The biggest problem with tent stakes in Quetico is finding a place that is not rock to put them. It looks like I will be having the opposite problem. I am thinking of taking my new tent to Cape Lookout, NC. This is a section of the outer banks without paved roads and I would be camping on the beach - sand. Maybe a BWCA board is not the best place to ask, but do any of you have experience with tent stakes for sand? There seem to be two types:
1) Long with a corkscrew design, and
2) Long and broad.
Does one work better than the other?

Has anyone canoed on the sound side or camped on one of the islands?

Larry

I use longer stakes and/or tie off on a log or rock.

AmarilloJim: "I use longer stakes and/or tie off on a log or rock."

In most places on Cape Lookout rocks and logs are in short supply.
Are your long stakes corkscrew, broad or skinny?

Sounds like a job for Walmart bags filled with sand.....

PineKnot: "Sounds like a job for Walmart bags filled with sand....."

Once I figure out what kind of stakes to buy, I’ll try and save the bags just in case. The wind does blow along the Atlantic.

I do not have direct experience in sand, but I use Stakes like this for winter camping and they work well. They are marketed for snow or sand. I do not use them as shown on the Amazon photo, which is stuck in the ground like a regular stake. I tie a 15 inch cord through one of the middle holes and bury the stake in a hole horizontally to maximize the hold. Of course snow sinters and sand does not, but worth considering

I've used the REI snow stakes in sand and they worked well, though I wasn't testing them in any major wind storms. The REI ones are similar to the stakes Jaywalker showed, but not quite as long.

I am leaning toward the long, broad and cupped stakes that jaywalker and paddling pika are recommending. The "deadman" technique of tying a cord to the center of the stake and burying the stake horizontally that jaywalker recommended in snow seems to work in sand too from what I'm finding on YouTube.

Are there any proponents of the screw in type of stake out there?

When we sandbar camped on the Green River we buried driftwood sticks as "deadman" anchors and it worked very well.

I've carried sand/snow anchors similar to THESE for roughly the last 30 years on backpacking and canoe trips. They are relatively light and can be loaded with sand, snow, rock or other heavy objects.

They have been deployed on rocky and sandy campsites on recent canoe trips. In addition I have used them a time or two where I ran out of "real estate" on one side of my tent. I put a rock into the anchors on one side of the tent and lowered them over a cliff on that side. (Since I was using a tent with two vestibules, I added a special tie to the zipper on that side of the tent to remind me not to exit that way in the dark.)

dd

I didn't see this one mentioned above, but the MSR Toughstake is what I've found to be the best option. I've also used cloth grocery bags filled with sand and had fine success but it really didn't get too windy. Make sure you're blocking off the sea mist from getting under your fly, otherwise everything will be lightly covered with water droplets when you wake up.

With many years of camping on Cape Lookout Nat Seashore, the Long yellow plastic stakes available at Lowe's work great. they've held well through Nor'easters and a couple of tropical storms.

About 15 years ago my wife and I did a self guided sea kayak trip in the Exuma Islands, Bahamas. Brought our own gear, all camps were in the sand. Somewhere I read about making "sand stakes". These were ~8" circles from empty liquid laundry detergent bottles, hole thru the center for the rope. We would bury these about 3 ' off each stake loop, and adjust tension at the tent loop, worked like a charm.

LarryS48: "....


Are there any proponents of the screw in type of stake out there?"

We use large mil spec sand stakes (large metal post with a 4" diameter auger head) for a few sandbar camps but they were awful to pack and unfun to screw into the ground. I found a place selling these online and just made my own copy of them from left over materials at home.



They work really well and are much easier to transport. You fill them up at the location and you can bury them in the hole you made to get the fill sand for extra support.

It looks like those exact ones arent for sale any more but amazon had economy sand bag anchors that were similar

Approximately how long are the bags and what is their approximate diameter?