Condensation ... Stopping It?

[Kit_e_kat9]

So we went Winter Camping.  Kept waking up through the night as I was getting dripped on.  It was coming off the inside roof.  The bedding wasn't soaked, but rather damp in places.  We had a few zips open to allow a flow through of air.  Our inside roof has a flap beneath the the tropical roof that we simply leave open ... always have.  We ended up covering the bed with a canvas awning wall to try and stay dry (and warm).

Anyway, we awoke to discover it was -1 and everything was covered in a thick icy frost. 



Took ages for the tent to finally dry off (inside as well) and we had to hang all the top layer of bedding to dry off and wait for the portable dunny seat to thaw.

So what do you do to stop the condensation INSIDE the CT?  Is the secret leaving the windows open or closed?  Not breathing where possible?  Closing off the tropical roof flaps?  How do you handle this problem?

Going camping again soon and don't want a repeat of the horrid nights sleep.

Kit_e

[TOPNDR]

When it's cold Mrs T (herafter known as GBL) likes the windows & vents closed.  I prefer them open.  It seems to me that whenever they're closed we have heaps of condensation inside but when I win & they're open, we have little or no condensation. 

[austastar]

Hi,
 we even get condensation on the bootlining grey carpet stuff on the ceiling of the Innovan,  as we did with our older camper as well.
If some thing cool is in warm moist air, condensation occurs, even coming inside from the cold, my glasses fog up, so it can be tricky to solve.

Double roof linings e.g. a fly can keep the inner roof a little warmer and reduce the 'inside rain' a bit.

Ventilation helps, but then again you can get massive condensation on the underside of an open awning, and it doesn't get much more ventilated than that.

You could try a blanket on the roof over where you sleep, and a water proof canvas/plastic tarp over that maybe.

Warm humans give off quite a bit of moisture over night and it will even condense under a foam mattress, so they should be turned over in the morning to allow the damp to dry during the day.

Not sure you can ever stop it completely with out going to extremes with vapour barriers and insulation.

cheers

[Gunna Do]

Kit-e,  try and avoid any nightime activity in the camper which is likely to increase your breathing rate or depth of breath. 

We have learnt to live with this minor inconvenience, and whilst it does help to leave a flap or two open, this then makes it even colder in the camper, and doesn't totally eliminate the problem.

I thought I read a while back that people were having some success stopping the moisture by fitting those silver bubbly type tropical roofs/tarps, like on the Camprite campers. 

[mystq]

I leave a flap open just a little bit and have one of those Moisture trap containers, seems to work good.

[Rod Camping]

Inside the tent under the tropical roof in the Lifestyle Extenda we get no condensation, But under the awning with no tropical roof there was quite a bit on our trip to Conway Beach when it was getting down to 4 deg of a night. Trpoical roof worked really well kept the warmth in. However SWMBAO made me buy a heater.

Cheers Rod....

[Redback]

A tarp over the sleeping area does the trick.

Baz.

[gibbo301]

Some times its not condensation you can have a very heavy mist through the night and if you leave your windows open it comes inside and wets everything inside and out

[Kit_e_kat9]

Kit-e,  try and avoid any nightime activity in the camper which is likely to increase your breathing rate or depth of breath. 

Ha Ha Ha ... that's like not having a fire!  LOL ...  Seriously though ... at the time ... it was way too cold to even contemplate any sporting activities.

Okay, doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule (no pun intended) to stop the issue so far ... might just keep experimenting and see how we go.  The tropical roof does extend over the entire camper, but not the awning.

Thanks everyone.

Kit_e

[earle]

In our customline with tropical roof we haven't had a problem with condensation. On a recent trip I was talking to someone from a nearby camp who said their bed had been soaked by condensation the previous night where we hadn't even realised that it could be a problem. Both the customline and lifestyle tropical roofs are open at each end. Kit-e, it looks like the tropical roof on you aussie-swag meets the roof at each end, this difference could be the reason we don't have condensation and you do. Can you lift the ends of your tropical roof at all to let a bit more air-flow through?

[Bird]

anyone tried those moisture absorber things like these?

[Kit_e_kat9]

Thanks Earle ... see what we can do about that.

Yes Lost.  I use one of those when the CT is closed.  Had no mould at all or dampness issues.  Gotta love the Hippo!  P.S.  It was in the CT at the time and didn't do anything to alleviate the issue (and I didn't think it would).

Kit_e

[mystq]

anyone tried those moisture absorber things like these?

There the ones I use, they work good.

[singo-26]

There is a simple way to stop the condensation in those conditions, Don't go camping.
As that is not an option you could try to not breath through the night, But i don't think that would be an option either.

I normally leave a window flap or 2 open slightly to allow airflow. It seems to have worked for me so far, But I'm sure at my next camp in cold conditions it will prove my theory wrong.

[Jason B]

anyone tried those moisture absorber things like these?

Currently have one in the CT in the shed. Also have a couple in the house they seem to work ok.

[Al Coholic]

A tarp over the sleeping area does the trick.

X2  If you are able to have a bit of an air gap between the silver tarp and the canvas......works even better 

[Jon]

I have noticed some condensation on the inside of the tent when using the nylon storm cover,which lies directly on the canvas, however none with the tarp over but not ON the tent roof.

[vast]

We have a roof top camper and it also has a tropical fly over the top. We still get condensation on the inside if it is a cold night.
We have the windows open as much as possible. The only problem with this is with the improved ventilation, the temperature insoie of the tent will be the same as the outside. So moist warm air breathed out will turn to moisture once it touches a surface. Generally on the roof, as hot air rises.
We placed a silver tarp on the tropical roof the other day when camping and we had no condensation.  So I am unsure why, as the temperature inside the tent would have been still cold and yet no condensation. +- 2 deg.
I was wondering if I raised the fly wether this would help, as it does sit quite close to the tent itself. The only issue is that it would get in the way when folding up.

Regards

[Mrs CRW]

We have just returned from the Flinders Ranges where it was cold overnight.  We had frost overnight and on the nights we had the awning out, it was raining inside the awning in the morning.  We had little or no condensation inside the tent.   We have a 16' tent and 3 of us, however we do have the Solar Blanket on top of the tent.  Another trailer that we were travelling with had a condensation problem, a slightly smaller tent and 5 people sleeping inside.  I think the Solar Blanket helps.

[Kit_e_kat9]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

We've had a look at the tropical roof on our weekend trip away, it's zippered at each end, and has a small gap on either side, though it stands fairly tall in the centre.  We had a powered site, so kept a heater going through the night.  The canvas was only slightly damp, but the metal sides had some condensation on them (not noted last trip).  We unzipped one end of the tropical roof and had a empty coke bottle holding it up a bit (dual purpose for everything right  ).  As we didn't have the frost of last time (or the temp) it was hard to tell if using the coke bottle to hold an end up made much of a difference, but we will give this a serious try if we get the same conditions ... to see what happens.

Ultimately, we'd like to see the tropical roof raised a little at either end OR getting the side up a little, to give more air flow beneath it.  We are hoping this is the key to stopping some of the condensation during winter and getting things a little cooler in summer (not that we had issues last year).

Kit_e