Hi Guys,
 
Firstly, I'm a big pessimist - I don't want it to rain for DL but I might aswell prepare (judging by the #RalphCam, I may be right!).
 
So as per subject - what are your tips/do/do-not's? I am arriving with my girlfriend on Friday around midday. I don't want the tent to get sopping wet.
 
Cheers,
 
Jake

Depends on what kind of tent you have, if you have a bog standard tent that pitches inner first then it may just be  a case of getting the thing pitched as quick as you can. I've got a Vango that pitches outer first, an absolute godsend if it's peeing it down. I've used it in the Cairngorms in winter and it's great! If its a new tent then practice pitching it in the garden a few times before you use it at Download, that way if you need to get it up in a hurry (!) you'll be able to get it done before it gets too wet. 
 
I've noticed quite a few people use those cheap pop up jobs which might be an option. But if it's absolutely bucketing down I think they're pretty useless. They suffer badly from condensation.

Thanks for the tips! If the weather is okay on Thursday, I'll do a 'practice pitch' - didn't even cross my mind.
 
I'm not sure if my tent is a outer pitch first. Would be handy if it is. I'll find out :)
 
Cheers

My tent can be put down with the inner still connected to the outer, so it goes up quicker and waterproofed. See if your tent has this option, and wait for the next time it stops raining and put it up in the garden.

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My tent can be put down with the inner still connected to the outer, so it goes up quicker and waterproofed. See if your tent has this option, and wait for the next time it stops raining and put it up in the garden.

This!
Just put it up before Friday and when you put it down again leave the outter skin on when you pack it away. I do this, plus it's not only water proof, it's quicker :D 

get a cheap groundsheet from the poundshop and use it to cover you bags until the tents up as that helps loads

to be blantly honest if it IS raining you are going to get wet anyway!
 
Me and me partner used binbags to keep the sleeping bag covered. until we got the outer shell up enough to gan-in 

It started peeing it down as we were setting up 3 tents and a gazebo lol. I got all the stuff into our tent and handed out as they needed it (I kept nice and dry lol) and my other half and our mate set up the gazebo first then the other 2 tents with waterproof coat on along with a brolly!

My lot got our tents up and started getting in the party mood about 5 minutes before the heavens opens about 2ish on the Wednesday. It was an amusing scramble to get everyone's stuff in the tents. Had a mate of mine panicking because he didn't see me dragging his bag into my tent, and he thought someone had nicked it haha.

We did it in good time. Everyone was sat up before the heavens opened on the Wednesday, not that our tent lasted, well it could of, but we just didn't want to risk our toesies getting wet when they could of been dry in our mates tents ;)

I was soaked through by the time we (by we, I mean I, she was dying on her feet bless her) started to put the tent up, was a nightmare but you don't have work fast when it's still raining, you've walked around for ages trying to find a space and you find a perfect one big enough for yours and your mates tent haha

If you can... for connecting the inner and outer sheet we got inside the tent and did it from the inside :D

Bring a gazebo (assuming it's not blowing a gale).Put that up first then put your tent or tents up under it then just drag into position and peg down.Worked for us very well this year.Even some mates holding a groundsheet would work.

Just put it up quick that is all. Then you wont get wet.

We all helped get the 6man tent up and got everyone's stuff in there last year, took under 5 mins and no-ones stuff got soaked, then we waited for it to calm down and put everyone else's tents up, luckily we didn't bother putting the gazebo up after seeing the amount of people's that got blown away during the weekend

Everyone in our camp got their tents up just before it tipped it down  we then to our waterproofs on, cans in our hands and watched as people trudged through the ever-thickening mud, trying not to fall while trying to find space to camp.
 
We all found it amusing  

Luckily a few members of our group always have pop up tents so we just throw our stuff in their tents then get started on setting up the gazebos. Once we've put up the gazebos you can pitch your tents underneath them before positioning them and pegging them down.

We had a nice lad help us set our tent up, we didn't even ask so that was cool and he got a free can! Everyones a winner [sm=thumb.gif]

What tent have you got?

Due to the pretty crappy weather of the last couple of years (i.e last year it was tipping it down when we got to red camp) I stopped buying cheap 3 man tents and forked out for a pop up 4 man tent with a decent hydro-static head. Within thirty seconds it was out of the bag and sprung open and we sort of flung everything inside while we pegged it down.