groom the perfect spot. For those reasons, for floor shelter or tarp, I usually bring a ground cloth, ie polycryo or mylar.

Or what am I missing?

mahalo.