How to Stake a Tent Properly with Our Guide

It is important to know how to properly stake a tent if you do not want your tent to collapse on you in the middle of the night due to the wind blowing just a bit more heavily while you are sleeping.

If you are alone at that point in time, you are probably frustrated but if you are there with your family and children, then you surely are worried about if it starts to rain and they might catch a cold.

This is why it is necessary to make sure that you have got a few things right when you are staking your tent.

How to Stake a Tent 101

Let’s find out the tips and guide on how to stake a tent in proper ways.

1. Choose and Clear the Site

It is important that you take a walk around the place and choose a camping place to stake your tent thoughtfully. You should check to see if there are too many rocks if the ground is level if there are large tree roots. You must also make sure that you are not under any tree that drops acorns or pine cones.

If you consider these things before setting up your tent then you probably will not have to wake up due to a lump poking you or by the sound of the acorns falling on the ground. It is worth the few minutes it will take to clear the area of any large rocks, seeds, twigs or any other unwanted item.

2. Always Stake Your Tent

This may seem like something everyone knows but there have been incidents where the tents were not staked at all.

A lot of campers, avid or first timers have set their larger cabin tents up on a calm time of the day and got busy doing other stuff like having a beverage or fell in love with nature leading them to forget about staking the tent.

As soon as the wind picks up speed before they even know the tent will probably be blown away requiring them to do it all over again.

3. Stake Corner Guy Lines at an Angle

When you are placing stakes, try to place them at a 45-degree angle from the corner as it will allow you to pull the line tightly allowing for maximum room inside. It also helps to keep the tent waterproof even if the wind speed increases.

Your tent will be much more comfortable and feel a lot bigger in size which will definitely again make you feel less claustrophobic.

4. Tie Guy Lines

Staking the bass of the tent is important but it is also important to tie guy lines to the tent.

These help by providing the tent with additional structure and it maximizes the space inside the tent for you to feel airier and less claustrophobic.

5. Straight up Stake

It is a lot more effective to hammer the stake in straight down into the soil so that it penetrates the most and it also has more resistance against higher wind speeds.

This is really effective and works amazingly when and if there are a storm or wild winds. Properly setting the tent will make your sleep in the tent comfortable.

6. Choose the Right Tent Stakes

There are a few different factors when considering the stake to use. The two main to consider are the length and surface area of the stake. Here are three of the most popular types of pegs used to stake tents:

7-inch Aluminum Tent Stakes

These 7-inch aluminum stakes are very lightweight and strong. For example 12 pieces of these usually way around 3.5 ounces.

These are usually 3 sided and this increases the surface area which allows of a stronger hold in the ground which is perfect for most of the tenting applications mainly when one of the factors is the weight.

12-inch Aluminum Tent Stakes

These 12-inch stakes are very heavy duty and have a lot of surface area with a curved shape for a very stronghold. You are mainly going to use this on soft surfaces such as sand or snow.

There are multiple holes in these to increase its ability to hold and also provide a few different rigging options. These are a lot heavier and weigh about 2-3 ounces each.

11-inch Galvanized Steel Stakes: 

These galvanized steel stakes are more like traditional pegs used to stake your big cabin tents. These are very heavy duty and just as heavy.

Ten of these pegs weigh about 3 lbs. While these may not be great for backpacking, they are certainly going to do the trick to stake tents in a backyard.

See More: What’s a Tent Vestibule?

7. If Unsure, Stake More

If you are unsure if the tent will hold with the pegs you staked it with, then just go ahead and stake a few more. You can even tie your tent to a tree.

It is usually sandy soils or when there is snow that you will need deeper wedged stakes to hold the tent properly but if you do not have such deep stakes, just tie your tent to a tree nearby.

8. Ropes Down to Stakes are Trip Hazards

It is common sense but many people tend to trip on the ropes of their stakes. It happens mainly during the night if you just woke up to go take a leak while you are sleepy and trip over one of your stakes.

This is another reason why it is a good idea to stake at a 45-degree angle away from the entrance of the tent.

9. Makeshift Supplementary Stakes

You can make stakes by fastening additional anchors by tying a rope from the tent to a big and heavy rock on the ground. You then have to lay on top of it another heavy rock to further secure it to the ground.

This is really helpful if a suddenly a storm breaks out and you need to add additional stakes to your tent but you do not have any at hand. This is when you make these makeshift stakes to at least get through during the storm.

10. How to Pitch a Tent

Here are a few tips for pitching the tent properly.

• Select a proper location free that doesn’t have much dust and debris.
• Position your tent properly that the door is kept away from the wind.
• Properly assemble the tent and follow proper instructions for setting up the tent in wind and rain.
• Connect the fly using the manual or video instructions and safely place the tent poles.
• Set up the tent stake using our instruction with the given article.