The $12 tarp strap trick that beat my $80 stakes

Honestly, I switched to webbing ratchet straps for my tent corners last month on a trip to Lake Almanor. The gusty winds snapped three of my fancy aluminum stakes, but the straps held the whole weekend without budging. I just wrapped them around logs or rocks and cranked them tight, way less hassle than hammering into packed dirt. Ngl, it felt janky at first, but the tent didn't move an inch through 40 mph gusts. Anyone else ditched stakes for straps on windy sites, or am I missing something about the hardcore stake crowd?

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foster.charles13d ago

My buddy had the same thing happen at Joshua Tree where his stakes kept popping out of the sand until he ran his guy lines to a couple of big rocks instead. He said it looked dumb but the tent stayed put all night while everyone else was out there re-staking at 2am. The only catch is you need something solid to tie off to, so on open ground with nothing around you're still stuck with stakes.

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hugo_bennett13d ago

Sand stakes are the worst, I had the exact same deal at Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. I got so tired of chasing my tent across the flats that I just started filling bags with sand and burying my stakes in those, which honestly worked better than the stakes ever did on their own. The rock trick is way less work though if you can find them, and your buddy is right that it looks silly but nobody is laughing at 2am when their tent is flying away. Deadman anchors with a buried stick or a stuff sack full of rocks work too when there is nothing good to tie off to. Half the battle with sand is just getting the stake deep enough and angled right, but once you do that it holds way better.

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