I splashed out on a footprint groundsheet and while it helped to position the tent when putting it up, every time it rained the rain went on top of the footprint and pooled underneath the tent so although the tent SIG might not have been muddy when packing up it was sopping wet, so what's the point?
If you're on a hill rain will naturally trickle down and sometimes under the SIG and between the footprint. Also if the tent doesn't cover the entire footprint fully the footprint will act like a rain catcher and rain will find it's way under the SIG. Sadly water will always find it's level but at least your SIG will be clean which I assume is the main reason for having one. I doubt you'll ever successfully keep water out, sorry x
If there is a bit of footprint sticking out it will collect water.
If it rains so much that the ground cant soak it up anymore it will collect water.
If you are on a slope, it might collect water/get wet
TBH I think footprints are a waste of money. You can get a piece of tarp and make your own for a lot less and if the SIG gets wet at least you do not feel like you have been robbed ;)
Thanks for all the feedback. I did get the tent covering the footprint initially but it is not much smaller and when it was windy the edge of the tent blew up exposing the footprint, specially at the front. Could be specific to my tent I suppose.
Quote: Originally posted by AngelicMinx on 14/9/2011
It has been a pretty dire summer, it doesn't always rain when we are camping... well not that bad anyway lol
Angie
I'm sure I heared somewhere its been the coldest on record?
Best camp of the year for me was Easter........scorching........that did make a welcome change from the usual
Quote: Originally posted by AngelicMinx on 14/9/2011It has been a pretty dire summer, it doesn't always rain when we are camping... well not that bad anyway lol
Angie
I'm sure I heared somewhere its been the coldest on record?
Best camp of the year for me was Easter........scorching........that did make a welcome change from the usual
We were away this weekend and when we took the tent down there were pools of water between the footprint and SIG. The tent fully covered the footprint, but it was really windy when it rained on Saturday night, so think the SIG must have lifted and let the rain get under. Not a problem as, like others have said, the SIG was nice and clean, if a little wet.
We've been out on many a rainy day and never had water between SIG and footprint yet, lucky, or type of tent, dont know.
Always tuck footprint under tent so none showing and peg tent down well so any rain just runs on grass and doest touch footprint, as Im sure others do. So maybe just luck? Anyway footprint keeps tent base nice and clean, but of course you dont have to but exact footprint, any good quality waterproof material would do, cut to size. We got our footprint half price because it didnt have a bag and had been returned to store, lucky us.
on our main holiday this year in Snowdonia we had three days and nights of continuous torrential rain and gale force winds...because of this we ended up with water pooling between the SIG and the footprint...this is the first time we've ever had this happen, but the ground was just so saturated that the water had to go somewhere...
i'm still a great believer in footprints tho as they do a fantastic job of protecting the underside of our SIG from any sharp stones etc that we may have missed when pitching...the fact that they keep our SIG dry/clean for the majority of the time comes as a welcome bonus...
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"tereba nessa, kemer wyth"
.~*MOONIE*~.
Snowdonia - Peak District - Brecon Beacons - Lake District
We've never had a wet footprint until our last camping trip this year.. in France. This time the pitch flooded although our tent stayed dry, the footprint never had chance to dry off so when we started folding the tent we discovered pools of water between sig and footprint.
In this case it probably would have been better to have not put the footprint down, but unless you know the pitch is likely to flood there is no way of predicting how it will be if it does rain.
We've never had this problem before, even when its rained. I'd still put the footprint down in future, even after what happened last time.
Thats the reason I dont use a footprint. If you get rain and wind and the drainage at the site isnt great you're certain to get pooling between tent and footprint.
------------- Always forgive,Never forget;Learn from mistakes,But Never regret;People change,Things go wrong;Just remember life goes on
Cool campers use Delta Pegs.
The happiest people aren't the ones who have everything they are the ones who make the most of everything they have
We had the same problem on our last trip out, had a sloping area next to the tent and then constant heavy rain for about 19 hours, bad thing for us, it started to seep up through the SIG and left us with a wet carpet!
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
Aug/Sept - Leekworth