[MR] Opinions please, ground cloth or super ground cloth?

Sun Mar 8 23:49:30 PDT 2009

Anything that increases the impermeable qualitities of your tent floor is *usually* a good thing, in my opinion.  Yes, it is important to balance weight and bulk (both folded and when standing) against degree of protection.

However, I find myself a bit puzzled here.  Are you speaking of a separate cloth / tarp / floor, or the attached floor of a modern tent?  If the latter, I generally suggest AGAINST the sewn-in plasti-tarp floor if you expect to use said tent for more than one year (and strongly urge the addition of an inner temporary [removable] vapor barrier such as described in item 1, below)

Amr Tarp-Mender's Pocket Guide to Tent Flooring (and Related Tent Care)

1.  Dome tent floors that are of a material type different from the sides/roof may last longer under some conditions, but they generally can't be trusted to function as a moisture barrier for more than the first couple of short camping trips -- and even then, I find it far better to put a true vapor barrier (such as visquene or a "painter's" polyethylene dropcloth / sheeting down on top of the sewn-in floor of any tent.

2.  Dome tent floors made of the SAME material as the sides/roof may be made water resistant, but any attempt to waterPROOF them is doomed from the start.  See item one, invest in a dropcloth.

3.  Traditional / "period" tents with separate cloth floors:  oilcloth or heavily waxed / oiled canvas or sailcloth similarly treated may in truth be relatively waterproof BUT it still requires maintenance, is generally heavier than modern materials, and may not have a useful resistance-life under heavy use.  While I have not been on-the-ground for longer term camps (i.e. Pennsic), I do know that the common pre-1600 waterproofing methods use materials that risk staining cloth, wood, horn, etc. -- and that said materials tend to become more transient under continuous use and higher temperatures.  For example, even the best-prepared densely-woven well-"filled" oilcloth will transfer some amount of oil to whatever other fabric or leather it comes into contact with, and the amount of transfer generally will increase as the oilskin becomes heated.

4.  Long-term existence under canvas:  invest in some type of platform constructed of rigid materials, such as shipping pallets with an overlay of plywood, esp. if you want to lay down rugs or intend to regularly walk across / stand upon the floor of your tent.  The most severe damage to tent floors seems to occur in extreme weather (high winds), followed rapidly by damage inflicted when the underlying surface has become a mire / mud hole / swampy morass OR has not had all of the more abrasive / pointy "bits" removed in advance of set-up.

5.  General Principles:  

Take extra care to position any entrance to the tent so that it does not funnel falling or running water into the tent.  When ditching is allowed by site rules, do so -- taking care to re-plant the turves removed to form the ditch.

A rake or patient handwork is essential to properly preparing the surface the tent will be set up on top of.  Spreading straw, sand, wood chips, sawdust, kitty litter, or any other soil is no true alternative to removing branches, stones, broken glass, and other sharp or rough objects -- however, it is also both impolite and unwise to remove living vegetation, live roots, or other natural materials except where permission has been obtained from the site manager (caretaker, owner, etc.), and even then we should do as little harm as possible.  (Related thought:  even a skilled woodsman with axe, adze, saw, and the other tools of his trade may inadvertently leave sharp edges behind when cutting roots or brush. . .)

Anything you want kept dry should be left in your vehicle sealed in plastic.  Anything that can tolerate some dampness (such as from continuous high humidities) but should be kept from the wet should be stored in the equivalent of a Rubbermaid "tote" or similar sealable container when not in direct use.  (A proper pre-1600 seaman's chest, well-joined and finish-sealed lidded box, or barrel with an appropriate lid are some examples of "period" alternatives.)

Good canvas, properly maintained, should easily survive about five normal camping "seasons" in the SCA.  Pennsic, Lilies, Estrella probably reduce the effective life of a tent by a "season" or thereabouts, more if it is a particularly rough event in terms of weather.

Any tent that is not properly dried, cleaned, and otherwise maintained between uses will have the useful life of the fabric reduced by 50% in short order.

Non-natural cordage (tent ropes) will last longer and need less maintenance, but bring other drawbacks -- and still require some diligent maintenance, particularly once they begin to show signs of damage (e.g. if the ends / splices begin to fray, the useful life of a given piece of cordage can be improved by at least 50% or so as compared to a similar piece where such maintenance is not applied).

No open flames inside a tent!

* * * * *

Hope these help (and expect a new entry in the "Tarp-Mender's Tales" series of articles Real Soon Now).

Amr Tarp-Mender

Steppes, Ansteorra

ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe / Adieu, Amra 

Mike C. Baker / Kihe Blackeagle 
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em 
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA 
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard) 
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> From: nbritosbray at hotmail.com
> To: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
> Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 01:30:18 -0400
> Subject: [MR] Opinions please, ground cloth or super ground cloth?
> 
> 
> Greetings everyone,
> 
> My Lord and I are buying a new tent this year and we always prefer a ground cloth. I am looking for pros and cons of the "super ground" cloth that comes with the plastic bottom. Is it particularly cumbersome or is it a good thing?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Lady Nanne

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