How to Easily Stake a Tent
Whenever you are going on camping, especially living in a tent. It is important to know each and every basic. Knowing how to stake a tent is one of them. Whenever camping in a tent, you have to ensure that your tent is stable. Mid-night wind will cause no harm to it. If you can’t stake your tent properly, you will have to pay a lot.
That’s why in this article, I will talk about the steps on how you can stake your tent. So, let’s get started.
How To Stake Out A Tent Properly
Choosing and Clearing the Site
The first thing from where you should get started is choosing and clearing the site where you want to stake the tent. As you will sleep on the ground, that’s why give the ground a check whether there are any tree roots, rocks or any other thing or not that can disturb you.
Without it, make sure you have not chosen a site under a tree as there is a possibility to drop pine cones and acorns. Obviously, you will not like to wake up late night due to the sound of acorns or a lump poking. If you follow the above-mentioned criteria, you will not have this issue.
Stake Your Tent Always
Well, this may hear a bit ridiculous but it’s been done. It is supposed to happen, especially to a newbie that they have erected their tent on a calm and windless day and then got busy playing with children or watching the natural beauty. They totally forget to stake the tent. As a result, the wind picks up their tent and they need to chase it down. Imagine how irritating the matter is.
Tie Guy Lines
Apart from the staking tent, you should also tie the guy lines. The guy lines will provide the tent arrangement by optimizing the interior space of their tent.
Stake corner guy lines at an angle:
When the stakes will be placed at a 45-degree angle from the corner, it will let you pull the line taught for the highest indoor space. Without it, it will also offer a waterproof feature. Once it is done, then you will find your tent more comfortable and roomy.
Straight Up Stake
Yes, you heard right. Using a hammer to make the stake down to the ground is better. It will provide the highest penetration and also will have higher resistance against the winds. Even it will prevent a storm with wild winds. Using a hammer for this purpose is always best.
What if you forget to bring a hammer with you. In this case, you can use a rock, the back of an axle or tire iron for driving the stake. Remember, you need a straight entry in order to get the strongest hold.
Choosing the Right Tent Stakes
It’s time to choose the stake for your tent. While choosing the tent stake, you need to consider two crucial facts. They are the length and surface area of the stake. However, there are three famous types of pegs used for staking tents:
7-inch aluminum tent stakes: These types of stakes are extremely strong and lightweight. They have a great three-sided surface area which offers a good holding power. This type of stake is great to use in a tent. Remember that you will need a longer peg if you are tenting in sandy soil.
12-inch aluminum tent stakes: The 12-inch stakes come in a curved shape. This type of stake is heavy-duty and offers a strong holding power. They are mainly used on soft surfaces like snow or sand. Moreover, the 12-inch tent stake holds lots of holes to increase the holding ability and rigging options. This type of stake is a bit heavy-weight.
11-inch galvanized steel stakes: The 11-inch galvanized steel stakes are the traditional tent pegs. It weighs more than the above-mentioned two. They are also renowned for their heavy-duty feature. However, this type of stake is not great for backpacking.
Stake More If You Are Not Sure
Well, this step is for security. If you feel the stakes you got are not enough for the soil type, you should add more. You can tie it to a tree though.
What Goes in Simple, Comes Out
You are supposed to understand that, if you push a stake by pushing your hand together, then it may come out easily. You have to pay a lot if you face a storm unluckily.
Hooks are Useful
You will find a hook that exists in your tent. The hooks are used to add maximum tension to your guy rope through the soil’s resistance. Basically, the hook is reinforced by the soil when it remains facing away from your tent. You can consider it as an anchor. There will be more possibility of slipping the rope if the hook is facing forward of the tent.
However, you may also go for the s-biner carabiner while setting up your tent. These can be locked and great gear to connect the loop on the stake to your tent’s guy line.
Ropes Down to Stakes are Trip Hazards
It may happen that in the middle of the night, you or your adorable one have to tinkle; there are chances that you forget where the ropes go down for meeting the stake and trip over it.
Makeshift Supplementary Stakes
However, you can arrange a stake by fastening an extra anchor by tying a rope to a big rock on the ground from the tent. In this case, you must put another big and heavy rock on top of it to secure it more. You will find this kind of stake more helpful, especially when a storm breaks out and you need an additional stake.
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