Tent Ground Tarp - canvas or polyethylene?

tropics

New member
Took our new Kodiak tent out camping this past weekend. I was pleasantly surprised on how thick the bottom of the tent is but like other used a tarp to protect the tent. I ended up using the thicker gray tarp from Home depo etc. No crunchy noises since the tent bottom is so thick! Loved the tent, No scorpions but centipedes do like find there way under the tent.
 

Scott B.

SE Expedition Society
Update

The Kodiak poly tarp worked like a champ!

I used it for 8 days in a row in Utah (breaking camp every morning.) We did not have any rain, so I cannot say how it would do in the rain (fine, I'm sure), but it worked great in the desert.

While not necessarily needed, it did provide two very nice benefits. First, it is much easier to move the tarp than the tent when determining the location to set the tent. Second, when folding the tent in the morning, folding it on the tarp keeps it a little cleaner.
 

Honu

lost on the mainland
Took our new Kodiak tent out camping this past weekend. I was pleasantly surprised on how thick the bottom of the tent is but like other used a tarp to protect the tent. I ended up using the thicker gray tarp from Home depo etc. No crunchy noises since the tent bottom is so thick! Loved the tent, No scorpions but centipedes do like find there way under the tent.

you get the little purple ones or the big dark ones under the tent ?

hated those big suckers !!!
I moved to the mainland about 6 years ago from Maui but back in the 90s lived on Lanai and we used to catch some of the big dark centipedes :) had some that were a bit over 12 inches !!! most about 8-10 inches for the big ones !

makes sense we used to find em by flipping large rocks or leaf piles around old logs etc..


only scorpions I ever saw were the little dark ones ! but the sting was nothing if ya got stung

the bark scorpions here in AZ are bad I hear big time bad like put you in the hospital kinda sting for some people sometimes !!!


how did the canvas do ? pretty nice compared to a nylon tent huh ! so much cooler in the mornings etc..
 
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tropics

New member
Howzitt Honu,
Had the big dark ones for us, only about 6" long but 4 of them, 8" to 12" are monsta's!!!! wouldnt want to come across them big buggas. Once it gets dark they all come out roaming around the camp.

This is my first old school canvas tent coming from the usual nylon suspects with the junk poles that bend over in the wind and I am a convert! this tent didnt even budge in the constant off shore ocean breezes! probably the last tent I will ever need to buy.
 

brentbba

Explorer
I've got the 10x10 Springbar and purchased the canvas ground tarp. It does have the same waterproof properties the tent has from what I can tell, which I think is great. Hosed it off after 3 nights of cottonwood everywhere at Slickrock in Moab and the water just beaded up on it. Yes, it's a little more bulky, but there's not much that'll puncture it either.
 

Honu

lost on the mainland
I've got the 10x10 Springbar and purchased the canvas ground tarp. It does have the same waterproof properties the tent has from what I can tell, which I think is great. Hosed it off after 3 nights of cottonwood everywhere at Slickrock in Moab and the water just beaded up on it. Yes, it's a little more bulky, but there's not much that'll puncture it either.

is the tent fabric feel lighter or anything ? or do you think its the exact same fabric as the tent body ?
 

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