That said, If you do find yourself with a small hole or rip, we recommend repairing it with Tenacious Tape. T-tape is seriously strong and has kept some of our imperfect gear going for many years. Weight - Footprints, because they are generally a higher denier fabric than the floor of your tent, can significantly increase the total weight of your shelter system.
You can make your own lightweight groundsheet pretty easily out of Tyvek or Polycryo , more detail on that below. Cost - A good lightweight tent will set you back hundreds of dollars and footprints are rarely included.
DIY job using affordable Tyvek material. Make your own! Making your own footprint costs significantly less and is almost always going to be lighter. Polycryo is much lighter than Tyvek but not nearly as durable. PU Coated Nylon common material for manufacturer footprints - 1. Tyvek - 1. Polycryo -. If you are going to cut your own footprint to shape, make sure you cut it about an inch shorter than your tent floor on all sides. If you have fabric sticking out from under your tent or too close to the edge of your tent floor, it can catch water and pool it up underneath your tent.
Tent footprints are certainly not necessary, but they can help extend the life of your tent. If you have an ultralight tent with a low denier floor, it might be worth it to shell out the extra dollars for a footprint or to make your own. Footprint or not, we always make sure to meticulously clear twigs, rocks, and pinecones from our campsites before pitching a tent to avoid any mishaps. Keeping your gear in good shape is important, and we hope this guide helps you decide if you need a footprint for your tent or not.
If you have a great footprint substitute or use that we missed, let us know in the comments below! For more CleverHiker backpacking tips, check out the following links:.
CleverHiker Gear Guide. Essential Trail Skills. Lightweight Foundations. Casey Handley is an avid outdoor adventurer and self-described gear nerd. Her favorite things include the crinkle of a new Dyneema tent, the smell of Doug fir trees, and shaving an ounce off her pack weight. Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means we may receive a modest commission if purchases are made through those links.
This adds no cost to our readers and helps us keep our site up and running. Our reputation is our most important asset, which is why we only provide completely honest and unbiased recommendations.
The CleverHiker Top Picks page is reserved for our personal favorite backpacking gear. When we hit the trail, this is what we carry in our packs. Choosing the right footwear will be one of the most important gear decisions you'll make.
Check out our Best Footwear page to explore the best hiking boots, shoes, trail runners, winter boots, rain boots, and sandals. Packing a top-notch tent is one of the best ways to increase comfort, safety, and enjoyment on backcountry trips.
So when you're in the market for a new shelter, pick up one of the Best Backpacking Tents. Choosing a tent that is comfortable, spacious, and easy to setup can make or break a camping trip. Here's our list of the Best Backpacking Packs. A solid daypack should be a staple of every outdoor enthusiast's gear collection. Ranging from minimalist to fully featured, we bring you our trail-tested Best Daypacks list. Looking for some deep trail sleep? Nobody likes waking up with numb hips.
Camping is all about relaxing and sleeping under the stars. The right camping mattress can be a real game changer. A steamy cup of java on a crisp, quiet morning is just about the perfect start to any day in the wilderness. So pick up one of the Best Backpacking Stoves and make that moment happen.
There are lots of excellent stoves on the market to make your culinary adventures a success, but not all camp chefs have the same needs. Our team of wilderness experts has used dozens of cooksets to make hundreds of meals on trails all over the world. To create this list, we thoroughly analyzed the backpacking cookware industry and field tested the very best products on the market.
We love cooking outdoors. But to make the deliciousness happen, it takes a great set of cookware. Down jackets are lightweight, packable, and highly efficient at trapping body heat. Whatever your pleasure; walking, running, biking, or hiking - being equipped with the right mindset and a quality rain jacket will empower you to seize any opportunity to get outdoors, regardless of the forecast.
A trusty pair of rain pants should be in every outdoor adventurer's gear arsenal. We consider a fleece jacket an essential part of our clothing system when conditions are wet and cold. It is much cheaper to replace a ground cloth, than a new tent. A heavy rain can drench the forest floor and act like a sponge, wetting your tent when you set up on top of it. The additional second layer of a footprint will blockade that rain from seeping upward into your tent, drenching your sleeping bag, clothes, etc.
Your groundcloth will take on a lot of that mud and dampness, preventing potential mold and mildew buildup in your tent. Cushion and Insulation. On the contrary, your body will take on and feel whatever temperature the ground is.
This is why a thick sleeping pad with a high R-value is so important. However, especially if you are trying to keep it ultralight and minimize every ounce, a tent footprint can add a smidge of additional insulation from the ground as well as provide a smidge of extra cushion.
Easy Positioning. Finding a good tent site can be difficult. Even if the space looks great, you might find out it is too small to fit your tent, or too uneven, etc. Due to the minimalist size of a footprint, it is super easy to drape it on the ground and size out your site.
