Originally Posted By MarkNM
So i'm preppring for the AT section hike 200 miles at a time, and I've had enough moist mornings in my spitfire. I think the fly is just too close to the body, and touch creating lots of condensation on the inside. I've been looking at the TarpTent Scarp1 and big anges fly creek1.

Any reviews or other suggestions will be great! This is my first post as well!


There are a lot of user controlled conditions that contribute to condensation inside of a tent, single or double walled.

I have spent some dreary nights because I didn't understand what is involved in condensation.

Franco has brought up the subject of the importance of ventilation -- the removal of your moisture soaked breath and your body insensible perspiration from the tent before it condenses on the walls.

Another factor is the effect of tent site and weather (sky cover) on the moisture condensation. A clear night sky is an excellent means for cooling of the tent walls by radiation, and these cooler tent walls will aid in the condensation of water vapor - like on a cold glass of beer on a hot day.

Some really poor nights were spent by pitching the tent out in the open on a clear night. On a cloudy night, two things happen.

First, the air temperature drop is less than a clear night, and TV weatherpeople will often comment on this as a source of low overnight temperatures. So, the colder air temperature will promote more condensation - just as you can often see more dew on such a night/morning.

Second, the temperature of the outer tent wall can fall well below the outside air temperature on clear night. You can often feel this, especially if the outer wall is coated with dew.

This extra cooling of the tent wall on a clear night (technically, it is by thermal radiation and you can google for how sometimes people can use it to make small quantities of ice while camped overnight in the desert)will promote even more condensation of the moist air inside the tent.

On a clear night, pitching a tent under a tree prevents the cooling by radiation to a clear sky. And, of course, the condensation in/on the tent drops considerably.

Much of the time, on the AT, you don't have much exposure to a wide stretch of the night sky, so the leafy canopy ("long green tunnel") will reduce the night condensation a lot.

A small tent aggravates the problem, as you have evidently experienced.