Tent and Tarp Stakes, a 40 year review

[Guest]

OK, I am going through all of our tents, seam sealing, replacing guy lines, and looking to replace the bent, junky or missing tent stakes on many of them. Oy vay, vhat hef I dones?

I know, I know, some folks whittle their own tent stakes each evening. I am not one of them; I want the number of stakes needed that will do the job required, in a bag ready at hand, without making kindling. I do not mind sitting and whittling, just not when it is time to put the tent up.

Some personal stake evolution has occurred over the decades; how the heck did I end up with 60 (yes, I counted) cheap plastic stakes? And why have I kept them (answer, tomato cages and other garden stuff). Those things suck for tents or tarps and are worthless on hard ground.

P6190911 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Same uselessness on hard pack ground goes for most cheap wire J stakes.

P6190913 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The best of that J hook stake may be Kelty hexagonal Nobendiums. They are about as stout and unbendium as that style stake comes.

P6190915 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

https://www.backcountry.com/kelty-nobendium-ii-tent-stakes?CMP_SKU=KEL004D&MER=0406&skid=KEL004D-ONECOL-ONESIZ&mr:trackingCode=94A5B40F-775C-E511-80F1-005056944E17&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=plaonline&CMP_ID=PLA_GOc001&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PLA&k_clickid=3674b024-2770-bfc8-c3df-00005cce6367&rmatt=tsid:1042790|cid:213414877|agid:45770983886|tidla-378545353573|crid:224538011675|nw:g|rnd:1121935379232415099|dvc:c|adp:1o1|mt:|loc:9007844&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImOz01r3i2wIV1AOGCh2HaAR0EAQYASABEgIT1PD_BwE

Those Nobendiums may actually be worth a $1.60 apiece Some tent corner designs secure best with a J stake, and I am out of even crappy ones. But at $1.60 apiece a dozen of those Nobendiums gets pricey. I would love to find those, or a decent near equivalent, cheaper by the dozen.

But, where possible, especially on guy lines, MSR Groundhog stakes, or even mini Groundhogs, are my preference, despite the orientation and angle specificity required. But I would not want to buy them at the current cost, especially not by the dozen.

https://www.rei.com/product/682543/msr-ground-hog-stake?CAWELAID=120217890000815964&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=15724358560&CATCI=pla-412382133264&cm_mmc=PLA_Google|404_135890|6825430017|none|3674b024-2770-bfc8-c3df-00005cce6367|pla-412382133264&lsft=cm_mmcLA_Google_LIA|404_135890|6825430017|none|3674b024-2770-bfc8-c3df-00005cce6367&kclid=3674b024-2770-bfc8-c3df-00005cce6367&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0c3vksHi2wIVhESGCh3lLAOtEAQYASABEgKGofD_BwE

Yoikes, those are $3 apiece now? They are far superior to the knock offs and clones, but $3 seems dang pricey for a tent stake.

Left to right, 6 inch MSR mini Groundhogs, 8 inch Groundhogs, cheap Coghlans knockoffs (junk) and even junkier no name knock offs apparently made from recycled beer can aluminum (found discarded at some site). I believe Yuri Geller used those beer can tent stakes in his act, and bending them with his mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycE863jRA9Q

P6190916 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

None of those, even the Groundhogs, will drive easily into damnable campground gravel pads where RVs have parked when car camping. Back in the days of yore there were heavyweight solutions to that hardpack dilemma. Provided you could pull them back out of the ground.

P6190918 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

In more modern times WallyWorld 10 inch spike stakes do the trick on gravel pads and other hardpack surfaces.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-10-Tent-Stakes/13848624

P6190920 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

(There is an evil campfire reason one spike stake has a black painted head and a black 100 lb zip-tie ready to secure)

For large group tarps in windy conditions 12 inch mil-spec tarp stakes are the bomb. Heavy as heck, a 4-pack weighs 11 ounces, but they do nestle nicely. They are eights inch thick aluminum and I have yet to damage one, despite some fierce poundings in concrete-ish ground. See also 83 cents apiece.

P6190922 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

https://colemans.com/shop/camping-gear/tents-accessories/u-s-g-i-12-aluminum-tent-stakes-12-pack/

I do wish I had been smart enough to spray paint the heads on those green mil spec stakes yellow or orange before I put the reflective tape on. Or, duh, not used green reflective tape. I lack sufficient foresight in shop play, too late now.

