**In a hurry? I recommend the Forceatt Camping Tent as the best tent for rain because of its high waterproof rating and full coverage rainfly.**
What’s the fastest way to ruin a camping trip?
Sleeping in a leaky tent when it’s pouring rain. There are tents out there though that can keep rain from soaking through the fabric, floors, and even the tent seams.
With a fully protected tent from the rain, you can have just as much fun inside your tent as you would have outside of it when camping.
Read the in-depth reviews below to find the best waterproof tent for your next rainy weekend trip and scroll to the end for tips on what makes a tent any good at keeping water out.
Forceatt Camping Tent
The Forceatt Camping Tent has the best combination of rainfly coverage, ventilation, and fabric material that easily makes it the best tent for rain while you’re camping.
A full-coverage 75D 220T rainfly provides a second layer of protection in wet weather to ensure no water will even touch your tent. The large mesh roof allows air to flow more freely throughout your tent even if you need to close it up for a bad weather day.
The four-person model is spacious enough to easily fit two to three people. There’s even a couple of vestibules at the front door created by the rainfly to keep your gear dry. Allowing you to get even more space inside to remain comfortable as you’re forced to stay in your tent.
The large front door flap on the rainfly can extend outwards and act as a covering, giving you some dry space when entering or leaving your tent. Your feet will stay dry because the 220D Oxford cloth welded floor is designed to keep water from leaking in.
The Forceatt can withstand pretty heavy rains because of the fabric material and heavy-duty rainfly design. If you need a reliable tent that’s going to keep you dry while you’re camping, the Forceatt will get the job done.
KAZOO Family Camping Tent
Tent design innovation meets rainproofing expertise in this KAZOO Family Camping Tent. The full-coverage rainfly ensures a two level-protection from harsh rains. The 3000mm waterproof rating ranks among the higher end on this list, making it perfect for unpredictable camping conditions.
The large mesh wall panels, windows, and ceiling are designed to provide the most ventilation possible while being forced to close the windows. You’ll still get beautiful views of the rainy outdoors because the door flap on the rainfly doubles as an awning.
The bathtub style 150D Oxford floor will keep out any leaks or gathering water while it’s raining. When you’re forced inside you can still use up as much room as possible thanks to the two vestibules created by the rainfly at the front door. The KAZOO is ideal as a luxury tent to stay dry in the rain.
Clostnature Lightweight Backpacking Tent
Similar to the Forceatt, the Clostnature Tent has a full-coverage rainfly that adds a level of protection you can’t get with partial ones. With a waterproof rating of PU5000mm, the Clostnature is one of the highest waterproof tents on the market.
The large mesh walls that cover the ceiling would normally provide adequate ventilation except the rainfly blocks their use. It has a couple of small vents at the top of the fly but they aren’t large enough to make an impact.
What it lacks in ventilation, it more than makes up for in durability. The 210T polyester rainfly and 150D Oxford floor are thick enough to block out water seeping in through the fabric. While the Clostnature may not have the best ventilation, it can handle rain with no problems.
MOON LENCE Camping Tent
The Moon Lence is perfect for solo campers or couples who need a waterproof tent they can rely on in the outdoors. The small size makes it lightweight so you can carry it around easily but it’s still durable enough to protect from rain.
It has a 2000mm waterproof rating on the groundsheet and rainfly, which is on the lower end of this list but is effective enough to keep any leaking during a storm. There are a couple of vestibules created by the rainfly at the backdoor you can use to put some extra gear and the front also has an extended flap. Using a couple of poles, you could create a pretty nice awning.
Larger groups won’t be able to use the Moon Lence tent because of its size but smaller ones will appreciate its reliable protection against wet conditions.
Mobihome 6 Person Tent
This full-sized tent is able to fit an entire family while keeping everyone, and their gear, bone-dry. The rainfly extends over the front door giving you some breathing room from the rain while entering and exiting.
The ceiling is made mostly of mesh so you’ll be able to create a good amount of airflow when everyone is forced inside and the temperature starts rising. The 1500mm waterproof rating isn’t going to be ideal for heavy thunderstorms but it will be more than enough to protect from light to medium rain.
Coleman Sundome Tent
The Coleman Sundome can comfortably fit 2-3 people inside and its entended rainfly lets you open up the windows to get max ventilation. Combine your mesh windows with the ground floor vent on the backside of the tent and you’ll experience a refreshing breeze when your inside.
The bathtub-style floor has welded corners and all the seams are inverted to keep any water from leaking into the tent through vulnerable areas. The tent even comes with a lantern as well as poles and stakes to keep you prepared in any weather.
How to Choose the Best Tent for Rain
The best tent for rain combines durable fabric materials with an innovative rainfly design and great ventilation options. Each of these categories has its own specifications and measurements that are used to help you find the best protection.
