We are new to camping and I've noticed that its been recommended to use tarpaulin under the tent for extra protection. We've got a tent with SIG in the bedrooms but not the main area - would you put the tarpaulin under the whole tent inc. the main area or just the bedrooms.
You want to put it under the sewn in groundsheet (sig). You can buy them precut, ready to use or you can just buy one and cut it yourself. It does make a difference and will keep your sig lasting longer. A wise buy.
We got a great big blue one from B & Q, only cost about £15 and we cut it to the size of our whole tent footprint, even though the only bits with sig are the bedrooms. We find it makes it easier when packing away cos you only have that one tarp to clean and also if it was really bad (which it hasn't been up to now) we'd just get rid and get another one. Also find it gives you a bit of extra insulation. Be careful not to leave the tarp sticking out from under your groundsheet though cos if it rains you can get puddles in between the two.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth
Thanks to the lovely people on here who suggested this, we also bought a blue one from B&Q and used it last weekend. When we packed the tent away the tarp was muddy but the bottom of the SIG was lovely and clean. Brilliant suggestion.
We use tarps under both our tents, but we don`t put it under the porch area in the XXL as that has a bathtub groundsheet. We have just bought the Outwell footprint for the XXL and will be taking that with us when we go away this weekend. We are sure it will save us pitching time, as we have to use three tarps normally and getting them in place is a bind. With the Outwell groundsheet, we will just unfold it, peg it and that`s it!
We only have a SIG in the bedroom area. We have just come back from a site that is purely peagravel and didnt want to risk tearing the SIG, so thanks to the lovely people on the site,we bought 2 taurpaulins to put under the whole tent to protect this. It was great when we packed the tent away this morning, for the base to be bone dry and clean, all we had to do was rub down the taurpaulins, so much less hassle than when we went away during the rain before.
I use one under my qeachua pop up tent it's quite a large one so I fold it over a couple of times, it helps keep the bottom of the groundsheet clean and the extra thickness under the tent helps to protect u from the cold ground
------------- life is like a box of chocolates you never no what your gonna get
When we packed away Sunday we found that the blue sheet had a big hole in it near the rear of the tent. Under the hole was a mouses nest part lined with grass and blue tarp.
Glad it wasnt an expensive footprint groundsheet though.