Ground Cloth: foam or polycryo?

My vote is for a polycryo ground cloth because
1. I don't think that just the Thinlight will keep the full length of your pad/sleeping bag off of the bare ground and possible mud.
2. A polycryo sheet will. Also, you will probably have room to spare to keep other small personally items off of the ground, too.

I have several different size polycryo sheet cut depending on how the weather will be. I take a big one (8'x4') under a larger tarp if the weather looks really wet. With this combo I have found that I can keep all of my stuff on the ground sheet and if needed even kind of fold the edges up over the sides and end of my sleeping bag. This method eliminates the need for a bivy most times, so 4oz. ground sheet is still lighter than most minimal bivys.
Only down side is that one must have a large enough tarp for a ground sheet that size.
My 2 cents…

Morgan

Hey Morgan,
Thanks for your input, and I should be receiving that tarp tomorrow!

A hearty vote for Polycro. I used to use 2-mil painters cloth — cheap and light as hell… until I discovered Polycro. It's lighter, folds up more compactly, and yet tougher than the already-hard-to-beat painters cloth.

I think that is is nice to have at least 4-6 inches on all sides of your bag. This is assuming that you are not using a bivy in combination with the tarp. Your ground sheet size needs can very greatly based on weather and how well you pick a tarp site, but it is important to remember that tarps are…floorless, so a little extra coverage is nice, if for no other reason that to keep headlamp, contacts, shoe,etc. out of the mud.

Can you tell that I spend a lot of time tarping in mud.Haha.

Morgan

My findings have been similar to those with the mud issue – I like a good 6 inches of extra coverage on each side. In wet grass it's nice to keep the bag off the ground and, once again in grass, it makes it easier to keep track of little things if you manage to knock them out of your shoe or whatever it is you keep things in at night.

So far the polycryo wins hands down. For its weight and size, it would seem that it would puncture easily, but from those with experience, that just isn't the case I guess.

I have had issues with polycro, tyvek, polyester, … puncturing on sharp objects. We just have to be careful.

Having a ground cloth that extends past the pad allows for slipping and sliding as well as keeping shoes, headlamp, watch, and other gear off the wet ground.

If you didn’t have the downmat, I’d head over to Suluk46 and get a 50″ x 74″ 1/8″ ccf, cut it down to the length you need for your mat (60″?) and have a 50″x60″ pad, with the benefits extra inof having some overhang on each side, for ~3.6oz, if my math is correct.

But you have a downmat, so the extra warmth isn’t much of consideration.

I have a GG polycro groundcloth. One gotten stolen out from under my tent by what I assume was a deer(a human would likely have stolen my NeoAir or Summerlite as well) and I ripped the other somehow, easily repaired with a little duct tape. The 1/8″ would be a bit sturder, but you could easily poke your finger through it with enough force.

I have a NeoAir small, and I have somehow misplaced my GG 1/8″ thinlight, so I’m thinking about using the above system, but leavin the pad 50″ wide for the 47″ length of the Neo, giving my someplace to put watch, shoes, etc, as Steve pointed out, and trimming it to 20″ wide below that, for 3.39oz, adding some insulation below my NeoAir for the cooler spring and fall temps, and a burrito frame for my frameless GG Gorilla or Whisper.

James, would that CCF from Suluk46 provide more puncture protection than polycryo? I'm not worried about larger stick and stones, or my finger…its the small, unseen pricklies and thorns that I'm concerned about poking through.

It is nice they offer a larger size, so I can have the extra material on the sides, like you said.

Now, for desert camping, I'd use a thicker CCF. EVERYTHING is sharp there.

I guess what it comes down to is if the polycryo (being the smaller packed and lighter option) offers plenty of protection, I'll probably go with that.

Travis,
Hi! I just got my polycro groundsheet from GG today. I'm planning to use it this weekend on the AT. I'll be using both the polycro and a GG thinlite under part of my body. Here's how I'm planning to do it…

GG SpinnTwinn tarp
VAPR Quantum bivy + MYOG down quilt
1/3 z-lite glued to 2/3 thinlite pad
polycro groundsheet on the ground

I'm more worried about water seeping through the thinlite than puncture. It is pretty tough. The polycro seems pretty tough too, although I'll know more after a few days on trail… if you're interested, I'll let you know how this setup performs on the AT. More likely to be dealing with heavy rain than sharp stuff though… cheers!

Peace, James.