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  • #16
    Re: DIY tent footprint?

    Or any Home Depot/Lowes has plastic rolls or sheets as thick or as large as you need for a fraction of the price of custom sheets from manufacturer. Just remember they have to fit completely under the tent. Nothing showing or water will seep under the floor.....Enjoy

    elliot

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    • #17
      Re: DIY tent footprint?

      I am useing a $10 tent mat off ebay very large and came with a stuff sac. It worked great, instead of trimming I just folded it. Very thick with the silver coating on both sides. It was a great buy so far till I get a bigger tent

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      • #18
        Re: DIY tent footprint?

        I really REALLY hate a wet/damp floor. I want to be up off the ground a little, so I'm looking into making a portable "platform" for my family tent (a little bigger than a queen-size bed--don't know the measurements exactly). What's looking good to me at the moment if rigid styrofoam insulatin sheets--cut into 2 x 8 pieces to be carried on my roof rack. I'm going to get a sample piece and see how durable it is.

        Anybody seen anything like that? any other car-portable platform ideas?

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        • #19
          Re: DIY tent footprint?

          Originally posted by Glostaman View Post
          I really REALLY hate a wet/damp floor. I want to be up off the ground a little, so I'm looking into making a portable "platform" for my family tent (a little bigger than a queen-size bed--don't know the measurements exactly). What's looking good to me at the moment if rigid Styrofoam insulating sheets--cut into 2 x 8 pieces to be carried on my roof rack. I'm going to get a sample piece and see how durable it is.

          Anybody seen anything like that? any other car-portable platform ideas?
          How is your tent getting wet? Is it from rain or dew or something else? Does your rain fly completely cover your tent and come all the way down to the ground?
          Nights camped in 2019: 24
          Nights camped in 2018: 24

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          • #20
            Re: DIY tent footprint?

            It doesn't get wet all the time. You know how it is, the longer and harder the rain, the more likely things will start getting wet.

            I'm really interested in dealing with longer term wetness problems. The thing is, I'm going to try some season-long camping (apartment free living) and really want to make sure I have a dry platform. If it's sturdy enough it will help deal with rock protection, too.

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            • #21
              Re: DIY tent footprint?

              I agree with what Hogsnapper says.

              sometimes it is hard to tell where the low spots are. A good indication is that the low spots usually have the darker soil and the greenest grass. You do not want to park your tent on top of areas like that.

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              • #22
                Re: DIY tent footprint?

                Good reminders of the basics, of course. Thanks.

                But what I'm really looking to create is platform camping--a scaled down version of the platform tents permanently installed in some campground. The reason is that I'm planning to stay in one place for a long time--1 or 2 months, maybe more. I want to create a setup that will last all that time, even if it rains, without getting wet or mucky.

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                (That 3rd one--the glamourous one--is being called Glamping. A bit over the top.)

                Looking at all-out platforms I realize that air clearance under the platform is a common feature, and logically pretty important. That would rule out the styrofoam sheets. Those plastic mat/tiles with holes in the last pic look intriguing, but I don't know where to get them (yet). ANY WILD IDEAS? ALL BRAINSTORM IDEAS ACCEPTED!

                I've got a screened dining tent, and I'm picturing setting it up face-to-face with my sleeping tent and covering the whole thing with a huge tarp. I'll also be wanting to invent something for the "breezeway" between them to deal with muddy shoes, etc.

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                • #23
                  Re: DIY tent footprint?

                  This is going to be one of the first DIY projects I try for my new tent. I tried looking for an already made footprint, but I couldn't find one that fit my tent exactly & all of them were quite expensive. I like the idea of making it up with the tarp, grommets and webbing, but I'm wondering if it would be better to use a heavy-duty elastic rather than webbing so that it stretches & stays taut under the tent. Very rarely do you find an even surface to set up the tent & never are the surfaces the same. It would be nice if the footprint would adjust with however you set up your tent poles.

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                  • #24
                    Re: DIY tent footprint?

                    Glostaman, get one of those tents that suspends in the air via 3 cables. :P


                    As for DIY, a customer the other day told me he had a bunch of USPS tyvek envelopes sent to his home for free and then cut and sewed them into the shape of his tent. Cost maybe $0.50 for thread.
                    Camping photos: https://www.instagram.com/adventure_outside_thebox/
                    Nights under the stars:
                    2013: 8 2014: 6 2015: 12
                    2018: 4 2019: 17 2020: 15

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                    • #25
                      Re: DIY tent footprint?

