I thought that I'd repost a response that I just made to the "whats the weather like" sub forum ....
This was my experience this week -
Continuous rain here on Brisbane Southside, but it was far worse up at Somerset Dam where we had set up our tenting camp for a week of trapping of Redclaw. (My mate of many years & I try to get up there every year - 'a boys week out')
The sleeping module on the Gazebo failed at 1am & I had to relocate the sopping wet bed to the other sleeping module. Made a 'bed' from a dry tarpaulin for broken sleep until 3am when I was woken by water splashing onto my face.
My mate was sleeping soundly in his adjacent tent. I had decided to use the more spacious Gazebo sleeping module rather than erecting my tent. My bad.
The gazebo had pooled water in the roof until its weight broke the frame which sagged to below waist level just outside my door. Had to crawl out over the soaked floor. A knife through the roof fixed that but not good for my makeshift bed!
Packed up in the rain after retrieving the traps (20 redclaw, so failed there too). Nothing like a paddle in the rain contemplating the task of breaking camp in the mud.
First task was - Gazebo into the bin.
Turned out to be a good decision to leave. The rain has only increased since we left & I expect that the area would be cut off by now. The Somerset dam had to be released into Wivenhoe Dam which has since had to be opened, increasing downstream flooding. (Ipswich & Brisbane regions)
That was the last tenting outing for this 80 year old. Caravan only from now!
Yep Caravans are certainly better than Tents.
(I know .. Gazebos are only of use during perfect weather .. at least I do now. All my fault.)
Yep, tents aren't as good as caravans. For many years we used to camp in tents when we took our 17ft boat away to do some fishing. It was always a nice experience but we did have the occasional wet canvas pack up which wasn't much fun. We recently sold our boat so no more tenting for us unfortunately.
-- Edited by 86GTS on Saturday 26th of February 2022 02:10:04 PM
We were in Germany with relatives traveling. They slept in their caravan & we slept in our tent next to it, which we brought from Australia.
One night the rain fell out of the sky. They had a leak in the caravan, mattress was soaked & flooding through the caravan.
They thought we would have a moat in the tent by the morning. We were bone dry.
Another year camping in Munich after an overnight downpour, our little tent was bone dry in the morning. Everyone else in the campground was wringing out water from leaks. They were all very surprised & thought we should have floated away.
In northern NSW. We were putting up the tent. The rain poured. I stripped off as I couldn't move with drowned clothes. Got the tent up in 2 minutes, we jumped in, we dried all surfaces & ourselves with a Wettex. All pretty dry. All good through the torrential rain throughout the night.
Just need a quality tent.
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We were in Germany with relatives traveling. They slept in their caravan & we slept in our tent next to it, which we brought from Australia.
One night the rain fell out of the sky. They had a leak in the caravan, mattress was soaked & flooding through the caravan.
They thought we would have a moat in the tent by the morning. We were bone dry.
Another year camping in Munich after an overnight downpour, our little tent was bone dry in the morning. Everyone else in the campground was wringing out water from leaks. They were all very surprised & thought we should have floated away.
In northern NSW. We were putting up the tent. The rain poured. I stripped off as I couldn't move with drowned clothes. Got the tent up in 2 minutes, we jumped in, we dried all surfaces & ourselves with a Wettex. All pretty dry. All good through the torrential rain throughout the night.
Just need a quality tent.
You can't seriously be suggesting that caravans leak?
Surely not our pretty looking 3.5ton Multi coloured Gin Palaces costing around $90,000 with all the bells & whistles & made in Australia (partly - or perhaps a little bit - or maybe with a few Aussie bits) and to our exacting quality standards.
LOL
BTW My mate was sleeping nice & dry in his tent when I woke him at around 4am get his OK to put a knife through his gazebo roof to let the water go.
My parents had a a hatch over their double bed in their caravan.
There was a short sharp hail storm in the middle of the night.
Mum woke up later & felt damp while she looked up at the stars.
Bullet holes made by the hail.
My parents had a a hatch over their double bed in their caravan. There was a short sharp hail storm in the middle of the night. Mum woke up later & felt damp while she looked up at the stars. Bullet holes made by the hail.
Should have had an old fashioned Four Seasons hatch with a solid top & adjustable side vents.
I have one of them over the bed and the plastic lidded ones in the kitchen & shower rooms. Had to replace them both more than once as they became brittle over time.
I suppose it would be 15 years past when I was swag camping and gold prospecting in central Victoria in winter. It rained a lot for two days and on the second day I happened to need something from my swag at about 7pm in the dark. As I approached the swag I noticed, in the light of my head torch, that it was moving - as I got closer I realised it was floating! I spent the night in the 4WD.
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