Hi, I have a question. I am 62 years old, and up until last week, have never been camping in my life so I know nothing about it. I went away for the first time last week, and it rained a couple of nights. When packing up, I found the footprint was like a lake, with gallons of water on it. I thought that I'd adjusted all the tension straps and got the tent as close to the ground as possible,and made sure that the footprint was completely covered and not sticking out anywhere, but the water still got underneath, so what did I do wrong?
P.S. the tent is a Vango Icarus 500 DLX
Even with a manufacturers tent-specific footprint, they can be a tad too big, sometimes (I know they shouldn't be!).
Ideally they should be 3 or 4 inches inside the perimeter of the tent, all round.
Obviously, the tent walls don't go down to a nice sharp corner, where all rain would drip off onto the grass/ground, so with the rounded corners of the tent, it is possible for rain to run around, underneath, only dripping off onto the footprint. And of course, once it's there, it has nowhere to go, as it's sandwiched between the waterproof footprint and the waterproof SIG of your tent!
Sloping ground and/or undulations can play a big part in it too, of course.
Don't despair. Try again next time, and just double check all the footprint is well clear of the edges. And continue to get those bottom edges as neat and tight as possible... without putting the tent/straps at risk of tearing, of course!
Fold the footprint back if need be. This does mean that in wet/muddy conditions, you may have to wipe the edges of the underside of your tent (always take old towels with you!) But that's a 3 or 4 inch border, which is better than having to wipe the whole thing.
If you ultimately consider that the footprint is too big, you can either:
A/ Cut it down to size.
B/ Fold over the edges and stick down with heavy-duty cloth tape/(Can recommend "Gorilla tape")
You can add new eyelets to the above options, if you so desire.
or, if you have eyelets/pegging loops around the edges, and don't want to lose them, then simply:
C/ "Pleat" the footprint (double fold it) and tape it, as per my excellent, geeky diagram below (Not to scale, LOL!)
The above can be done in both directions, to shorten both the length and width, if need be.
...And be assured, even with all that knowledge, expertise, and downright common sense (as is clearly evidenced in my advice above!), if you are stupid enough to have your front door facing up-slope, then invite all the family to congregate in your awnings during extremely wet weather, not only will the ground turn to slurry, but it will then run downhill... and guess where it lands...
We put a cheap tarp down first, 4m X 5m got a bunch of them from B&Q for £2 each, nice green colour though.
On top of the cheap tarp we place a 1mm thick butyl rubber pond liner, in order to protec the ZiG on our tent.
Sometimes when we break camp, the cheap tarp is in such a state it goes into the nearest bin.
Never had a problem with water gathering on either the cheap tarp or pond liner, even though we have had the odd heavy tropical downpour in the middle of the night, whilst camping in Southern France.
We had to take Muckers advice and followed his amazing drawing skills when ours had water ingress, since we corrected the size of our footprint we never had another problem with it.
My footprint is probably a lot more than 3 to 4 inches shorter than the tent...probably more like a foot...but as Mucker says, wiping the edge of the tent groundsheet as you roll it up is no hardship.
One issue that Mucker touched on is that if you are camped on a slope it is possible for rainwater to flow over the edge of the footprint and then gather in the middle where all the depressions from feet and furniture are. This is particularly possible if we have had dry weather like recently and the ground is hard and compacted so rain doesn't soak in and just runs downhill like a river.
Thankfully those conditions are rare but whenever possible choose a pitch that is slightly raised in the middle rather than a hollow and of course as level as possible...and unlike some photos I have seen on these boards never camp in a dry riverbed
Quote: Originally posted by Bob61 on 21/8/2018
Thankfully those conditions are rare but whenever possible choose a pitch that is slightly raised in the middle rather than a hollow and of course as level as possible
i had a bit of a stand off with the wardens at haven mablethorpe when they caught me emptying the kids play area of bark.
once they looked in the covered swamp we had taken ownership of (inside the awning) they backed off...
Thanks to everyone for some great tips on footprints. I have another query, I recently bought a Vango Icarus 500XL, and have been looking at the Vango universal side awning (small) and was wondering if anyone had tried this combination and did it work. I'm a bit dubious about the term "universal" as surely it cannot fit a plethora different tents perfectly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Good advice Mucker, I have never quite understood the need for an expensive footprint unless your tent is an odd shape. Then again I started camping long before such things were invented by the tent manufacturers!
Beware that attractive corner of the campsite that no-one else is using and consider if there is a reason for this. This lesson was learned in the Yorkshire Dales when we found that the whole site sloped gently to one corner and we ended up in the Somme for the weekend.
Sometimes water will get under your tent no matter what you do (Cornwall 2007) and all you can do is clean up and dry out when you get home.
Good advice here. I’m another one who’s found their tent sporting a water feature!https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=32&TopicID=353394&PagePosition=1
We too have experienced - with some surprise - a considerable amount of water trapped between footprint - which wasn't protruding - and ZIG. The fact is that a combination of driving, heavy rainfall, undulating ground and the slightest of slopes can result in an underfloor pool.
On balance and in usual camping conditions, a footprint can protect the SIG/ZIG and help keep all but the edges nice and clean. In torrential rain situations it's probably best not to use one, so the water can drain away. The trouble is predicting this poor weather, so those of us who always use a footprint just have to take our chances and try to choose a nice flat pitch!
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: Wet footprint
