How does your tent perform in the wind?

GFC Discussion
#1

Just reaching out to see if anyone else had a similar experience.

I was camping down in MOAB a week ago and we encountered a storm, half rain half snow. I made sure I did research and parked my car facing the main direction of the storm to minimize wind noise. Around midnight the wind was about 30 MPH and the camper started to open and close. The Wind Direction changed on me and was hitting the side of the Camper. It was so loud and sketch I had to close the camper up and sleep in the bed of my rig.

Has anyone had any experiences in the wind, if so how do you minimize the noise?

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Anchor tent flaps to rails with tarp clips
Tent insulation
#2

I’ve been in some pretty crazy wind with mine and its performed as well as I could have asked. I haven’t had the misfortune of the wind changing direction on me but I’m not sure what you can do besides redirecting the wedge to be in the wind. At the end of the day it’s still a tent so minimizing noise is more up to nature than us.

What could be a good option is if these are normal conditions for you is to make a prop for inside the tent to prevent unwanted tent closure.

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#3

I live in OK and camp in high winds all the time, other than the rocking and the wind noise, there has never been an issue. Solid construction. If you can angle into the wind, great.

#4
#5

I’ve also been in some wind with shifting directions. Don’t know the speeds, but one time it was enough to break a huge limb off an ancient cottonwood about 30 feet away :flushed:

That must have been scary to have the roof folding down on ya! How old are your struts? Do you have stuff mounted on the ceiling?

In terms of the noise…ear plugs?

#6

@cmogan15 I would consider changing your struts. I have not had my tent in high winds, but that thing is not easy to close. I think your issue could be strut related.

I kind of like the idea of making a prop for the tent to be ready for heavy winds or weather, though. Heck, a foot of snow may be enough to close the tent. Roof cargo would likely make the tent more susceptible to strong winds. Any pictures of or dimensions for a prop would be appreciated.

Peace.

#7

I wear wax earplugs. A little NyQuil helps too. :sweat_smile:

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#8

I did a week in Death Valley in March and had some of the craziest wind I’ve ever experienced. I swear we were dealing with 60+ mph winds. My buddy in a Sprinter had to turn his van because it felt like it was going to blow over. It was incredible. Anyway, other than some sand blowing in the tent windows and through the buttons around the tent, it held up incredibly well. The wind was starting to compress the gas struts a bit (maybe an inch or so), but it would spring right back. There struts are actually a pretty good design because they allow the camper to flex as little and reduce the drag forces during the big gusts. Our wind was pretty much unidirectional, but I could see how if it was coming from all directions I might have had a different experience.

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#9

Obviously this is only an option if it’s dry, but opening up all the windows helps a ton with the noise.

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#10

A couple of weeks ago I was in the wide open at 7,500’ elevation and we had gusts up to 65mph. It started to compress the roof. After about 10 min.s I decided to close it up and sleep in the bed.

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#11

Pro tip: Always bring earplugs camping. I’ve had a couple of nights of crazy wind and earplugs make a huge difference in the quality of your sleep.

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#12

Like most people who camp in mountains and deserts I have had crazy winds and can’t always find a sheltered camp spot. I always try and park nose into the wind. Sometimes the wind shifts at night. I’ve never had to sleep in the truck bed or reposition. I’ve worried about the snaps tearing out on extremely bad nights but no issues to date.

Never had an issue with the top trying to close on me. It has flexed and creaked under wind pressure but always sprung back. There is no extra weight on the roof of my gfc. After a cross wind all night the tent closes more off center but settles back to normal.

The tent makes noise in the wind like any tent and bows in with big gusts.

Overall better than a standard 3 season ground tent. Ear plugs are key.

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#13

Has anyone made a wind prop rod?

Peace.

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#14

After about 6 recent tripsof my tent trying to close in windy and cold conditions I now consider the gas struts as a consumable item that needs replacement every couple of years. After adding solar the roof would droop about an inch a year ago. Now after having the camper for two years and solar for at least a year or is drooping significantly more, about 5 inches in freezing temps.

