Thinking about MSR 2-person tents – opinions on tents where you pitch the inner first?

[u/AlFromAdminAdmin]

I’ve been looking at 2-person tents and MSR ones seem really appealing and tick most of the boxes for me.

The only thing I’m unsure about is that you pitch the inner first and then put the flysheet over the top.

When I was in Scouts, I was always taught this was a bad idea—especially in the UK—because the inner can get soaked if it’s raining while you set up.

What are people’s opinions on MSR tents, or tents where you pitch the inner first? Is it actually a problem in practice?

[u/woodenbookend]

I have the MSR Tindheim 3 and pitch both parts at the same time. I’m very happy with it.

The inner and flysheet could be separated if you wanted to share the weight between two people, but that doesn’t benefit me.

[u/spambearpig]

I only use all in one pitch tents for wild camping. There are plenty of options and that seems to be the best way to keep things dry and get it up quickly.

[u/coleymoleyroley → u/spambearpig]

Which ones do you recommend?

[u/spambearpig → u/coleymoleyroley]

I like trekking pole tents so Lanshans and Xmids are great choices, what I have is a Tarptent Notch Li. It’s quick to pitch, better in the wind than the others and very light. 2 walls, double vestibules. It suits UK 3 season mountain conditions well.

For winter there’s a much heavier dome tent, rock solid that’ll stand up to any weather (Hilleberg Suolo).

Both are all in one pitches and have often been pitched in crappy wet windy weather. The inner stays dry and the tent goes up quick.

[u/coleymoleyroley → u/spambearpig]

Thanks, very informative!

[u/PureRecommendation76]

Generally easier to put up, MSR hubba hubba x2 is ridiculously fast to put up and very stable. But yeah, in heavy rain it’s obviously going to get a bit wet. Personally I’ve not ended up in a situation where I have to pitch in pouring rain. Usually can find a bit of cover to pitch under or wait under till it clears a bit. Frankly nowadays I just avoid camping if it’s going to rain a tonne. 

[u/Helpful_Poem_2167]

I've just finished the WHW with the Elixir 3. You can pitch it up with the poles going in to the ground sheet forst, the rainfly on second and the inner up last. It gives you a little dry space to put up the inner.

Super handy in a wet pitch and we did on more than one occasion.

[u/Ok-Middle8656]

Never been a problem for me - I think you’re actually going to get wetter in an outer pitch first tent because you’ll be crawling around on wet ground to fix the inner inside it…. Of course, it depends on how quick you can pitch.

When I’ve had to pitch in rain, what I’ve done is just laid the fly over the inner whilst I faff about getting the poles through, just to shelter is a bit.

[u/Typical-Algae-2952 → u/Ok-Middle8656]

Tents designed for UK weather pitch as one, not outer first…if it’s raining hard when taking down, inner unclips so can pack away separately.

[u/Illidh → u/Ok-Middle8656]

don’t most outer pitch first tents pitch together? I’ve never had a tent that you have to put up the inner separately…

[u/takenawaythrowaway → u/Illidh]

Then when you put them away everything gets soaked.

[u/davemcl37]

I have 2 inner first tents and though it’s never really been an issue I think I have just been lucky and im now looking at outer first or both together tents.

If you think about how long it takes to set up an inner first tent the inner could easily be exposed for 2 or 3 minutes on a windy day which is more than enough for it to get wet. Even if you try wiping it dry with a towel it will still drip overnight and if your sleeping bag or your clothes get wet than can become an issue first.

This becomes much more of an issue if you are doing longer trails like say the weather highland way where theoretically it could be raining heavily every day.

So personally I wouldn’t spend decent money on an inner first pitch.

[u/Apart-Pea4726]

Love mine, when you get familiar with it: not much porch though.

