I was camping on Dartmoor with my teenage son during the weekend of 30th March when 17 young people, training for the Ten Tors race, were evacuated by helicopter.

We were using my 35 year-old Ultimate Tramp 2-person tent which has A-poles, is robustly made but still weighs only 4.5 lbs. It coped admirably with the gales, which were reported as gusting up to 70mph, but after three nights pitched on sodden ground, I noticed that the groundsheet was weeping slightly.

I want to make a separate groundsheet to go under the tent and contacted Point North (http://www.profabrics.co.uk/) by email for advice. I was sent a swatch of materials but no indication of the company's recommendation. I telephoned today, seeking advice, and was told that it was not company policy to make recommendations lest the advice should be wrong and a refund claimed! I was flabbergasted! My tailor gives me advice on my wardrobe, my builder on the maintenance of my home, my accountant and finacial advisor on my investments and my solicitor on legal matters. Yet Pont North refuses to help a customer who wants make a purchase which is unlikely to cost more than £15.00.

So I'm turning to OMers for advice. The most suitable fabrics in the swatch seem to be PU-coated nylon with weights of 2oz, 4oz and 6oz. Does anyone have experience of using these fabrics and, if so, what weight do you recommend? The alternative, cheaper, but probably heavier alternative, is a sheet of plastic as recommended in another thread.

Thanks!

no advice hugh but hello again. how's the foot?

How about a sheet of polycro? Horrendously expensive for a sheet of plastic, but I found I could cut two groundsheets out of it, and there's no harm in having a spare. I've yet to puncture the first one - therefore - nothing has yet got through to my tent groundsheet. Have a look here and scroll down to the polycro.

Needlesports sell some interesting looking tent underlay - see here. Saunders tents used to come with a suggestion to use a dry-cleaning type plastic bag - light and free if you ask nice!

Paddy, I think you might like to check on that clicky.

Too late to edit - so click here!

Winwood Outdoor  do a 6ft by 8ft polycro  groundsheet for £4.50.

Thanks Owen - that's what I was trying to link to. 6ft by 8ft converts easily into two groundsheets at 6ft by 4ft - at a unit price of £2.25!

I'm very grateful for the helpful replies received.

I've taken Paddy's and Owen's advice and ordered a Polycro groundsheet from Winwood Outdoor. The total cost, including postage, came to £8.95 which I think is a knockdown bargain as it's a fraction of the cost of having a new groundsheet fitted.

Thanks, Parky, my foot is doing as well as expected and I manage to keep walking.

Hugh - when your polycro groundsheet arrives, opening it up is the most difficult part, as it's like an enormous compressed sheet of cling-film! Anyway, work at it until you reach the point where it opens up to a size of 6ft by 4ft. At that point, STOP, and consider whether that size is OK for you at double thickness. You see, the material at that point is stuck together so firmly that you might actually want to leave it that way! If you separate the sheet along the very last fold to get the full 6ft by 8ft size, you'll find that you won't be able to get it to "stick" back together as well as when it was first packaged. Anyway, you'll find that despite its thinness, polycro is pretty tough stuff, and bearing in mind its light weight, probably the best thing you're going to find for the job.

Thanks, Paddy, I'll bear that advice in mind. I've just heard from Winwood that the product is out of stock so I may have to wait a bit. I'll let you know, in due course, how I get on.

Thanks, Pete. The trick is to cut the supplementary groundsheet so that it has a marginally smaller footprint. This greatly minimizes the risk of water being trapped. If I used the tent frequently I would replace the groundsheet but I only occasionally go backpacking with my son so I don't think that its worth the expense. Mind you, Bob Saunders replaced the groundsheet of my old Jetpacker for £25.00 which I thought was a bargain.