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Ok, next week is first time camping with my family and our very own tent so I'm very, very excited - it's taken me six years to convice the hubby it is good fun enough to come with me.    When I say I've got a tent, it's on it's way here and I only have a photo at the moment. It's a blue/navy colour, the pods don't have a second pole to give the extra head space (why do you need that for your feet anyway????) and I'm 99% certain it doesn't have a second, side door).  I want to get/make a footprint for it - whether it be a 'proper' one if I have time or a temporary tarpaulin one if not but I'm not sure exactly what year it was made (guessing it's around 2005/6 from t'internet search) and whether there is any difference in the footprint size around that time - the newer ones are bigger I think????   Any help or knowledge would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks, Lucy

Making one from a tarp from B&Q is cheap and effective.
Just remember to make it a couple of inches smaller all the way round than the actual tent.

Hope you have a lovely trip.

If you buy a tarp, buy one bigger than the tent. To cut it to shape and size, lay out the Tarp and peg it at each corner to hold it down. Then, put up your new tent on the tarp and peg it out. Don't worry about pegs going through the tarp that sticks out, you'll be cutting off that excess. Now go round the tent and using a marker pen, draw the outline of the tent. Now Remove tent. You now have a groundsheet with the exact tent shape marked on it. Next, as Helen said, cut the groundsheet about 2" INSIDE that line. Bingo, perfect fit!

The importance of the groundsheet being slightly smaller than the tent is so rain cannot collect on any protruding groundsheet, cos if it does, it will eventually run into the tent.

Just one point, if you are using a woven type of tarp cut it about 2" outside of the markings so you can fold over and glue it along the marked line. This will stop the tarp from fraying and pop a few snap shut eyelets in the corners where you will peg it down for the same reason.

Gary

Brilliant, thank you all.  Tent arrived today so I'm going to attempt it later today if it doesn't tip it down.

Quick question - does it matter if the edges are glued or sewn?  Only I reckon I'd do a neater job on my sewing machine - I'm a typical woman know your limits kinda gal when it comes to glue and screwdrivers!!!

Lucy x

Hi Lucy & welcome to the forum

Yes, you can sew it. You'll need to use a strong needle, and adjust the tension of your machine by stitching on an off cut till you get the tension right. If you're happy to sew the edges, then you can save yourself a lot of faff with fitting eyelets - just sew a loop of tape on each corner (well..., just on the corners you've cut), stitch securely & use the loops to peg the footprint out.

Using tape loops of about 4 inches in length also means that you will be pegging outside the area where your sewn-in-groundsheet is, whereas if you use eyelets, the peg will be under the groundsheet. If you don't want the loops to show when the tent is pitched, just remove the peg & push the loop under the tent out of sight