                      Originally posted by sunnymw View Post

                      As for DIY, a customer the other day told me he had a bunch of USPS tyvek envelopes sent to his home for free and then cut and sewed them into the shape of his tent. Cost maybe $0.50 for thread.
                      This is the same mindset as the guys who brag that they get free creamers and condiments for camping at fast food restaurants. The only way you can possibly consider taking stuff like that is if you have a mentality no greater than a second grader.

                      When a guy orders boxes of envelopes from USPS and then uses them to make a tent footprint, that really is theft. Same thing for the guy who fills his pockets with packets of ketchup packets at McDonalds or the granny who purses the seasoning salt off the tables at restaurants or the people who take towels from hotels.

                      Jeesh. If you ever see a guy with a USPS envelope tent pad, you can bet his house has toilet paper stolen from public toilets. If he invites you for dinner, you best decline. Who knows what he would be feeding you.

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                      • #26
                        Re: DIY tent footprint?

                        Originally posted by Mike View Post
                        This is the same mindset as the guys who brag that they get free creamers and condiments for camping at fast food restaurants. The only way you can possibly consider taking stuff like that is if you have a mentality no greater than a second grader.

                        When a guy orders boxes of envelopes from USPS and then uses them to make a tent footprint, that really is theft. Same thing for the guy who fills his pockets with packets of ketchup packets at McDonalds or the granny who purses the seasoning salt off the tables at restaurants or the people who take towels from hotels.

                        Jeesh. If you ever see a guy with a USPS envelope tent pad, you can bet his house has toilet paper stolen from public toilets. If he invites you for dinner, you best decline. Who knows what he would be feeding you.


                        Crap, I wrote out a long reply and hit the wrong button :rolleyes:


                        Anyway... I tend to agree with your statement... Nothing is free, and if you're getting it free, someone else paid for it. I posted it because A) it was amusing and never crossed my mind, and B) as a business we have TONS of these things laying around--postage on them paid for, used, not reusable for anything else. Why not recycle? I mean, we already have footprints for our tents, but if we didn't, I wouldn't feel an ounce of guilt doing this.
                        Camping photos: https://www.instagram.com/adventure_outside_thebox/
                        Nights under the stars:
                        2013: 8 2014: 6 2015: 12
                        2018: 4 2019: 17 2020: 15

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: DIY tent footprint?

                          This thread has legs!
                          “People have such a love for the truth that when they happen to love something else, they want it to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be proven wrong, they refuse to be shown their mistake. And so, they end up hating the truth for the sake of the object which they have come to love instead of the truth.”
                          ―Augustine of Hippo, Fifth Century A.D.

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                          • #28
                            Re: DIY tent footprint?

                            Ya 'N So....

                            As far as footprints for tents go. I seem to remember being in a tent that had upgraded wooden pallets as a floor. I thought that really upgraded the living quarters

                            However, it was a semi-permanent set-up and not done for weekend gigs

                            You know, I still meet plenty of families that go on two week vacations. They go to some state or national campground, plunk down and camp for real. A lot of times, the father will come for part of the day and then go to work This seems more common with the manufacturing job guys for some reason

                            I remember my dad telling me that his family would do that in the 1930's and 1940's. families with lake cottages would move to the cottages for the summer and dad would visit on weekends. Folks without cottages would do the same thing, but camp in tents

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                            • #29
                              Re: DIY tent footprint?

                              I didn't read all the responses to this thread, so ignore mine if this has already been suggested: I made one out of a heavy plastic tarp. I cut it to size and even hemmed it on my sewing machine, and attached strips from leftover tarp for ties to tie onto the corner poles. Easy, very strong, and much cheaper! I had enough tarp left over to make one for the interior of the tent so now our tent floor is sandwiched between two tarps for protection and cleanliness. (You don't need to sew a hem ..... I just like a more finished edge.)

                              When you make a footprint, be sure to cut it so that none of it sticks out from under the tent.

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                              • #30
                                Re: DIY tent footprint?

                                I use the wally world blur tarp for my 3 room weathermaster. For my Eureka hiking tent, I have a piece of tyvek. The tarp ran me $12 and I've used it 5 seasons or about 20 trips. The tyvek has outlasted 2 tents.

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