Tent FAQs

Doesn't that just drive you nuts? Occupancy ratings come from the backpacking community rather than from motorcycle riders, and backpackers want to know how many skinny sleeping bags will fit side-by-side in the tent, not how many motorcyclists the tent can comfortably accommodate. For riders, the general rule of thumb is this: if you don't want to be packed in like sardines, get a tent with an occupancy rating at least one person more than will ever be in it. I use a 3-person tent even when I'm riding and camping solo.

Season ratings indicate relative weather-worthiness of a tent, and there are basically two such ratings: three season and four season. A "three season" tent is for spring, summer and fall when snowfall is not expected and ventilation is more important than heat retention. A "four season" tent is supposed to stand up to some snow accumulation and retain heat well (by limiting ventilation). Four season tents tend to be significantly more expensive than three season tents.

FTC carries 3-season tents because motorcycle camping isn't typically done in the snow or extreme cold, though we can always get 4-season tents for customers who request them.

I think there is something called a "2 season" tent, but they probably have cartoon character graphics on them--Sleeping Beauty, Ariel the little mermaid, etc.-- and are best set up in the rec room.

"Free standing" tents are those that stand on their own without being staked, guyed or held up by a center pole. With tents of double wall construction (with an inner tent and an outer rainfly) "free standing" refers to the inner tent alone. It can be set up without stakes and can be moved and oriented wherever you want before staking and attaching the rainfly.

Set-up time depends on the tent, who's setting it up, and weather conditions, but with a little practice, just about anyone can set up any Big Agnes tent in a few minutes. If you expect wind and/or rain, you'll need to stake the tent and guy out the rainfly properly, and that will take a few more minutes.

Nope. There are reasons you don't see any serious backpacker, mountain climber or wilderness adventurer carrying a pop-up/instant tent. They tend to be heavy, large-packing and, though some are well-constructed, if something goes wrong, you're up the proverbial creek. Also, though they set up easily, packing them can be a bitch.

We don't think the time savings is worth what you give up in weight and packed size. Also, because they have moving parts they tend to have more that can go wrong with them. While they they are engineered to set up quickly, packing them away again isn't similarly easy.

We look at it this way: as long as a tent sets up in a few minutes, we think serious campers should be looking for top-quality construction, excellent features, minimal weight and small packed size rather than shaving a minute or two off set-up time.

If we find a pop-up/instant tent that is unfailingly reliable, lightweight and small-packing, we'll give it very serious consideration. How likely is that? Almost zero.

In the unlikely event of a pole break, slide that tube up the pole and over the break. Use some ingenuity to make it stay in place. It’s a temporary fix to get you through a night or two with a broken pole. After your trip, you can pursue replacement from the manufacturer.

Maybe you saw our tents on display naked (not you, the tent!) at a rally. We often display the tents naked because of vending space limitations at rallies. By 'naked' I mean the bare tent without its rainfly. Yes, certainly, if you don't use the rainfly, rain will come in (but only if it rains!). But not to worry: every Big Agnes tent comes with a rainfly that drapes over the frame and clips to the four corners.

This business of having an inner mesh tent covered with a rainfly is called "double wall construction," and it is the preferred three-season tent design. The mesh allows for ventilation in the warm weather, and during the cool of the night it creates a wall of separation between you and the condensation collecting on the underside of the rainfly. In single-wall tents, the condensation can create annoying drips.

Big Agnes makes them about as watertight as you can get, though some models seem to be better than others. The polyurethane waterproofing is not sprayed or brushed onto the fabric but rather poured on and bladed evenly across the entire piece before assembly. Then, after assembly, all seams are taped - and taped properly - right at the factory.

I was in my Parkview 3 in absolute downpours lasting for days, with water actually flowing under the tent for hours, without a bit of water finding a way in. The Parkview series was discontinued, so now I'm trying a Gore Pass and a Pine Island, so far with excellent results.

I haven't had totally dry results in my Big House 4, but that's what you get with big exposed doorways and spaces where wind can whip the rain between the rainfly and the tent proper.

I also found that if water pools up under my tent (like if it gets trapped between the tent floor and the footprint/groundcloth) I can get a puddle inside. I think it is because body weight, under the right conditions, is able to generate enough pressure to overcome the 1500mm waterproofing.

It can happen with any double-wall tent, Big Agnes tents included, but simple adjustments will solve the problem.

The key is to maintain a gap between the inner and outer walls. You maintain the gap by staking out the tent, cinching the rainfly down taut and, if necessary, guying out the rainfly. If you do these things, the rainfly won't sag onto the tent and you'll stay perfectly dry.

Oh, by the way, a nylon rainfly will taut up in the sunshine and sag when the weather cools, so if your rainfly is nylon you might have to tighten things up in the evening after a hot day. If you know the weather is going to be sunny and warm, you might want to loosen your rainfly early in the day to prevent the over-tightening of the nylon in the heat of the day.

Some people pull the pole set out and girdle or sack their tent, but careless, over-aggressive compressing can damage the tent's mesh and/or cause creasing that might eventually impinge the integrity of the waterproofing of the floor and rainfly. Short answer: yes, you can compress a tent but we don't recommend it.

The tent can be stuffed - no rolling or folding is necessary. Here at FTC, the Outdoorsman stuffs and the rider (me) folds and rolls. I like to fold my tent to the width of the pole set's length and then roll the tent with the pole set at the core of the roll. If you stuff the tent, you might want to put the pole set in the sack first and stuff the fabric around it. That'll be easier than stuffing the tent first and then having to jam the poles between the tent and the stuff sack wall. However, stuffing the tent with the poles already in the stuff sack needs to be done carefully--you can catch some fabric or mesh on a pole end and cause a rip.

After your last camping trip of the year, set up your tent at home, spot clean it, and then give it a nice Mirazyme dip. Set it up again and let it air dry. Make sure it is totally dry, even along the seams. Maybe shoot a tiny burst of Lysol spray into it (into the tent, not onto the fabric). Whatever you do, don't store it damp.

If I had space, I'd store my tents spread out, hung or even set up loosely, but as it is, I keep them in their stuff sacks.

Neither. Both would likely do more harm than good. Wipe off normal smudges and grime with a damp cloth or sponge. Every couple years, soak your tent in the bathtub using cool water and Mirazyme (http://www.mcnett.com). We carry Mirazyme. Great stuff for eliminating odor.

Big Agnes has instructions about tent care. Check it out under CARE AND MAINTENANCE at http://www.bigagnes.com/tentsetup-shsl.pdf

Well, if you've just gotta know: if water beads up on the rainfly of my Gore Pass 3, it can drip onto anything in the vestibule when the door is opened. I hate getting my arm wet first thing on a cold morning! The problem isn't unique to Big Agnes tents, but you asked for something I don't like. After having my arm baptized a couple times, I learned to just slap or shake the vestibule to shed any water and reduce the likelihood of the irritating drips. Not much of a complaint, and like I say, not unique to Big Agnes.

We're a small company and we just don't have the capital to maintain as broad a selection of gear as we'd like to. Instead, we are selective. Big Agnes has a full line of core camping gear, they are recognized as one of the elite manufacturers, and they have been very supportive of Full Throttle Camping's success. We will carry tents by other manufactures (sleeping bags and pads, too), but Big Agnes was who we started with.

We are also an MSR dealer and expect to add MSR tents to the mix in 2011.