Isaac creates Contrail wind speed test opportunity

[Mark Cooper]

Winds expected to gust up to 40mph here in Orlando. I might attempt a test of the Tarptent Contrail's ability to withstand the wind, but also how it keeps water out. Could do a side by side with my REI quarter dome; however, there is a chance that both of the tents could blow away. I'll film and report back.

[Franco Darioli]

Some suggestions…
Use a trekking pole not a tent pole, 8" stakes and both rear and front guyout lines .
Again I can't post pics here at the moment but it is what I call "Contrail storm set up"
(8 stakes all up…)
Franco

[drowning in spam]

I'd use foot long nails and still rock those stakes hard. If you want to test the tent, not the stakes, go overboard on the stakes.

[Mark Cooper]

So will be using a trekking pole and a mix of stakes. Good thought on storm pitch, I have never pitched it that way , but now would be the time.

[Kenneth Jacobs]

I look forward to your findings. I'm considering a TT Contrail myself ATM.

[jscott]

Which will fare better: Romney's hair or your contrail?

[Daryl and Daryl]

I just returned from a trip with a friend. He set his Contrail up in winds that I would guess to be in the 30-40 MPH range. No problems after it was set up.

Getting set up in those winds was a challenge. Everything he would take out of his pack (pads, clothes, etc.) would blow away if not pinned down. If he held the tent up with one hand the wind blew it horizontally like a flag.

[Mark Cooper]

Unfortunately for New Orleans the storm has shifted west and we barely got any wind or rain today. The tent is pitched, but no test. I hope that New Orleans fares well.

Funny about pitching in the wind. I did run into that issue, although pitching in the wind is like that with most any tent.

Backpacker negotiating with storm, "listen, I am totally prepared for all of your fury, I just need you to chill for like 3 minutes while I get my tent pitched and get all my crap inside. I am willing to spend the next 12 hours in that tiny nylon tunnel if you just give me that."

[BlackHatGuy]

"Getting set up in those winds was a challenge. Everything he would take out of his pack (pads, clothes, etc.) would blow away if not pinned down. If he held the tent up with one hand the wind blew it horizontally like a flag."

One of the things Hilleberg suggests is tying your shelter to your pack or yourself before taking it out and trying to set it up.

[Bob Gross]

A better way to test a tent for wind loading is much more controlled. You get a pickup truck with an open bed on it, and you cover the bed with a couple of sheets of plywood. Then you anchor your tent onto the plywood… very thoroughly. You drive the truck down the road at 10 mph, then 20 mph, then 30 mph, etc. In the event that the tent departs from the plywood, you can just pick it up off the side of the road and hope it isn't damaged too much.

With a tropical storm or a hurricane, you really don't have any way of knowing what kind of wind speeds are hitting your specific location.

–B.G.–

[Franco Darioli]

Sort off but it will not tell you exactly what happens when the tent is pitched on ground.
Wind speed increases with altitude, so wind hitting a tent at ground level is a lot weaker than at 1 meter and so on up to about 10m .
(so a weather station measured wind of say 60 MPH can be around 40 MPH on a tent fly pitched on ground (flat ground)
To me it is a bit like the water head test. It tells you the pressure a fabric can stand IF you had a column of water above it, problem is you don't have a column of water above it…
(and yes this can be applied to the famous "100 MPH on my pyramid tent" comment)
Franco

[Mark Cooper]

Quite an image that conjures up! My wife and neighbors would get such a kick out of that. Perhaps I used the word "test" carelessly. I just sort of wanted to see if the tent would fail in high winds and pouring rain. I did try this back in 2004 when a series of nasty storms rolled through with an equinox 8×10 tarp. Everything was fine until a widow maker dropped down straight onto the tarp (I was not in it at the time.). That was a great lesson in looking both up and down when selecting a site.

[drowning in spam]

How did it go?

[Scott Bentz]

"That was a great lesson in looking both up and down when selecting a site."

Always need to look for those "widowmakers".

[Mark Cooper]

We got lots of rain, but barely any wind so the test was a bust. The Contrail obviously sheds rain like a champ so no news there.

I'll load my "pre" video nevertheless to show folks the storm pitch. More to come…

[Mark Cooper]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=m-ch-vid&v=cBAH03nkxhY

Video of the storm pitch.

[Author]

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