Ground Cloth: Do you use one?

[Christn2000]

One of my tents is called a tentcot-as the name says, it's a cot turned into a tent, and keeps me from sleeping on the ground. Tentcots come in 1-person(like mine) and 2-person. My regular tent is a 4-person, with basically a fairly tough plastic floor that comes up the side about 3", so I don't worry about a groundcloth.

[micri5446]

tarps are a "GOOD THING" lol

[surmisez]

We used a tarp under the tent, and above the tent as a rain fly. I'm glad we used the tarp as it rained on our last camping trip and it would've been awful to pack a tent that was not just wet, but muddy too.

The nice thing about the tarps is being able to hose them down, then we use the leaf blower to blow them dry. Works very well.

We don't have a high end tent, but we bought the best we could afford and would like for it to last for quite some time before it needs to be replaced.

[wanna_b_outside]

question about footprints...

Okay... sorry if I appear stupid here, but I've not used a footprint before and have realized that I do need one. I have a 10 x 14 tent and I purchased a 10mil tarp in a 12 x 20 size thinking it would hang out and be a nice border. However, reading here I see that isn't really smart. So, if I purchase the proper size... what exactly would that be? Would it be safe to do about 2 inches smaller than the tent all around? And... again, sorry if this sounds stupid, but if I put stakes in where the grommets are, won't that puncture the tent since they are now under the tent?

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.

[renodesertfox]

Really, there is no such thing as a stupid question, just so you know. And you really don't need to purchase another tarp to fit your tent's footprint. Just lay out the tarp you have on a windless day and use four large rocks(or anything with a little weight to it), and with a pair of scissors cut the tarp down to fit. Ideally, the tarp should be around one(1) inch smaller than your measurements of the tent floor.

With the pieces that you have cut, roll them up and keep them too, because once you're out campin, you may find uses for those separate pieces. Waste not, want not as the saying goes...pays dividends here.

Another option is keep the larger tarp so it might be handy to string-up over the tent for rainy weather and go out and purchase another tarp, more to the dimensions that you gave. Still though tarps are usually sold in sizes that will result in always have to be cut down a little.

Pounding stakes will not be problem, the ideal angle is thirty(30) to forty-five(45) degrees and you won't need to worry about the ground tarp because it's smaller than the tents footprint. Just remember if you had to place rocks on the tarp to hold it in place on windy days and then pitched the tent, remember to remove the rocks under the tent holding down the tarp. That has happened to me too. Pitched the tent and when it was time to sleep discovered that my pillow was going to be a rock...not fun. Hope this helps! Thanks for asking!

[Bigdog57]

If the 'footprint' tarp is a bit smaller than the tent, tie a loop of line at each corner of the footprint in the grommets, then put your tent stakes through the footprint's loops - double duty! But generally, the plastic stakes I use end up pretty flush on the ground and would be no problem right under the tent corners.

[wanna_b_outside]

ahhh.... perfect. Thank you both very much.

[chris]

alway use a ground cloth to keep the bottom of my trnt dry and dirt free