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Living in Florida we’re prepared for living in tents for various reasons.  There’s camping for pleasure.  We may have to evacuate to another location for protection from a hurricane.  Most of the time we stay on the homestead when a hurricane is predicted to strike our area.  Our home could become so damaged that we may have to camp in the back yard until it is repaired.  We have soft soil, high winds and hard rain storms to content with.

Setting up camp in sandy terrain requires the right stake.  If hard ground stakes are used they’ll pull out as soon as force is put on a tent or what ever structure needs to be anchored.  I had considered the MSR ToughStake but the cost was prohibitive since we need 35-40.  They wanted over $30.00 for two of the larger size stakes.  I tried to make something similar with what was sold as stakes that worked in the sand but it didn’t work.  If I used them they would have to be buried.  That’s more than I want to do when pitching or rolling up camp.

I ended up getting 3/8″ x 15″ auger type ground anchors that screw into the sand.  This size is perfect for setting up the average camping tent.  I’ve used larger ones in the past to hold down sheds and temporary tarp structures.  They worked very good.  The only issue is getting them into the ground or removing them.  After watching a video on YouTube I decided to try to modify a couple of impact sockets.

I wasn’t sure how the experiment was going to go so I used 20% off coupons to buy the sockets from Harbor Freight.  I decided on impact sockets that way they could be used with any manual, pneumatic, cordless or electric driver available.  First was the 32mm to see if I could do it then the 27mm.  I thought the 27 mm might work as well or better plus I’d have a back up in case one or the other was lost or damaged.

 

I used a cutting and grinding wheel on an angle grinder to remove the material creating enough space for the ground anchor eyelet to fit though.  The grinding work isn’t pretty but it works.  Now we have two sockets that will drive those ground anchors into the sand.  I ordered the ground anchors from a couple of suppliers and they each had different size eyelets.  The drivers accommodate both sizes.  Really glad that video was on YouTube.  Pitching and rolling up camp will be much easier now.

Video link is below if you want to see the how it turned out.  -13