How to Reduce the Weight of a Tent

There are many backpacking tents that would be perfect if not for their huge weight. You want your backpacking tent to be as light as possible, because you are the one who has to carry it around all the time, so you will need to carry the tent with you wherever you might go.

Unfortunately many features that make a backpacking tent really good add to the weight of the tent. We want our tent to have double vestibules, double doors, and as many guyouts as possible. Multiple doors mean that we can get into and out of the tent easily. Multiple vestibules mean that you will have more space to store your gear, or maybe sit down to take off your muddy clothes, not to mention that you can do all kinds of stuff in a vestibule, cooking is just one of them. Having more guyouts contributes a lot to the stability of the tent. The more guyouts the tent has, the more durable the tent will be, and the more durable it will be in heavy wind.

Unfortunately these features all add to the weight of the tent. But don't worry, there is a way to reduce the weight of your backpacking tent. The manufacturers are looking to keep their costs low, so they might not use the lightest materials, but the cheapest materials. This presents a great opportunity for backpackers to reduce the weight of their tents.

First thing's first, the heaviest pieces of the tents are the stakes. The stakes can be made of stainless steel, or ferrum. The trick is to substitute stainless steel or other metal stakes with aluminium stakes. Aluminiums is a really great material for poles, because it is durable, and it is hard enough to pierce into the ground. Some manufacturers produce stakes made of plastic. However you should stay away from these. They are not solid enough, and can easily break, not to mention that you can't stake them into the ground if there are rocks or stones in the ground.

Another item that adds a lot of weight to the tent is the tarp. The best way for this is to buy a tent that has a great design, so that you don't need an additional tarp. A tarp is needed if either the rainfly doesn't provide enough cover against the rain, or the ground floor is not thick enough to not be damaged by the ground or if the tarp is not water resistant, so the liquid might pour into the tent.

The best way to keep the weight of the tent low is to buy a light tent in the first place. I know that it is infuriating to read this, but the best way to deal with a problem is to not have the problem in the first place. Many tent manufacturers provide great, lightweight tents. For example Kelty has built a reputation of manufacturing lightweight, but durable and great tents.

The way to minimize the weight of your tent is to buy a lightweight tent, and then replace all the pieces with other, lighter pieces. This might mean that you have to invest a few dollars extra, but you will save a lot of energy by not having to carry all that weight around.