Whereas lots of people don’t hassle with them, most seasoned campers will agree that you simply shouldn’t overlook the footprint.
Utilizing one can delay the lifespan of your tent by fairly a bit, plus, you may make one your self for subsequent to nothing. So, there’s no cause to not use a footprint.
Wish to discover out extra?
Let’s get began!
What A Tent Footprint Does
A tent footprint (a.okay.a. groundsheet) is a waterproof piece of material that lays between the bottom and your tent.
Finally, a tent footprint creates an additional layer of safety and minimizes the opportunity of your tent flooring getting broken.
They turn out to be useful for a wide range of causes, which all boil down to at least one most important benefit: tent footprints shield the underside of your tent.
From what? Water runoff, dust, and sticks, basic put on and tear… The checklist goes on and on!
You possibly can pitch your tenting tent straight onto the bottom, and there’s likelihood it’ll be superb.
However, over time, the exhausting, tough floor will put on the tent material and waterproof coating down.
Utilizing one will delay the lifespan of your tent, and you may make one your self for subsequent to nothing, so there’s no cause to not use a footprint.
READ: Tent Footprint vs Tarp – Which is best?
Benefits Of A Tent Footprint
Listed below are the principle the reason why it’s best to at all times use a tent footprint when tenting on the path:
Safety
Tent footprints are comprised of heavy-duty materials and are extra abrasion-resistant than the underside of a tent.
Plain and easy, including one other, extra sturdy layer beneath your tent protects the precise backside of your tent from getting too broken by put on and tear on the bottom.
Though the underside of your tent is product of thicker materials than the remainder of the construction, it’s nonetheless taking over the brunt of the damage and tear.
Over time, this put on may cause the underside of the tent to be much less efficient in maintaining water and particles out.
Utilizing a tent footprint will delay the velocity of this put on and tear.
Water Resistance
Tent footprints are product of sturdy, waterproof supplies.
While you lay the one beneath your tent construction, you’re including a further layer of safety in opposition to water seeping by your tent.
This high quality comes significantly in helpful if you’re in a rainstorm and there’s rainwater operating on the bottom beneath your tent.
The footprint will be sure that the water runs beneath it, relatively than straight touching the tent construction itself.
Insulation
Any camper is aware of that the bottom might be extremely chilly at evening – that’s why we use sleeping pads to separate us from the bottom beneath us.
Whereas maybe not its most important objective, an added advantage of utilizing a tent footprint is that it provides one other layer between you and the bottom and might insulate your heat.
Additionally learn: How To Insulate A Tent For Winter Tenting
Cleanliness
Certainly one of my favourite components of utilizing a footprint? It retains all the mess from the bottom – together with mud, sand, particles, and dust – away from my tent!
On the path, maintaining your tent clear helps preserve the remainder of your gear clear. Give it some thought! Your tent, each folded and arrange, touches most of your gear.
If it’s soiled, it could possibly simply unfold dust to the remainder of your gear, as nicely.
Plus maintaining your tent as clear as attainable, makes tent upkeep even simpler.
Having a cleaner tent will prevent time by making certain you don’t must deep clear your tent or reapply waterproof coating as usually.
Dangers Of Tenting With No Tent Footprint
You completely can camp and not using a tent footprint, however you’re risking potential injury to the underside of your tent whilst you accomplish that.
You’re additionally risking the chance that the underside of your tent is just not as waterproof as you thought.
Even essentially the most waterproof coating on the underside of your tent will put on down over time.
In the event you haven’t reapplied waterproof coating shortly, it’s very attainable the underside of your tent might begin leaking or letting moisture seep in from the bottom.
That is just about the worst-case situation for a lot of campers. The excellent news is that it’s tremendous simple to keep away from – simply use a tent footprint!
Additionally Learn: How To Waterproof A Canvas Tent
Elements To Take into account When Shopping for A Tent Footprint
Some tents include their customized footprint, however more often than not you have to purchase one.
Most firms will promote a tent footprint for every of their tents. Nevertheless, some firms like Coleman don’t appear to take action, however you possibly can usually discover a shut sufficient match on-line.
Nevertheless, in case you can’t be bothered fiddling round with a DIY undertaking and also you’ve bought your coronary heart set on shopping for a footprint, don’t simply order the primary one you bump into.
Take these standards into consideration if you’re procuring, to be sure to get a footprint that’s going to give you the results you want:
Compatibility
It would go with out saying, however a very powerful factor is that you simply get a footprint that’s suitable along with your particular tent.
If you must modify the footprint to suit, chances are you’ll as nicely have simply made a DIY footprint to start with.
Examine the size of your tent flooring to the size of your footprint.
You need to guarantee that the footprint is simply barely smaller than the bottom of your tent, in order that there aren’t any bits and items protruding from beneath.
Materials
Most footprints you can purchase from tent producer manufacturers are product of both polyester or nylon, very similar to tents themselves.
The material your footprint is product of should be waterproof and sturdy.
So far as the latter goes, checking the material’s denier ranking is an effective solution to get an concept of how sturdy it’s.
The upper the denier ranking, the thicker the material. The thicker the material, the extra resistant it’ll be to put on and tear.
Search for a footprint with a denier ranking of 30 or extra, ideally.
You possibly can at all times merely purchase a tenting tarp and use that as a footprint, however we usually discover that to be a bit unwieldy.
Portability
In the event you’re an ultralight backpacker attempting to maintain your load as mild as attainable, you’ll positively need to take note of the burden of your footprint.
Some footprints can up the full weight of your tent by as a lot as 20%. That’s a good quantity of additional weight in case you’re backpacking and you have to carry your tenting gear lengthy distances.
