Titan Ground Anchor – Interesting New Lightweight Tent Peg

[Geoff Caplan]

Just a heads up for an interesting looking ground anchor by Mark Turnbull, a UK cottage producer.

If you’re camping in soft ground, sand or snow the Delta pegs from a small company in Devon, UK, are the gold standard. Their holding power is legendary. But they are bulky, and at 48g each they are hardly lightweight.

I’ve been in touch with them about producing a version for the lightweight market, but it’s not something they plan to do.

In a recent BPL thread on holding power, the general conclusion was that this general approach likely gives the best performance for weight, but that there was nothing suitable on the lightweight market.

I’d been playing around with prototypes myself but then I discovered a new product from a guy in Plymouth just down the road from the Delta folks and it looks like a very smart design – much better than anything I could have come up with. Seems that there’s something in the air in Devon…

This is the product, based on the same principle as the Delta:

The aluminium version weighs 26 grams, but he’s about to release a titanium version which should be lighter. This compares to 16 grams for an MSR Groundhog.

They nest for packing and can be doubled up in marginal conditions.

At the moment he’s selling on eBay, but due to a recent positive review he’s out of stock. Restocking takes a couple of weeks. He’s got a Facebook page where you can keep in touch with developments.

https://www.facebook.com/titangroundanchor

Seems to me like an interesting project that deserves our support. I’ll be ordering as soon as the titaniums hit the market.

Here’s his promotional blurb:

These are the best tent pegs available. Stronger than standard pegs and will out hold in a blow by approximately 4 times. Sitting in the shallow topsoil they can be pushed in with your foot thus eliminating the need for a heavy mallet to drive an overly long spike in the ground. Due to its design directing the pulling force down to the tip and not the top it will out hold any conventional peg in all ground types, and is primarily designed for the guy ropes which take most of the force in windy conditions but can be used on all points on the tent.

It is made from laser cut 2.5mm anodised aluminium and although over built still only weigh 26 grams each! The weight saving cutouts are structurally placed and not just asthetic additions. The cutout on the top ‘shank’ of the anchor also serves as a finger hold to retrieve back out of the ground. Round holes assist drainage in wet conditions so it doesn’t trap water causing some pegs to slip out. Every curve, edge, angle and hole has been designed for a reason.

The Titan Ground Anchor was designed to be the most efficient shape to produce the most hold against line tension. This is achieved by diverting the pulling tension down to the tip of the submerged blade rather than the top of a standard tent peg. We have tested these in all conditions and tent sizes from 2 man- 8 man family tents.

This new product is laser cut from 2.5mm aircraft grade aluminium which are anodised red and are super strong. This is the solution to an old widespread problem of substandard tent pegs

[Todd T]

Looks like they could create nasty divots when pulled up.

[Jeff Y]

Looks like similar physics to land anchors they use in the Offroad community to secure a winch line in case of no solid trees to tie too…very neat.

[Michael B]

couldn’t a similar amount of holding power be accomplished with a Deuce of spades? I understand the issue of leverage, the free body diagram is pretty straightforward – since we are talking about soft ground, what is keeping one from drilling a hole in the middle of a deuce of spades, or any Y-stake or standard sand-type stake for that matter, connecting the line that spot, and sinking it into the ground? The line will slice  right through the soft ground material and produce the same physical effect. See the item I boxed in red.

[Jeff Y]

I’m sure that many of the methods on that picture would provide a “similar” amount of holding power.  Without a formal test and spring scale, it would be hard to compare. The benefit to the stakes the OP refers to is that they don’t require any additional skills to employ. But a deep enough dead man anchor or tying to a rock, or even that t-bone method, may be sufficient enough depending on conditions. I prefer to go as light as I can with stakes, and be creative in my pitch.

[Bonzo]

Looks like similar physics to land anchors they use in the Offroad community to secure a winch line in case of no solid trees to tie too…very neat.

It’s similar, yes.  That said, we don’t like to use them unless we have to…but those loads are INSANE compared to what you’ll see with a tent anchor.

Divots could be reduced by adding a lightweight pull-out cord that extracts the anchor from the direction of insertion.

[Geoff Caplan]

Turns out the titanium version won’t be lighter, but it will have a narrower section, making it easier to insert into hard ground.

Also, I hadn’t realised you can get them left and right handed. This means you can pair them up back to back on tricky ground.

Responding to the points above:

To me, the big advantage is that you can get a superior hold compared to, say, a Groundhog on easy ground. And it’s far superior when it’s shallow or and/or soft. So considerably more versatile than a conventional peg.

The only downside is the slightly higher weight, at 10g more than my standby Groundhogs. But they’re really meant for the 2-4 highest stress structural guys rather than all round, so 20-40 extra grams isn’t going to be a major deal for most folks if you need the benefits.

I can’t see that divots would be an issue. I’ve used the Deltas, and you simply extract them in the direction of insertion as with any other peg.

Obviously, you can mess around with rocks, dead men and the like, but they are always going to be more hassle at the end of a long day. Rocks are never going to be as secure, and they often aren’t available. Plus moving rocks can be bad for leave-no-trace. Dead man arrangements can be good in snow and sand, but on boggy ground they are often not practical, and would cause unjustifiable damage in a delicate ecosystem. The trickiest scenario is tundra, which is soft, shallow and often lacking suitable rocks. The Titans should be a godsend.

So, definitely going to give these a try when the titaniums are released.

[Matt Dirksen]

Any soils/geotech/structural engineers in the community might be willing to whip up some math on this anchor design?

I’d love to see if the design will actually “out hold in a blow by approximately 4 times”.  Of course I recognize it doesn’t specify what tent stake it is actually four times stronger than.

