Footprints are a Complete Waste of Money, Space, and Weight
Unless, of course, your shelter has no floor. If it does have a floor, there is absolutely no need for a footprint.
Discuss.
I don't expect much of a discussion when almost everyone will agree with you.
As for money, the idea is to save your tent floor if you're frequently setting up on rugged surfaces. So if you get a cheap cut of tyvek there is potential money savings. It also can help as an additional moisture barrier depending on the material.
Some people use footprints, some don't. Some people prefer not to filter and carry water, some do. It's not about right or wrong (or corporate avarice), its about what works for the individual.
I found several "needs" for a footprint; increases the capability of the tent (as it ages) to be water resistant during multi-day rain events, it reduces the opportunity for abrasion of the tent floor and milling away of moisture protection, reduces the potential of sharp things penetrating the tent floor, and protection from general wear and tear. I have also used it as a fly, a fairy clean place to dry gear and get sorted out after a deluge.
Inexpensive, keeps bottom of tent clean & dry, helps prolong life of tent, nice place to role up a clean tent, us it for lunch breaks if ground is wet. All for a weight penalty of 2.5oz (1 person tent). If 2.5oz is too much weight, I will just cut back on snacks for a few days and loose 4x that amount. YMMV
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MY current tent is priced at $555.00 Too much of an investment to not protect it with a footprint.
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I always use a footprint to help protect my expensive tent as well as provide some additional waterproofing. It’s a personal decision and for me, this is a piece of equipment well worth the few extra ounces.
This coming from a fairly devout ULer... you might reconsider after tenting a few nights on granite with a DCF shelter.
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Agree. Never used one, never had a floor fail in any way. I have very expensive tents (zpacks duplex, maybe 50+ nights, zero sign of wear, an older BA copper spur, very old BA fly creek with 150+ nights, etc). Waste of money and weight. If you absolutely must use one, at least use Polycryo, cheap and about the lightest material possible (maybe 1.5 oz for average tent).Originally Posted by Bansko
I guess it depends on where you spend most of your time hiking/camping. On the AT where the ground is often wet or muddy, a footprint not only keeps the bottom of the tent cleaner, it helps prevent water from speeping in from presure points.
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With the manufacturer's tent footprint, I am able to set up my freestanding MSR Hubba fly first in the rain. Once the fly is set up w/footprint, I can then set up the body of the tent without the inside getting soaked. Same principle for take down in the rain.
True for my situation. My tent floor is rock solid, I've camped on a raspberry cane with no damage. I wouldn't want to presume the same thing for a tent that I haven't owned or used.
I can’t speak for the Hubba, but my Hubba Hubba NX doesn’t require the heavy and expensive factory footprint to set up the fly alone. That was the deciding factor in making my purchase decision.
The same is true for my TarpTent StratoSpire 1. I’ve used the fly alone more often than the inner + fly.
Wayne
Agree. I can think of a stretch between Franklin and NOC in 2017 of several days of rain where my Nemo Hornet was wetting out in the floor. Got to the outfitter and bought the last footprint.
I just hiked in Taiwan with some friends 2 weeks ago.
They all had double wall tents and they ALL had a footprint for the tent.
They also ALL had stainless steel cups hanging off their packs with a big carabiner.
Both silly IMO.
They were amazed at the lightness of my20 lb pack. (with food) (there's were ALL over 40)
But when they saw my tarptent with a thin plastic for my groundcloth, they shook their heads and went into their palaces.
You have to carry those luxuries.
How heavy do you want your pack?
That's what it really comes down to isn't it?
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It also depends on what the tent floor is made of. If it's flimsy silnylon, you really want a ground cloth. Granted, factory foot prints are expensive and heavy, but Tyvek is cheap and reasonably lightweight.
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I agree with the OP. I've hiked the Triple Crown plus lots of alphabet soup (CT, AZT, PNT, WT) using a Tarptent with silnylon floor and no ground sheet. I'm on my second Tarptent in fifteen years and have never had a floor problem, despite the rigors of the Sonoran, Chihuahua, and Colorado deserts and lots of rocky tundra. The one time I got wet from water seeping through the floor was a site selection error, never repeated.
The first Tarptent finally started to fail at the guy line attachment points. The floor was almost pristine. Tarptent's website mentions their repair shop virtually never sees a tent come in for floor work.
In my early tenting experience, back when I paid more attention to conventional wisdom, a groundsheet was just one more wet thing to pack up and try to dry later on.
I'm another that sees value...for all the obvious reasons. Perhaps not every time, but sometimes.... for me most of the time.
My background is mostly tailgate camping and short distance stuff, not usually in over demanding tent ripping terrain... for me I mostly used something to keep the tent cleaner and dry when packing up in the AM...and as a sacrificial lamb for the potential rock or whatever. I find the groundsheet easier to shake or sweep clean, or to drape over a bush to dry a bit while I go ahead and fold up the tent & pack up the other stuff
As I'm kitting out a lighter pack and learning though, I totally get the premise that it's unseeded weight often... and I think the factory high dollar ones could easily be argued as a waste of $.... if it's not a component of a fly-only type free standing system.
It's fairly obvious this boils down to experience... if one has always carried and used a ground sheet, he/she feels good about them, thinking they "work", whereas only those who have done extensive time completely without one with no bad effects realizes they are completely unnecessary. Not a make or break thing, but I might suggest those that do use these extra sheets trying without for a while.
Nonsense. It's much easier to wipe down a 1oz sheet of polycro than the bottom of your tent. And if you're a gram weenie, consider this -- the weight of the water you remove is probably twice the weight of the footprint. And the weight of the water your tent's floor absorbs without a footprint is probably twice that.
My polycro footprint can be tucked into a ziplock and stored in my pack, while the rag I used to dry it will be dry in half an hour hanging from the back. My perfectly dry tent can be stowed in the bottom compartment of my pack without getting anything else wet. Your tent without the footprint will still be a sloppy mess when you pull it out the next night.
There are places where a footprint isn't necessary. The AT isn't one of them.
Try getting a decent, modern tent with a Cuben (DCF) floor. No water absorption at all. But yeah, if you Must carry a footprint, let it at least be polycryo.
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