Rant: My new tent's rain fly took me two hours to figure out

I bought a new two-person backpacking tent for a trip to the White Mountains, and I was so sure I could set it up fast. I've been camping for years, right? The main tent went up in five minutes, no problem. Then I got to the rain fly. The clips were in weird spots and the guy lines had these little plastic adjusters I'd never seen before. I kept trying to hook it one way, but it was always too tight on one side and loose on the other. I must have taken it off and put it back on four times. What I thought would be a ten-minute job turned into a full two hours of fiddling in my backyard. I finally saw a tiny diagram sewn into the stuff sack that showed the right order. It was so simple once I saw it, but I felt pretty silly. Has anyone else had a simple piece of gear stump them for way too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameronb521d ago

Two hours over a rain fly? Come on, was it really that bad? You got it set up in your own backyard with no weather and no pressure. It's not like you were in a downpour on the trail. Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself for missing the obvious diagram and move on. Is a little frustration in a controlled setting worth a whole rant?

benk2619h ago

Saw a buddy try to set up a new tent in his living room once. Took him an hour to realize the poles were inside the bag the whole time.