hydrostatic head

Eyeball Tickler

Hi everyone,

I bought an MSR Hubba Hubba two man tent recently, having long wanted a light three season tent to take into the hills. However, I obviously made the foolish mistake of not researching it thoroughly enough, for I now learn that its hydrostatic head is 1500mm, which doesn't fill me with huge confidence that it's really "three season" in Irish conditions based on what I've read here: http://www.outdoorgear.co.uk/hydrostatic-head.asp

I've used the tent once on a rainy night near Cleggan and it held up perfectly well, but it seems that hydrostatic heads of 3000mm and up are quite common for good mountain tents, and this one is less to save on weight.

I thought I'd post this here and ask folks who know alot more about this kinda thing than me whether I'm treading water a bit with this tent, excuse the pun. If I really should have something more waterproof, even at the expense of a little more weight, I'd rather try to haggle for an exchange or sell the tent now than find out the hard way.

Thanks for reading. (Just to note this is almost an exact copy of a question I asked on mountainviews.ie, I know double-posting is sometimes frowned upon so I thought I'd state it up front. I read both forums a lot so no point in writing out two separate posts etc etc)

Lenny

Gillo

Assuming you aren't out in torrential rain, I'd say that 1500 should be enough. Taken from Outdoor Gear, the MOD consider 800 to be waterproof, with most tents starting at the 1500 mark.

I assume you'd be checking the weather forecast before you head out and not getting stuck in the likes of todays weather so try not to worry about it.

Since you've already used it, I doubt the company you bought it from would entertain an exchange. My own advice is to keep it and enjoy the lighter weight (yes, that easy from me to say when posting with the comfort of central heathing!!).

Carawaystick

Is the HH the groundsheet or tent body?
does it have a flysheet?

thehomeofDob

Why would you by an "inner first" tent for use in Ireland? Doesn't really matter what the hydrostatic head is if you're out in the pissing rain. Your tent will be soaked by the time you get the fly sheet up. :P

I had looked at the MSR tents for their light weight, but was put off by the inner first business that many US tent manufacturers go for.

****

To answer your question, I think 1500 will do the job just fine. MSR make fantastic tents, and I've very rarely read a review of them leaking. Often manufacturers will claim ridiculously high waterproof rates, when there's really an awful lot down to quality manufacturing. I once had a Trespass soft shell that claimed it had a 10,000mm HH - it leaked the first time I brought it out! I now have a Berghaus that's rated at I think 6,000 and I stood in the shower for 10 minutes and it was grand.

Eyeball Tickler

Thanks guys. I've researched this a fair bit now and am fairly satisfied that it'll hold up.

1500 is for the flysheet. Think the groundsheet is 3000 or 5000, but I'm using a footprint too.

Fair question re: why I went for an inner first tent. I suppose it's not ideal, but other factors outweighed it in the end. I'm not too worried: it pitches super fast, and if it's ever raining so heavily that the inner would get instantly soaked on pitching, I could just pitch the fly independently and shelter in it until the rain eased a bit.

thehomeofDob

What you might find is that if it is lashing rain you may survive with just the groundsheet + outter. The rain would keep the bugs away. I've slept out in the rain a couple of times with the dog and didn't bother with the inner tent. Had no trouble with leakage and no trouble with the dog tracking in mud.

Anyway, enjoy your awesome tent!