Lag bolt length for tent stakes

[MarcusBrody]

As a follow up on this, I bought both 9 inch and 12 in lag bolts. I use the 9 inch bolts the vast majority of the time in a variety of soils and haven't had one pull out even an inch yet (even most of the desert camping I've done has had fairly hard ground rather than loose sand). I'm much faster putting the tent up with the impact driver and lags than I was with a mini-sledge and the stakes. If I was setting up the tent for a week long base camp I wouldn't care, but my biggest trip this summer involved moving every day, so the few minutes of time savings was nice.

 

[dcg141]

As a follow up on this, I bought both 9 inch and 12 in lag bolts. I use the 9 inch bolts the vast majority of the time in a variety of soils and haven't had one pull out even an inch yet (even most of the desert camping I've done has had fairly hard ground rather than loose sand). I'm much faster putting the tent up with the impact driver and lags than I was with a mini-sledge and the stakes. If I was setting up the tent for a week long base camp I wouldn't care, but my biggest trip this summer involved moving every day, so the few minutes of time savings was nice.

I use those aluminum military stakes most of the time and was convinced they would drive into anything, until they didn't and started carrying lag bolts with an impact. For that super hard baked out ground there is nothing faster. Been thinking about keeping some 12 inch for really bad rain trips where you have to get deep to find any dry ground.

 

[MarcusBrody]

As a follow up on this, I bought both 9 inch and 12 in lag bolts. I use the 9 inch bolts the vast majority of the time in a variety of soils and haven't had one pull out even an inch yet (even most of the desert camping I've done has had fairly hard ground rather than loose sand). I'm much faster putting the tent up with the impact driver and lags than I was with a mini-sledge and the stakes. If I was setting up the tent for a week long base camp I wouldn't care, but my biggest trip this summer involved moving every day, so the few minutes of time savings was nice.

Of course days after I wrote this I had my first incident of some of the lag bolts pulling out. I was up in Death Valley this weekend set up on variably loose ground when a semi-surprise windstorm hit. I had 2 of the screws come out (I think both were 9in, as I'd used both) and some others loosen up. My tent was still up and reasonably secure while a lot of others were collapsing, getting blown across the desert, so it wasn't too bad, but still it was the first time I'd had any insecurity. I used the rest of my 12 inch screws to replace them and doubled up in the softest areas, putting in two screws at different angles so one would counteract the other being tugged in a certain direction. No more problems through a windy evening.

 

[Man]

I too have a Kodiak Canvas tent and spend time lots of time out in the desert during winter. It is a 10'X14' VX model. I use 12" angle iron tent stakes in the Mohave, but I also tie down the 10' side that faces the strong North winds. I tie a rope from the backbone on the tent where the upper support meets it and connect the other end of the rope to a huge stake deep in the ground directly in front of the tent.

Then I use wire to tie the backbone on both the left and right sides. 18 gauge fence wire broke like it was a toy. Then I upped the fence wire to 14 gauge and so far, so good. I use rebar in the ground to tie off the sides of the backbone on each end at an angle.

The tent hardly moves now. It kind of puffs out with a direct N wind, but it no longer sways side to side so I can actually be inside without wanting to leave. Another benefit of the side-to-side tie downs on the backbone is that rigging prevents the wind from shifting the tent side to side and that is hard on the D ring attachment points on the ground. As you know, the wind can get violent and the tent will snap and crack like a whip at times, lol.

If the wind gusts are predicted to be 45 MPH or faster I drop the tent beforehand. Also, the long sides of the tent where the spring bars point out at can't hold nearly as much wind pressure than the narrow side.

 

[silver.surfer]

I used these they work well and have a case

 

[BulldoginaJeepwithaColt]

I too have a Kodiak Canvas tent and spend time lots of time out in the desert during winter. It is a 10'X14' VX model. I use 12" angle iron tent stakes in the Mohave, but I also tie down the 10' side that faces the strong North winds. I tie a rope from the backbone on the tent where the upper support meets it and connect the other end of the rope to a huge stake deep in the ground directly in front of the tent.

Then I use wire to tie the backbone on both the left and right sides. 18 gauge fence wire broke like it was a toy. Then I upped the fence wire to 14 gauge and so far, so good. I use rebar in the ground to tie off the sides of the backbone on each end at an angle.

The tent hardly moves now. It kind of puffs out with a direct N wind, but it no longer sways side to side so I can actually be inside without wanting to leave. Another benefit of the side-to-side tie downs on the backbone is that rigging prevents the wind from shifting the tent side to side and that is hard on the D ring attachment points on the ground. As you know, the wind can get violent and the tent will snap and crack like a whip at times, lol.

If the wind gusts are predicted to be 45 MPH or faster I drop the tent beforehand. Also, the long sides of the tent where the spring bars point out at can't hold nearly as much wind pressure than the narrow side.

Interested in your set-up, any pics to share?

Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk

 

[Man]

Interested in your set-up, any pics to share?

Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk

Last year before the snow:



Last year in this same area, 3' of snow fell over a 3 day period. This coating is just 7" that fell while I was sleeping. I did snow duty at night around the car, but not for the tent since I was sleeping in the car, lol




After clearing the snow:





In the Mohave looking at the South side are the wire tie downs and re-bar:




This is the North 10' side of the tent. It takes the most air force. It can handle 40 MPH directly to that side without any problem:




When the wind gusts are predicted to be 45 MPH or greater, I break down the tent. If the prediction is wrong and the wind is stronger, that would break the tent and it is best to drop the tent before the storm because all that canvas catches the wind like a sail on a boat and I think it would be difficult at best to drop the sob when it is windy:








Panorama shot of tent before another storm dropped some rain (file size is too big for this site). Those clouds were reflected on the weather radar as yellow.

 

[BulldoginaJeepwithaColt]

Thanks!

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