[Chad Lorenz]

I’ve had the opposite experience of Geoff on most tundra in Alaska and the NWT: a simple “tundra tie” is to place a guyline below the top layer of tundra, using fingers to push through  from either side, similar to a v-thread in ice climbing. I finish with a slippery truckers hitch. Utilizes the strength of the roots, minimal damage to the ground once the line is removed, and is massively strong, relying on the interwoven root systems for support. Has worked for me and my students…

[Chris R]

Just wondering, if you took a long shepherd’s hook stake and bent it to the same shape, would this give a similar increase in holding power?

[Geoff Caplan]

Matt – they say they’re comparing with a typical heavy-duty aluminium wire stake that would come with a consumer tent.

Not very scientific, obviously, but my experience with the Deltas on my mate’s big festival tent is that it’s a good concept – they are so bomber that some people carry a couple on Scottish mountain treks despite the weight, just for the security.

If the Titan gives anything near that performance at a more acceptable weight, it’s worth a try.

[Geoff Caplan]

Chad – thanks for the suggestion of the “tundra tie” – a technique to add to the quiver!

A lot of my experience is in UK bog where that wouldn’t work. You can get conventional pegs in, but the ground is weak and they are prone to fail. The Titan has potential here.

When I said tundra, I was thinking of the high Cairngorms where there is often scattered heather and thin gritty soil (granite). Naturalists here call this tundra, or tundra-like. I guess it’s quite a wide concept! Conventional pegs don’t get in very far and you have to tie them off – very insecure. The Titan would work well in that scenario too, I think.

[Dave @ Oware]

Looks like big rocks and deadmen would be strongest in that DG and heather.

Here is the ice version by Black Diamond

 

[David Gardner]

In a previous life I worked on the design of deep-sea offshore oil drilling platforms. Too deep for towers, and before computer controlled stabilization systems. The platforms were held in place by multiple MASSIVE anchors placed in a circle around the platform. Massive, as in 30′-40′ blades and each link of the chain connected to the anchor over 6 feet long and weighing multiple tons.  The holding power is based on how many tons of sea bed the anchor would have to lift, so the form of the anchors followed that function, as here with the Titan anchor.  It’s a combination of the surface area of the blade and the leverage created by the elbow in the stake.

This strikes me as an ideal stake for tents/tarps that rely on a single stake at one or both ends, like tunnel tents or at the triangular vents on a Stratospire, rather than multiple smaller, lighter stakes that add up to more weight and don’t hold as well.

[Roger Caffin]

Usually what matters is the area of soil you are pulling against. Soil, sand or snow. That is why large angles are stronger than thin wires. In turf the wires spread their ‘area’ out by the interlocking grass roots, but this does not work in snow.

So nice wide UL titanium deadman anchors work very well. In addition, being made of thin sheet Ti, they slide in very easily, even through alpine turf. See the following for details

https://backpackinglight.com/make_your_own_gear_titanium_snow_stakes/
https://backpackinglight.com/myog_ti_snow_stakes_part_2/
MYOG of course, but a lot cheaper. The angles weigh 22 grams (0.78 oz) each and the anchors weigh 35 grams (1.23 oz) each – complete.

I used 2 of the deadman anchors at each end on my snow tent, and it took full nights of 100 kph winds without budging. You do have to sink the pegs right in: don’t leave them half out.

Cheers

[David Gardner]

A combination of surface area and depth. The deeper the same size blades, the more mass that must be moved and the harder to pull out, whatever the non-liquid mass is made of. Don’t know if the same is true of wire stakes.

Here are some oil rig anchors. Although some of the images are upside down, you can see that the geometry of the blade to lever is very similar to the Titan anchor:

And smaller but still similar:

[Roger Caffin]

Looks rather like a modern ship anchor: with flukes.

[Ray S]

So far from reports they do not hold well at all. I have just done my own testing and they hold just a bit less than a Delta peg. However the extra long MSR Groundhogs on test also where amazing.

[Stumphges]

Yeah, some members of trek-lite.com have posted videos of some backyard testing, here: http://trek-lite.com/index.php?threads/peggers-can-be-choosers.9074/page-3

[Daniel c]

I wouldn’t hold your breath, too short imo, ive seen pull tests from 5kg to 18kg eastons hold in same test around 32kg

[Roger Caffin]

At the risk of being called a contrarian …

I suggest that many of the tests being quoted have very little value as there is no mention of the soil type or vegetation type.

It is obvious that the anchor strength in dry sand will be only a fraction of that in matted vegetation. In fact, a simple Ti wire in the right sort of ground cover can have more holding power than a big peg in loose soil. I use Ti wires in alpine grassland and have never had any problems, even in storms.

Less obvious is that the length of the peg is seriously important. A 5″ peg and an 8″ peg in the same soil will have vastly different holding powers. Trying to go UL by shortening the peg is ‘stupid light’.

My 2c.
Cheers

[Erica R]

Roger, I see some loose loops in your guylines in the orange tunnel tent photo.

What are those for?

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Erica

In short, they are excess guy rope.

The outer end of the guy rope is a simple loop which hooks onto the snow peg. There is a Clam-Cleat at the pole sleeve for tightening the guy rope. The loops you can see are the ‘free’ ends of the guy ropes. I have tied the very ends to the main guy so they don’t flap around too much.

I use CL266 Clam Cleat rather than LineLocs as I have seen the latter fail.

Why do I do it this way? Two reasons. The first is that by having the adjuster tied to the tent I get the maximum use out of the length of guy rope. OK, not very significant.
The other reason is that I found that having the adjuster out on the end of the guy rope meant the ropes got all tangled up every time I packed the tent away. Without that lump on the ends of the ropes, flapping around, there are no tangles. Yeah, not how it is shown in the Boy Scout manuals, but it works much better.

Cheers

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