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Sand stakes for tents

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#23 ·
koni said:
Make your own. Get some plywood and cut some 4x4" squares. Drill a hole through the center and run some rope through the hole, knot it there and then give your self a foot or so and tie it to your tent. Then on the beach burry them like dead man anchors. They work great on sand and are not much addition. If you end up on dirt use your old stakes and leave them tied up to the tent.
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I just use old sticks I find for dead mans and run the rope around once and then tie back up to the line. In the morning you just untie the rope and pull it out and your on your way.
 
#24 ·
#25 ·
I've used the Orange Screw stakes for a group tarp on the Main Salmon a few times. They work well in sand. I also have several Rock Buster stakes that work pretty well overall.
 
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#28 ·
1+ on the military surplus stakes for smaller structures. They are aluminum and super light, also about $1 each so you can't beat the price. I usually carry a bunch extra and hand them out to people setting up their tents in the wind.

For my big 16' shade structure held up with oars I quit screwing around with stakes which always pull out, or deadmans that take a lot of work, and instead I do this:
Image


Yes, I bring a drill with me. Why?
  • These are cheap for their holding power, ~$6 each. I did have to slightly modify them to get them to dig better (cut off a bit of the lower digging tip so it didn't circle entirely on itself, and hammer it down to make it a steeper angle).
  • I can setup a huge bombproof shade structure with a few people in 10-15 minutes that I just don't have to worry about. Recently some stitching on my shade structure ripped before the anchors failed.
  • You can setup the shade structure in and around plants without disturbing the soil which you can't do with a deadman.
  • This works in cobble where you wouldn't want to dig a deadman.
  • Literally longest part of installation/uninstallation is threading/unthreading the loop from the top on each anchor.
I have thought about making a bunch of long stakes with aluminum angle as mentioned earlier, especially for more heavy rocky soil where these anchors wouldn't work. But driving them in can be difficult and pulling them out can by really difficult.
 
#30 ·
chitwoodc6 said:
1. Go to your local blue or orange store and pick up some rebar.
2. Build a fire.
3. Place about 6 inches of rebar in the coals.
4. Bend the rebar into a loop.
5. Repeat as necessary.

I haven't had one fail yet.
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I’ve been beach camping in Mexico for the last 30 plus years. 2’ rebar sand stakes has been my go to for everything from old style canvas tents to modern day family tents. Never had a problem.
 
#31 ·
I feel your pain. Since we often camp on sandy places with no trees/rocks nearby and high wind I've tried all the options mentioned in the thread so far. Unfortunately I haven't found a "the one" solution, so now I have a whole bag of various stakes that I bring on our trips. Big things like a rain fly can get really large wind loads. We have a Black Diamond Mega Bug and Hyperlite Ultamid 4 - both use a single pole in the middle and needs the anchors to tension the rest of the structure. These and the rain fly are two things that demand the most of a sand stake. The two types of stakes I use the most for soft sand are:
  • Eddyline copies - I made my own using 1-1/4" aluminum angle with flat tops for hammering. Mine are about 16" long. You need a deadblow hammer to get them in deep, but once they are there they don't move. The downside to these is that they are huge (even nested I've got 8 16" stakes), and pointy on one end. I usually keep them in my drybox with a little padding wrapped around the pointy end.
  • MSR Toughstakes - I bought several of these when Moosejaw had them on closeout (medium size, 14" x 5"). These are now expensive (and hard to find), but are the best thing I've found that consistently does the job. They nest very well together (with the wire removed), but still take up a good chunk of space compared to regular stakes.
Some runner ups that work well for self-standing tents or mild wind:
  • The aluminum stakes several people posted through Amazon do just fine for our regular tents. Adding a wire half way down the length of the stake lets them function similar to the MRS Toughstakes for about 10% of the cost. Several of the ones sold on Amazon already have small holes punched in them at just the right location for adding a wire. They nest very well together and take up almost zero space (and negligible weight). The downside of these is they are way too flimsy for much beyond sand and somewhat soft ground. Hard soil, or soil with occasional gravel will mangle them. On the plus side they're cheap enough to be considered disposable, you just need enough to make it through your trip (I keep 12 of them in my stake bag).
  • I also have a set of Big Agnes Blowdown tent anchors. These are the fabric pieces that give you a lot of options. If there are some moderate size rocks available I usually dig a small hole, drop in the fabric anchor, put the rock in it, then cover it back up with sand.
-Dan
 
#32 · (Edited)
On occasion car camping or in transit I end up at campgrounds where the tent pads are hard packed. A couple of weeks ago at Halls Crossing for the eclipse beneath the crushed rock was a layer of asphalt. I always carry steel nails such as what Harbor Freight has on sale. Nothing else works at such sites. I wish nails heads were larger because small heads mare my dead blow more than I'd like.

Image
 
#33 ·
#34 ·
#35 ·
I have started using ball peen hammers for my river stakes. They come in various sizes and pack reasonably well in my kit for sand stakes. Also I have a climbing piton hammer left over from the climbing days before pitons got replaced and it does a good job.
 
#36 ·
okieboater said:
I have started using ball peen hammers for my river stakes. They come in various sizes and pack reasonably well in my kit for sand stakes. Also I have a climbing piton hammer left over from the climbing days before pitons got replaced and it does a good job.
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I hadn't thought of that. I have my old Lowe and Forrest hammers for ice climbing and my Stubai big wall hammer. Now to find that box of hammers, pins and screws.
 
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GeoRon
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