Affordability
And, after all, you need to be sure to don’t find yourself spending an excessive amount of cash on a footprint.
In any case, you possibly can simply make one your self dust low cost.
So, in case you can’t discover one that matches your tent at an affordable value, it’s price placing within the tiny little bit of effort it takes to make one.
Care & Upkeep Of Tent Footprints
As a result of they’re product of extra sturdy supplies, tent footprints don’t want fairly as a lot upkeep as tents.
Nevertheless, they nonetheless want a stage of cleansing, restore, and correct storage to remain in tip-top form!
Cleansing & Drying
For essentially the most half, the tent footprint received’t require an excessive amount of effort in the case of cleansing.
If there’s a median quantity of dust on the footprint, you possibly can both brush it off along with your arms, or use a humid material to wash the soiled areas.
If the tent footprint is particularly soiled, you possibly can clear it identical to you’ll deep clear your tent.
To do that, get a big bucket of heat water and add a small quantity of tent-specific cleaning soap.
Gently wash the footprint within the heat, soapy water and rinse till clear.
Tent-friendly soaps you should use for deep cleansing embody: Nikwax Tech Wash, Grangers® Tent + Gear Wash, or GearAid® Revivex.
As soon as the footprint has been cleaned, lay it out in a sunny, dry spot till it’s utterly dry. Guaranteeing the footprint is completely dry will assist forestall mildew and mildew development in storage.
Making Repairs
Since your tent footprint is your tent’s first layer of protection in opposition to the bottom, it’s probably that it’s going to gather tears or rips all through its lifespan.
If the tear is pretty small, you should use tent restore tape, or duct tape, to patch it up.
These are essentially the most frequent sort of tear seen in tent footprints and are pretty simple to deal with.
Nevertheless, if the tear is on a bigger measurement, patching it up won’t be as efficient.
Keep in mind, one of many footprint’s most important functions is to maintain water away out of your tent.
If the tear – even when repaired – appears prefer it received’t stand as much as operating water, it’s time to get a brand new footprint.
Additionally See: How you can Patch a Tent: Fast and Straightforward Options for Rips and Tears
Storing
The principle aim of storage is to stop mildew and mildew development in your footprint.
To do that, you’ll need to loosely fold your footprint and place it in a cool, dry surroundings.
The unfastened folds will guarantee that there’s area left for water or condensation to flee – even in storage.
The cool, dry surroundings ensures that the footprint as an entire is refrained from damaging parts, together with warmth, further moisture, and daylight.
Price range-Pleasant DIY Footprint Options
In the event you’ve bought an costly tent and also you need it to final you a very long time, you need to be utilizing a footprint.
Some tents include footprints included, however you could be left to determine it out by yourself.
In the event you select to purchase a footprint, you may get one particularly designed in your tent. This makes it tremendous simple to make use of, because it’s the right measurement, and so they’re often pretty light-weight.
That being mentioned, utilizing a tenting tarp or making a footprint by yourself can work simply as nicely.
Plus, you may make one for a fraction of the worth, and also you’ve in all probability already bought a tarp, which is nice information for campers on a finances.
A few of the greatest issues to make use of as a footprint embody:
- A floor tarp
- Polycryo
- Tyvek
- Shrink movie
How To Make Your Personal Footprint: Step-By-Step
To make your DIY tent footprint, right here’s what you’ll want to collect:
- A bit of material that’s bigger than the bottom of your tent
- A marker
- A pointy pair of scissors
- Your tent (or the size and a ruler)
When you’ve collected all of these items, you’re able to get began. And that is the way you do it:
- Take a chunk of whichever material you’ll be utilizing.
- Place your tent on prime of the piece of material.
- Take a marker and hint across the edges of your tent.
- Now, make a second line that’s round 2” narrower on all sides than the primary one.
- Subsequent, take your scissors and reduce alongside the second line.
And there you’ve it! Your footprint is all accomplished and able to go.
The true secret’s simply ensuring your footprint is smaller than your tent backside.
If there are any bits of footprint protruding from beneath, it’ll gather rainwater.
FAQs
Does Each Tent Come With A Footprint?
Sadly no, not each tent comes with a footprint.
In the event you want one in your tent, you should purchase one from an outside store, or make one for your self with the directions included above!
Can I Use A Footprint From A Totally different Tent Model?
Sure! So long as the footprint matches the dimensions and form of your tent, will probably be efficient!
Can A Broken Footprint Be Repaired Or Ought to It Be Changed?
It is determined by the injury. If it’s a small tear, you possibly can probably patch up your footprint with restore tape and use the footprint once more.
Nevertheless, if the footprint has any massive tears or rips, it’s unlikely that it is possible for you to to patch it up so it may be used successfully once more.
On this case, it could be time to spend money on one other footprint.
Can I Use A Larger Footprint Than My Tent?
No, you do not need to make use of a footprint that’s larger than your tent.
It’s because rain can accumulate in any puddles on the fabric that “peeks” out from beneath the tent construction.
These gathered puddles can create standing water beneath your tent, which might be worse than not having a footprint in any respect!
Can I Use A Smaller Footprint Than My Tent?
Sure! It is strongly recommended that the majority footprints are barely smaller than the tent they’re used with.
Nevertheless, if the footprint is considerably smaller than the tent, it’s going to probably not be efficient.
What Now?
Tent footprints are at all times a good suggestion. They’re a really helpful piece of tenting gear that gives further safety in your tent and retains it clear as nicely.
Plus, you possibly can simply make one your self out of cheap supplies, so, there’s no excuse to not have one.
Take excellent care of your tent, and it’ll function your property away from residence for years to come back.
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