[Philmont]: Ground Cloths

FWIW: I am in the "Bring a Ground Cloth" crowd. We use Eureka
Timberlite tents, and have used what I believe is 4 mil black plastic
cut exactly (tapered) to fit the tent footprint dimensions, minus an
inch or so on all outside dimensions. The ground cloths weigh 7 ounces
each.

We use the ground cloths basically so we have a clean, dry spot to place
the tent (so they're underneath, not inside). Their ability to help
repel water in heavy rain is somewhat suspect, and I think is as much a
matter of lucky topography as anything else. I have seen the bottoms of
the tents come out almost completely dry after heavy rain, while the
bottom of the ground cloths were soaked. But in other cases, the ground
cloth seemed to act as a conduit (even when properly placed), carrying
water to the middle of the tent floor, where it eventually seeped
through. However, this past weekend we did a killer shakedown in the
Shenandoahs, where we got 3 inches of rain in about an hour and a half
Saturday evening (it was coming down!), and all 10 of our tents came out
fine.

My main concern is not a wet floor, but rather a muddy tent bottom. If
you roll or stuff a tent with a really muddy floor, it will badly stain
the light/white upper sections of the tent, and usually also the fly. A
dirty tent has a shorter lifetime (and a VERY short lifetime if it's
stored that way). Dirty tents hold water longer, too. They also look
like hell, and the light colored nylons used to make the upper sections
of tents seem to hold stains very tenaciously. While it may be possible
to routinely dry out a tent in certain environments, including Philmont
most of the time, that is not so sure here in the east - especially this
year, with the wettest Spring I can recall in 30 years. And for those
of us who like to be on the trail at Philmont 30 minutes after wakeup,
drying at the site really isn't an option.

During the "roll 'em" vs. "stuff 'em" thread of 6 - 8 months ago, I
noted that the original purchase of my primary Troop tents (Eureka
Timberline Deluxe) was in 1989, and all 10 of them are still performing
admirably, and still look pretty good, too. Ditto for my original run
of Timberlites, bought in 1995 - and those have seen plenty of rough
duty, too, at least a dozen long-term (1-3 week long) treks. I can't
really make a solid comparison, because I have never gone without ground
cloths, but in my opinion the fact that we use ground cloths has been a
significant factor in these tents' respective longevities - and maybe
help compensate some for the normal wear and tear of 75 Scouts.

- Dr. Bob

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Received on Tue Jun 17 20:20:19 2003