Ground cloth

[Baseballfan]

Noted outdoorsman, canoeist, and distinguished Eagle Scout Cliff Jacobson recommends using the ground cloth INSIDE your tent. He says it's not a floor protector, but rather a way to insure dry gear inside your tent. Sounds logical, but I've yet to try it....

Eagle, I often do this, too. We get a lot of rain on the East Coast... majority of wetness comes from the floor of your tent... put a tarp inside and your tent floor can get wet all it wants, but the water won't come through the tarp.

[packsaddle]

I've made footprints using a variety of materials and some grommets. It's not hard. I have one favorite tent whose floor I've protected so well that the floor is still just great even though the roof and fly are both tearing and splitting from all the sun damage, lol. Sometimes you just have to let go. Or...maybe take a piece of blue plastic instead of the fly?

 

Around these parts, we've already gotten more than our normal annual rainfall and it shows no sign of letting up. To think that a couple of months ago, agencies were arguing over whether or not there was still a drought, lol.

[Troop185]

We use heavy duty, 4 ML plastic sheeting, both inside and outside the tent. You can buy it at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It does not weight much, once it is cut.

 

We use black for the outside, and cut it to the size of the tent, so it does not stick out. It help protect the tent floor from rocks, roots, etc. Since it is about the same size as the tent floor, it give you a good idea of how level the ground is going to be under the tent, and if you have room there for the tent.

 

I am also a believer in what Cliff Jacobson says. We use clear plastic sheeting for the inside, and it is cut larger than the tent floor (about a foot on all sides). This is what protect you from the rain! The bottom will get wet, but not the top.

 

In 1990, I was on a canoeing trip in Northern Ontario for six days. It rained for 5 straight days. Each day, we took the tents down wet, and set them back up wet. The only thing that save us, was the plastic sheeting inside the tent. We folded up the dry side, after waterproofing our sleeping bags, each morning. During the day, everyone knew the only time they would be dry and warm, was when they were in their sleeping bag that night.

[jpstodwftexas]

Kinda tough backpacking with a baker tent

 

We were not a Back Packing Troop..

Except for two trips to Philmont I never Backpacked in Equipment. My Last Philmont we never even pitched Tents. We slept in Hammocks or on Ground without Ground Cloths. I know Can't Now

We used Bakers at Summer Camp..Cots no Ground Clothes..

Even On Summer Camp Staff we Had Wall Tents on Raised Metal Platforms with Wooden Floors and Slept on Cots... NO A/C..Now Days staff sleeps in building with A/C..and the Raised Platforms have been neglected and are being torn out. I want to save as many as we can and Build Small Cabins on them.

[dedkad]

I have a shower curtain falling off its hooks that I might try to use as a ground cloth. Better than throwing it in the trash.

[King Ding Dong]

I have a shower curtain falling off its hooks that I might try to use as a ground cloth. Better than throwing it in the trash.

If you can get one with yellow duckies on it all the better.

[Eliza]

I like this 'Sportsman's Blanket.' An Eagle Scout who gave a winter camping presentation to our troop suggested it. It's compact and lightweight, with one reflective side that can be faced up in cold weather and down in warmer weather. It is only 5' x 7', but it works well with the right sized tent.

 

http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/CAMOmnifindQueryCmd?storeId=226&catalogId=40000000226&langId=-1&searchCategory=&ip_state=&ip_constrain=&ip_navtype=search&pageSize=24&currentPage=&ip_sortBy=&searchKeywords=sportsmans+blanket

 

Color: Blue

This grommeted, all-season, weather-proofed blanket, offers reflective warmth against cold and wetness. Constructed with a stronger multi-directional reinforcement layer which provides additional tensile and burst strength. Opens to 5'x7'. Folded size: 4" x 5" x 1.5". Two-sided-metalized polyethylene on one side, colored polyethylene on the other side. Wt. 13oz.

[topshot]

The only time I use a groundcloth is if I'm using a tarp (no floor). On a recent trip to the Smokies where we had to pitch on gravel platforms, my backpacking tent with it's ultralight 30D floor was the only one that didn't get wet when torrential rains created nice ponds on these platforms.

[fred johnson]

Noted outdoorsman, canoeist, and distinguished Eagle Scout Cliff Jacobson recommends using the ground cloth INSIDE your tent. He says it's not a floor protector, but rather a way to insure dry gear inside your tent. Sounds logical, but I've yet to try it....

This is what I do too. I just don't care if the bottom of my tent gets dirty or even slightly torn. The bottom of the tent is NOT to keep you dry. It exists slightly to keep bugs out and mostly to help keep the shape of the tent. Plus the bottom of most tents is a mesh and most ground clothes are solid plastic. So if water is between the floor and the groundcloth, I want the water to squirt out of the tent, not into the tent.