I ordered 4 of the small (9.5 inch) sized Orange Screws. I’ll report back once I’ve tried them out.
They just failed to use a deadman… We never went for lack of one… We had a water jug and kept it filled with river water. I have no use for orange screws where I normally camp so we just made do.
I paddle in desert canyons & camp on sand beaches/islands so I’m hoping these will be a good tent anchor on those trips. My current sand stake is actually a snow stake. They work ok, but I don’t think they’d hold up to much wind. They aren’t as long as the orange screw. I don’t think the orange screw would work well on gravel bars or rocky areas.
@Raftergirl said:
I paddle in desert canyons & camp on sand beaches/islands so I’m hoping these will be a good tent anchor on those trips. My current sand stake is actually a snow stake. They work ok, but I don’t think they’d hold up to much wind. They aren’t as long as the orange screw. I don’t think the orange screw would work well on gravel bars or rocky areas.
If camping on sand and space is not at a premium, you can hardly do better than a batch of 1" x 2" wooden marker stakes from a building-supply store (actual dimensions are 3/4" x 1.5"). These are 18 inches long (maybe more - I can’t remember), and I usually cut them down to roughly 12". If you use the full 18" length and the sand is damp, you won’t even be able to pull them out vertically when you break camp the next day (you’ll need a shovel), so you don’t need to worry about their holding power when pulled sideways by your tent in the wind. Even with the length cut to 12" or 14", I’m pretty certain your tie-downs would rip free of the tent long before the stake would yield, especially if the sand has any dampness to it. An added benefit is that you can buy about 15 or 20 of them for roughly the same price as a single snow stake. With repeated hammering into the ground over several camping trips, they start to split, and eventually you’ll toss them, but for the price they are still a bargain.
When the stakes are cut to shorter length, it helps to scrape away the top layer of loose, dry sand to expose a more-moist layer before pounding the stake in, since that upper dry material doesn’t contribute all that much to anchoring anyway.
Kayakers would not like these stakes on account of the space they take up in storage, but canoers and rafters would have no issue with that. I just checked, and 10 stakes pack into an oval bundle that’s about 5" x 4" when viewed from one end, and 15 stakes would pack into a round bundle with a diameter of about 5".
To preface everthing that follows; My wife & I both paddle solo canoes, 13 to 14 feet in length. We have an amazing amount of carrying space. We can carry anything we could want or need. We never use kayaks; we never do portages. We most often paddle on spring fed, moving water rivers. We often camp on gravel or sand bars (preferably gravel). We often base camp in camp grounds.
The issue of a tent or rainfly blowing down, or blowing away is a non issue for us. It’s never happened to me in 50 years. Never! She is many years behind me in years paddled/camping, but it has never happened to us. Never!
My/our methodology is to carry a combo of metal stakes, and home made wooden stakes. The metal stakes are mostly a collection of varied styles I/we found while canoe, river camping, or at yard sales. total investment about 5 bucks. I particularly like to use the V shape metal stakes that are approximatel 10 inches in length. The wooden stakes are made from scrap lumber from varied wood working projects. The are approx. 1 1/2 wide, and about 16 inches in length. Cost nothing; I bought the wood for projects, not to make stakes.
The metal stakes are basically used to stake down the tent base. Long wooden stakes are used to stake down the tent’s rainfly…
Wooden stakes are all I use to stake down my CCS tarps, one of which is quite large. I have never had one of those stakes pulled from the ground. It is extremely seldom that one has even been loosened.
I have used the dead log, sandbags, and boulder methods. Nothing beats the long wooden stakes for me. Their weight is negligible; maybe a pound or a pound & a half for 12 to 14 of them. When not in use they are stored in a stuff sack. Takes little time to make new ones. Damn cheap.
BOB
In many cases you will have the same issues anchoring a tent as you will a tarp, so personally I always use a tarp. Tarps are easier for me to improvise anchoring points and pitches, you can tie out to rocks, driftwood(not effective if the water level rises haha), sometimes small-medium vegetation if I absolutely have to and it wont damage it. Wind was mentioned, in that case I use a plough point pitch (3 corners anchored directly to the ground, one up) with the center ground point directing into the prevailing wind as much as possible. With this pitch you can find a sturdy stick if you have to and guy it out to 2-4 more large rocks/stakes/whatever. Of course the easier more fail-proof choice would be a bivouac sack. Some people can’t stand them but I don’t mind the ones that support the area directly above your face, that way you don’t get a heavy dose of Chinese water torture if it rains.