We’ll go into the details to help you understand how you will pick the best tent for rain for your camping trip.
Rainfly Design
The rainfly is made to rest over the actual tent and act as a second layer of protection from bad weather. There are full coverage rainflys and partial coverage rainflys to choose from.
The full coverage option covers the entire tent and leaves no opening for windows. Usually reserved for smaller tents, the full coverage also comes with vestibules at the front door for more storage space. There are different sized vents at the top of full coverage rainflys to increase airflow.
Partial coverage is better for lighter storms and provides breezy airflow inside the tent. If your rainfly extends over the windows, you can open them up to get a nice view with the added breeze.
It’s not very common to find a tent that fits 6+ people that still offers a full-coverage rainfly. At that point, you’re looking more for a bell tent than a nylon or polyester option. Larger tents need to be designed with covered windows so you can open them without getting rain dripping inside.
Waterproof Rating
Tents ability to prevent water from seeping through the fabric is measured in HH, or hydrostatic head. Manufacturers use this measurement to impress exactly how waterproof their tent is against rain.
The HH is measured in millimeters and anything below 1000mm is not worth buying for protection against the rain. The lowest rating on this list is 1500mm and as high as 5000mm. Enough to stay dry no matter what kind of weather you’re in.
The waterproof rating is a general rating, but a more specific factor of how well your tent protects from the rain is the fabric thickness and thread count.
Fabric Thickness and Thread Count
To get the best tent for rain for your next camping trip you need to understand how fabric thickness is measured and displayed, and when thread counts matter. The two measurements are used a lot by tent manufacturers so you’ll see them listed on websites and eCommerce sites.
The denier rating is important because the higher quality waterproof tent will usually have a higher denier rating. Denier rating is used to measure the thickness of a single thread of fabric in your tent. The thicker the fabric thread is, the higher the denier rating.
You’ll see the denier rating written with an uppercase “D” and a number in front. Anything below 75D has a chance of letting some water leak through your tent fabric but you’ll see denier ratings as high as 150D in the list below.
The thread count is used in conjunction with your denier rating. So manufacturers will often say something like “waterproof tent with floor fabric 75D 190T.” That means the floor of the tent is made with a fabric that has a denier rating of 75 and a thread count of 190. Any material of the tent that has above a 100 thread count will hold up well in the rain.
Keep in mind that just because one piece of the tent has a specific rating or thread count it doesn’t mean the entire tent is built the same. You’ll often find different measurements for the floor, the rainfly, and the tent walls.
Ventilation
When you’re forced inside of your tent all afternoon because of the rain, feeling the cool breeze from time to time gets incredibly important. The best tents for rain have great rainfly designs that include vents near the ceiling. These vents allow more airflow through the tent to keep you and everyone else cool during warm storms.
Larger tents will also have one, or even two, vent openings at the bottom of the tent. You can use a stake to keep them open and combined with the vents at the top, you’ll forget you were even forced inside.
Floors and Seams
Most of the modern waterproof tents include special engineering techniques to prevent your tent from pooling groups of water on the floors and leaking through the seams. Bathtub-style floor designs, inverted seams, and sealed seams all help to keep your tent dry in rainy weather.
The bathtub floor design is when the floor material of your tent extends up the walls of the tent several inches. This keeps from water gathering at the floor and leaving an opportunity for pools of water to gather.
Inverted seams keep your tent from having exposed areas that give water an opportunity to sneak through. The same idea applies to sealed seams where they have been treated by the manufacturer to prevent leaks from seeping into your tent.
Additional Tips to Waterproof Your Tent
- Adding some kind of waterproof product to your tent before taking it out in the rain will almost guarantee that no water will find its way inside. The products help coat the tent fabric with a chemical that repels water. Just make sure you get the right type of product for the right fabric or you could cause discoloration.
- When you get to your site, pick the highest elevated ground to setup your tent on. If you pick a place where the water will gather you increase the chance of that water seeping in through your tent floor.
- Before taking your tent out and setting it up on the ground, put a tarp on the bottom so that you have an extra layer of protection against the soaking wet ground. Anytime I have used this method I’ve never had water come up from the bottom of the tent.
- Fold any parts of the tarp that stick out past the tent because it can act as a water catcher that pools water between your tent and the tarp.
- If possible, you could even tie a tarp over your tent at an angle so that the water drips off when it falls on the tarp. You could use any surrounding trees as a structure to tie your tarp to.
Buying the Best Tent for Rain
The best tents for rain combine full protection rainflys with a great ventilation design. This allows more rain coverage while still allowing a nice breeze inside the tent if it’s muggy inside. The Forceatt Camping Tent does the best job at implementing all the elements you need to stay dry in the outdoors.
Keep an eye out for the fabric material, thickness, and thread count when buying your next waterproof tent and you should have no problem handling the worst of conditions.