[u/Familiar9709]

In theory outer first is better but if it's raining so much to be a problem I wouldn't be camping anyway, would just cancel the plan. Obviously depends on your circumstances

[u/dread1961]

I have a MSR Hubba which pitches inner first. I was worried about this so I found an outer first hack on YouTube using four rings with some cord which I carried for years. I never used it. In reality it is very rare that I set up in rain that is heavy enough to get the inner wet and nowadays I can pitch in less than a minute so nothing gets wet enough to bother me.

[u/F00TS0re]

I have an MSR Hubba Hubba Bike pack that’s is inner first pitching. Before that I had a North Face tadpole, again inner first pitch. And before that another TNF Tadpole. Right back to about 1993.

I have hundreds of night camping on trails and the number of times it’s rained heavily when pitching is tiny.

A bit of mild drizzle isn’t an issue as you can put them up in a coupe of minutes. Poles ready, fly ready, inner out, poles in, fly over top is a couple of minutes. Then peg it out.

Ok I might sometimes pitch a bit earlier or later dependant on the weather. Sometimes I’m at a campsite and can pitch under shelter or nearby tree and then move it as both were free standing.

I then pack inner/outer separately the next day if it’s raining and dry fly when I get a chance.

[u/Altruistic-Cost-4532]

You can generally also pitch them outer first and it's really easy. Barely an inconvenience.

No one seems to talk about the other benefit. If you pitch outer first and wake to a rainy or heavily condensated morning it's easy to pack up the inner first to keep it dry for the next night.

All in ones can't do this, you want the tent to be dry before you pack it to keep the inner dry.

I'm totally sold on separate inners vs all in ones, as long as you can pitch outer first as an option.

[u/takenawaythrowaway]

I have both. Inner pitch is better imo. If it's pissing it down it will get a bit wet, but you're wet too probably so that's unavoidable. But it'll dry fast. If it's a real torrent you can usually pitch them with her outer over the inner, it's just awkward.

There are three huge benefits. 1. Keep the wet stuff wet and the dry stuff dry. To make outer first remotely worth it you need to keep the inner and outer together. That means in the morning your inner is getting soaked anyway when you pack it all away. With inner first you can whip inner off, dry it or stick in in a dry bag super easy. This is the biggest benefit by far. 2. The inner is almost always tighter, it just makes it way nicer in the tent. Exception is super high end outer first tents like hilleberg 3. Flexibility, you can pitch your tent without the fly sheet in hot weather and just stare at the stars. If you had to put it away damp you can air it out for a few minutes without the fly and it'll dry super fast. In the morning you can flip the outer over and dry the condensation off on your tent while the inner stays dry.

I think it's the best system.

Hubba Hubba you can pitch pretty much outer first if you need to btw, as long as you have the footprint. You can also pitch it without the inner at all. In one absolute downpour I did that just to get it up fast then later on when the raine wasn't as bad added the inner in. It is a bit awkward though.

[u/wolf_knickers → u/takenawaythrowaway]

I find your post really odd.

All tents, whether inner first or all-in-one can still all be detached. So even with an outer first or all-in-one pitch tent, if it’s wet you can still detach the inner to separate it; it takes no more effort to do so than taking down an inner first tent.

I personally own both inner first and all-in-one pitch tents and strongly prefer the all-in-one tents as they’re a lot faster to pitch and the inner stays dry when pitching in poor conditions. If it’s absolutely chucking it down in the morning and the fly is soaked, I simply unclip the inner from it and pack it separately. But I actually do this very rarely as I find the inner usually stays mostly dry even when packing it away altogether, and any residual dampness quickly dries once the tent is pitched again (I camp all year round so do plenty of poor weather trips).

[u/SillySausageSpaceman → u/wolf_knickers]

Agreed.

All-in-One is faster - saves your inner getting wet and can be detached.

There is also little chance of your inner drying if you did get caught pitching in the rain. You will end up with a wet inner the whole night. Why take that risk?

I have also packed a mildly wet tent - with them still attached - pitched again and the inner never really got wet.