#15

Sounds like you did what you could but like many have said, earplugs are a necessity when camping imo. I like silicone as the foam tend to get weird/stiff when it gets cold and will never be as comfy.

I’ve had several nights in Moab, Jackson Hole, and Colorado with good wind and snow. Never had a strut problem but I don’t have anything on the roof except a 10lb solar panel.

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#16

Just wanted to add that I was in that same storm in an open area 50 or so miles from you that night - near the Needles District. I was lucky and my wedge was facing into the wind, but I ended up doing the same thing you did. I pulled it down and slept in the truck bed. I was impressed by the performance of the tent. It was stout and would have been fine. I just wanted to get some sleep, since the wind never let up (constant 30mph with 40 - 50 mph gusts), the tent was flapping, and the truck was rocking. Kind of a gnarly night all around. I agree with others that in the end, the GFC is still a tent. As I drove past some other campers who spent the night in regular tents the next morning, they looked pretty beat up. Enjoying the rig for sure!

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#17

Bumping this thread because 1/3rd of my nights so far in the GFC have been negatively disrupted by wind, while wearing ear plugs. It absolutely performs worse than a ground tent in terms of noise. I measured the volume of the door flaps whacking against the bottom of the tent at 45-50db compared to a background noise level of 30db. A staked ground tent barely measures above the background noise level. This is because the fly is tight over the outside of the tent and usually has about a 2-3" gap, meaning it can flex under gusts without coming in contact with the tent body.

I have thought about just sleeping in the bed or breaking out my ground tent when I know it’s going to be windy, but often the wind will come in the middle of night and the last thing you want to do is get out of bed and set this stuff up.

Bottom line, I’m not sure what it is to “perform” in the wind. Yeah, the thing doesn’t break - but it makes way more noise than a ground tent because there’s no way to stake down the edges of the “fly” (the door flaps). If a tent is supposed to provide a comfortable place to sleep, this doesn’t do that in the wind. The slack in the tent just flaps against the body of the tent creating sleep-disrupting noise.

What I’d love to do is just add 2-3 grommets / eyelets at the bottom of each door flap and then get some mounting hardware to pin them outwards so the tent doesn’t flap against the sides of itself.

I’m sick of losing sleep over this. Anyone got suggestions on hardware to pin through grommets and stick the flaps out? I don’t want to buy those rain poles someone here makes that are backordered and too big for this use case anyway.

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#18

Interesting. I can’t compete with decibel readings, but my qualitative assessment is that since I’m so much more comfortable, I sleep better than a ground tent.

I have a V1 early tent, so maybe that is the difference with flapping. I don’t have any slack and there isn’t anything to pin down if the tent is zipped up.

But it is never windy in Nevada, that could be the issue too.

#19

I’ve only ever had two nights of poor sleep out of almost a hundred in my camper. Both were due to wind. Both were winds over 50 mph. Both were nights with multi-directional gusts. To be fair, I can’t even sleep well in the house with 50 mph winds. I don’t have an issue with it, but I also have a v1.

#20

Only one windy night so far in the GFC but it was really windy and sustained - probably 30-60 MPH range. We were more careful to park away from trees than the direction of the rig - and we kept all the windows shut. It was realllllly loud and the whole truck was rockin’ but the tent stayed open with no issue what so ever. We were on a ridge in the mountains in the late Fall - it was also 15-20 degrees before windchill. Brutal low pressure night…

As for noise - the only camping I have done in comparable wind is on the sides of mountains in the 4 season tents while climbing. I have done nights in:

  • OR bivy sack (owned but hated - sold)
    image

  • MHW EV3 (currently own)
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  • BD First Lite tent (currently own)
    image

Each and every one of them was so loud I really couldn’t sleep - but it kept me alive and out of the wind as designed. The tents - especially the EV3 was like flexed almost flat in extreme wind. I have a friend who brought his 3 season tent up on Rainier with us once (I was in the bivy on that trip) and the wind was not only loud, it broke his tent poles and ripped his rain fly straps off of the tent. That was only 45-60MPH gusts too - but it demonstrated to me that noise is not the issue… it’s the ability to withstand the wind and keep the wind from blowing away your body heat.

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