Rick
I didn't want to bring up the thermal thing, but yes it seems that for any particular sized tent, for instance, having more people in it can make it drier because its warmer inside and the warmth seems to drive out the extra moisture - for instance cookin in the tent with my stove. I have a hot cloud of steam in my tent, warm my hands and face in it, yet it seems the heat pushes the moisture right out. I can and have made my tent into a steam bath with the roof vents and front vent open for carbon monoxide safety, and been very warm and dry too? Wierd I know, but there are a lot of "wilderness facts" that fly in the face of "living room planning". <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

What I meant by venting is that goretex doesn't pass enough oxygen for you to breath. So by venting you also lower the temp a bit but the worst condensation I've seen in my Bibler was some frost on the metal poles which are inside the tent (in the morning when I awoke). I think this evaporated off. Remeber water can go from solid to gas without passing through liquid, all it needs is dry air to evaporate.

I wrote a post about using my TNF mtn24 expedition dome in the snow. Its a 2 layer tent. I keep things open just a bit, in a way that snow can't blow in but a bit of air can pass through. In the morning Kristin and I were totally dry even where the bags were against the side of the tent and the tent was completely dry everywhere. (AND WERE COMPLETELY BURIED IN SNOW) OTOH I have loaned the tent to two buddies of mine who camped next to my Bibler and in the morning they were "sopping wet", and one guy said "there was a river flowing through it last night. Go figure? I have no idea what they did wrong. Thats another problem, when ya get really good at something its hard to imagine how badly other people can do it and you can't help them.

I know I'm a wierdo nut, but my experience allows me to go places and do things that would litteraly kill inexperienced people. Like most proffesional building trade people say, "Its all in the wrist". My wrist knows how to: paint, plaster, cut wood, etc and I have to learn the correct wrist english to do what they do. How about motorcycles? I've ridden 75 thousand miles a lot of it in the dirt - how do you explain to people how to ride a bike in the dirt? Its like just grabbing a water bottle and a bic and going skiing for the day. I can do it, some can't.
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Jim VERY important point to bring up concerning carbon monoxide in tents, as we know some folks who read and don't post; might not realize the inherent dangers of something as benign as lighting a votive candle in a sealed up tent in the Winter <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

The fact that you are body warming the air inside a Winter tent is enough for it to need adequate airflow/venting to allow moisture burdened air to exit the tent before condensing on the walls. But when you have a single wall tent then you want the interior air pressure built up enough to force the vapor through the walls before condensing. What happens with excessive snowfall onto the exterior fabric while you are asleep though? If you have'nt vented a small amount, as you did, then surely you'd have your buddies situation, the loanees, 'river runs through it' scenerio <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Again, because heat rises, and carries the water vapor with it; it would seem logical that a pyramid or tepee style with peak venting and door venting would be ideal if setup in a slightly more sheltered area than say a bombproof tent IMO.

Jim