We have fully fitted custom made tent carpets in both the living area and bedroom pods, solely to help protect the SiG and ZiG.
Under the tent ZiG we place a Butyl Rubber Ground Sheet (Pond Liner) which is 1mm thick 3.7m x 4.5m and under that goes a cheapo Tarp which often gets binned after our 15 nights on the campsite.
Our Tent is comming up to ten years old, and both the SiG and ZiG are still in pristine condition, despite having camping for many weeks on hard baked sometimes stoney pitch's in the South of France during July.
Even in France, you can get chilly/damp ground through the night, and the carpet not only helps on that score, but as has been said, it also protects against furniture feet etc.
As for the footprint... certainly with a SIG tent... after 15 nights (The longest our tent has been in the same position) by La Dordogne in Sept '13, each of which rated between damp and soaking wet (morning dew/heavy mist etc, as well as the odd shower) we were left with this...
(Excuse all the ruts & channels... that was the moles!)
My only regret is that I didn't photograph the underside of the footprint! It was minging... and it smelled awful!
Had to drape it over the boundary hedge to get some sun on it, then beat it off with the broom, before sweeping off the bulk of stinky drying mud, and lobbing the sheet in a large but tightly wrapped bin liner for the journey home. A few days later, I laid it out in the garden, and gave it a good hosing/scrub.
Without that thin, flimsy footprint, which takes one minute to lay down, and costs very little when compared to the rest of the gear, we would have been left with all that stinky mess sticking to the underside of our beautiful tent (SIG)... And I wouldn't fancy having to take that home, and scrub it, once it had spread to the rolled up fly sheet too!
A footprint should be one of the first "added extra's" to buy, when choosing a SIG tent, imo.
PS:
...And I certainly wouldn't have fancied this without the carpet... and my Heat Holder socks... and the fan heater... and my slippers ...
I forgot to say we do have a tent with a sewn in groundsheet, have yet to use it, but when we do we WILL be putting down a footprint first and then the carpet inside the tent.
As Mucker said, the horrible mouldy type of smell that's on the underside of our loose groundsheets we use for the Cabanon tents after a week or so would be just awful on the actual tent bottom. Plus much more awkward to clean off than a footprint on its own.
Just tell him you need the carpet and if he loves you he wouldn't be questioning it. Then when he can't believe how good it is have a little chuckle behind his back
Thanks everyone for your amazing responses! I think he's now convinced. We'll be taking the carpet and the footprint. I'm not sure I'm going to get my collapsible colander though! Lol. Helen x
Quote: Originally posted by Mucker1884 on 31/7/2015
It will if he finds a caterpillar in his next salad!
True! Last year I accidentally ate a slug... (I was pitching, everyone else ate and left my salad thing in the grass. Later on, when it was kind of dark I got peckish and one thing led to another... Wasn't nice.
Quote: Originally posted by Frog on 31/7/2015
If my missis reads this thread then it will be another thing to fit in the bloody car..
This is the reason we've bought a camper/multivan as we we're taking so much stuff! We use it more to carry kit around in and tend to sleep in the tent more than the van.
We find the footprint really helps when putting up the big tent. No more does the tent pitch out of shape and does help protect the underside of the tent and keeps some of the cold from coming up into the tent. As for carpet we use a picnic blanket as our tent didn't come with a carpet and I wasn't spending £100 for one. So much cosier when its wet and cold.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Why have a tent carpet?
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