And, finally, the mother of all tie down points for loose sand or loam; the spiral stake, meant for securing dog leads in the yard.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Secureline-Tie-Down-Stake/46862695

P6190924 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I moved the ring to the top of the triangle handle and added a carabineer. And a piece of Tygon tubing and bungee on the sharp pointy end for transport; the bungee so I can larks head the tubing around the top triangle once removed and not wonder where the heck that pointy end storage protector got to when I go to pack up.

Those spiral stakes are awesome in certain situations. Sometimes on the high force windward end of the tarp. Sometimes on sandy beach trips with no trees, where I use that spiral stake to springline my boat, pulling in oppositional directions , with the other painter tied to a frail bayberry or to a deadman half arsed buried belt-and-suspenders off the other painter.

 

[Pinecones]

Frankly, this is the best post I've ever seen on stakes.

Also a good reminder to me to pack some longer spikes for a car camping trip along Lake Superior in two weeks.

 

[alsg]

Frankly, this is the best post I've ever seen on stakes.

How many post on tent stakes have you seen??

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Head over to the backpacking forums .you will them weekly

surprised not to see any Easton arrow shaft stakes in there. Pricey but good stakes .

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

If I was in publishing, I would offer you an advance on a coffee table book on stakes.

 

[Guest]

Once I started going through the stake supply looking for replacements for some of the tents it was hard to stop.

I bought a half dozen cheap wire J-stakes so I had enough to properly supply all of the older/loaner tents, including an extra in each bag. Probably best not to loan someone a tent with $30 worth of Groundhog stakes.

 

[Kayak_Ken]

When camping on the Suwannee River in Florida I find that the stakes don't work that well in the soft fine sand. What does work well for me is to dig four holes in the sand, using the sand in those cloth grocery bags and then place the bags in the holes and attach the tent to them. I use this method when we go to to the beach for our sun shade tents and it works real well holding it down in the wind. I am going to try replacing the cloth bags with plastic grocery bags to cut down on size and weight and just replace them after each trip.

Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)

 

[Guest]

"dead men" are best for sand. Surprisingly, my favorite stakes are the cheap colgans ones from Walmart.

 

[Guest]

When camping on the Suwannee River in Florida I find that the stakes don't work that well in the soft fine sand. What does work well for me is to dig four holes in the sand, using the sand in those cloth grocery bags and then place the bags in the holes and attach the tent to them. I use this method when we go to to the beach for our sun shade tents and it works real well holding it down in the wind.

I do not have much problem with tent stakes, at least on smaller, more aerodynamic tents. I make sure the tent has enough weight in it to keep it from blowing into the river, and on soft sand I do like having a security blanket anchor or two.

No doubt burying a deadman ground anchor is the most effective method, especially on soft stuff like sugar sand. I have a couple of old grungy stuff bags used only for that (you will never get all the sugar sand out of a stuff bag).

I said halfassed deadman because digging holes is not my favorite thing, especially with a scrap of wood, a clam shell found on the beach or even a hand trowel.

Folding entrenching tools are heavy, and full of packing inconvenient pointy edges. And manual labor inconvenient length; digging a hole while on my knees? That sounds like the last thing the victim does before a mob hit.

When we dug catholes for human waste we carried a True Temper kid sized shovel; the blade has the perfect dimensions for a cathole and is big enough for burying deadmen.

https://www.idealtruevalue.com/stor...MI97iK-NPx2wIVjA2RCh1WagnbEAQYAiABEgLaEvD_BwE

Lighter than a quality entrenching tool, sturdier than a cheap entrenching tool that bends on the first hole, with an actual handle so I can get off my knees. We still have that 1990s shovel, and still use it sometimes.

I am going to try replacing the cloth bags with plastic grocery bags to cut down on size and weight and just replace them after each trip.

I would be concerned about the tensile strength of those plastic grocery bags, especially where the guy lines are tied off.

Hmmm, that might be another use for the long nylon stuff bags I have saved from defunct folding chairs. Filled with sand and set laterally in a narrow trench, with a separate, high tensile guy line loop tied around the center of the bag ==I==

That separate loop could stick out from under the sand for guy line access and easy tensioning.

I knew I saved those old folding chair bags for a reason.