North Face VE24 rain fly

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Felipe
Posts: 17
Joined: June 16th, 2017, 1:44 pm

North Face VE24 rain fly

Post by Felipe » August 11th, 2017, 10:44 pm

Hopefully I can summarize this without too many confusing details.

I have a 1992 vintage North Face VE24 tent. Last time I used it was 1998. Fortunately, I stored it loose, dry, and in relatively decent temperatures. However, the rainfly had those characteristic conditions suggesting the water proofing is compromised. I called NF, and was able to get warranty coverage, and they sent me the very last VE24 rainfly within their multiple warehouses. I was fortunate, because it was the absolute last one, since that model was discontinued a few years ago. I'm unsure when, exactly, it was discontinued.

The original rainfly was one-piece. It covered the tent body, and, it had a covered entrance / vestibule attached with a dedicated support pole for the vestibule. The rainfly they sent does not have a vestibule attached. I immediately researched online and the best I can gather is, the later models of the VE24 had a 2-piece rainfly: one piece covering the tent body, and a smaller one which makes the vestibule entrance cover. The two pieces zipped together, best I can tell from images and a few gear forums online.

The trouble is, without the smaller fly section, it leaves the main door very exposed. I have all sorts of ideas on fabricating a cover to attach to the main fly, if I can't get my hands on a factory replacement, smaller, 2nd piece. I'm going to again call NF Monday to see of they also have the 2nd of the two-piece rainfly. I am a bit disappointed they didn't have, or provide that information when I acquired the last, main rainfly. If they'd told me the newer ones had two pieces, I'd kept the old one and tried re-waterproofing it. Either way, I'm glad to get just the one piece, but it's leaving a lot of tent wall / door exposed without the attached, 2nd piece. As it is, without the 2nd piece, it's leaving too much area exposed.

My needs here are simply enquiring if my assumptions are correct, that is, were the later VE24's equipped with two-piece rainflys? If someone out there has one they are eager to part with, I'm interested, to be sure. As well, if anyone had a similar experience and has some good ideas for fabricating something to attach, please share. It's an awesome brute of a tent and it was rugged in every sense. It stood up to some brutal storms when I packed it in my kayak and camped on many portions of the exposed Alaskan Pacific coast line back in the mid-90's.

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