I often lay down on top of the footprint as well before setting up just to make sure the ground is flat and level. The best tent footprints, especially for ultralight backpacking or hiking, are Do-It-Yourself. In my humble opinion, the factory options specifically designed for your tent are not good.
Some terrain will wear out your tent floor much quicker than others. Exposed granite and sandstone can act like sandpaper against the bottom of your tent; potentially wearing thin spots or holes fairly quickly. Quality tents are designed to work well without a groundsheet.
A footprint acts as a protective layer against these abrasions and adds a barrier between you and the sometimes cold or damp ground. Tent footprints can greatly extend the functional life of your tent. If you let your tent floor wear out you may as well be using a tarp shelter or bivy sack. When the footprint wears out it can easily be replaced at a much lower price tag compared to your tent. As we discussed in another article, tent footprints, as well as old rain-flies, can be used in a number of useful ways:.
Your tent may come with a footprint, but most tents have a fitted footprint available for purchase. Like tents, footprints will be made of either nylon or polyester. In a previous article , we talked about the properties of nylon compared to polyester.
For the most part, nylon is a stronger material, is more stretchy, and is less water-resistant. Polyester is less stretchy, is much more water-resistant and holds up better to UV damage but is slightly heavier and less abrasion resistant than nylon. Denier is a measure of thread thickness. The higher the denier the more burly the product will be. It weighs 7. The footprint for the Nemo Hornet weighs 6.
Nylon is lighter than polyester. While the Nemo footprint is a higher denier, the overall weight is still lighter than the Hubba Hubba footprint. Considering they are ultra-light, cheap, and extremely adaptable; a tent footprint is definitely worth it.
There is one more consideration to take into account that could save you a decent amount of cash. Also handy if sleeping in a AT shelter to protect your inflatable pad from protruding nail heads, or debris. I often camp on designated sites along trails in national parks, which can be abrssive with rocks and sand. I formerly used Tyvek that came from a roll of sign banner material. To save weight, I switched to Polycryo but the really thin stuff was hard to handle and sometimes tore along a certain plane.
I switched to the heavier grade window film. The box of window film comes with tape, which I first used to splice the two pieces of film together to make up the size of my tent. The edges are also stiffer and easy to handle to place the ground sheet in position when I pitch the tent. I have always used a footprint. I started when car camping. The main reason for me has been to keep the tent clean. On a recent trip after a late evening camp setup I accidentally slept on a small pine cone.
It made a dent in the footprint but did not puncture it. I suspect the 15D floor would not have fared so well. I got the 1. I may still make one for deserty trips since I think it is better protection from abrasive and pointy things grit, thorns and cactus needles. I always just use a tarp it worked out the same size as my tent.
Plus rapping the tent ine the tarp and ditching the bags leaves it roughly the same weight. I use 2 mil clear plastic found at Home Depot. I tried the Polycro but found it was harder to handle in the wind. I have one small tear that I patched with duct tape. I fold the plastic to the length of my tent stakes and roll them up together. You get zero R-value with one side of the space blanket on the ground and the reflective side under your tent.
A space blanket reflects radiated body heat. As Phillip says, it cannot insulate body heat from conducting to the ground. I personally also find them crinkly and noisy to sleep on. On the other hand, the bright orange and silver would make an effective emergency signal marker, if you ever need a rescue. Just seems easier if the tent manufacturers made the floor strong enough in the first place…. Tyvek is not designed to be waterproof and only water resistant although some are better than others.
It is not designed for weather exposure. I like the idea of ditching the tent bag and rolling the tent in the ground cloth and have used it for awhile now. About the same weight. It is doing extra duty if it is also waterproof. Tyvek should do the main job. Obviously if you want to also use the footprint as a tarp to sleep on directly then waterproofness is more important and Tyvek is probably not the best choice. So far I have just used the tent bag and I just stuff the body in followed by the fly.
If the fly is very wet I have a separate mesh bag I stuff it in which I can strap on the outside of my pack for easy access to spread the fly out to dry at an opportune stopping point or I can just put in my pack if that makes more sense.
Compactor bags etc. My factory foot print packs up very small in its own tiny non mesh bag …part or why it may be worth paying the exorbitant price…so I can do the same with it.
The manufacturer claims it weighs 3 oz, but it actually weighs 5. Great discussion! I think I took one on my first AT hike, and sent it home at the end of the first week.
Also did not use one on the PCT and had no issues. I did have a puncture of my air mattress in New Mexico on the CDT, replaced the pad with a twin, and was much more careful about site selection after that — no more issues. The floor of my older Plexamid, and the cuben fiber Dyneema now?
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