Floors are a great way to keep you and your gear dirt free and dry if you set up on wet ground as well as keeping bugs rodents other nuisances from within your tent.
How to keep canvas tent floor dry.
If you will follow the simple procedure of seam sealing your tent before every camping season once per year your tent will last longer and keep you dry.
Wet carpet is a total disaster as you have to remove everything on your floor dry the carpet and then put everything back in your tent.
Having a dry buffer zone between the outdoors and the tent indoors is critical to staying dry.
Usually this is a nylon fabric with a polyurethane coating on one side or a similarly water proofed fabric in a canvas tent.
However a solid tent plus a groundsheet can keep you dry in light rains or even moderate drizzles.
The main reason you want to keep your tent off the ground is due to the heat loss that you would ultimately experience due to conduction.
In other situations you will need to create your own with tarps and rope or a small canopy with poles.
A quality tent should have a waterproof floor that will not allow moisture to pass thru the material of the floor.
For seasoning a canvas tent simply set it up and let it absorb some water.
However if you have a new canvas tent or are using the tent after a long time it s better to let it go through seasoning.
Allowing for ample ventilation and airflow throughout your tent will help to keep it dry while in use as well.
This material is perfect for lining your tent s floor with because it can keep moisture from seeping in.
You can keep it dry if you have an effective rain perimeter sill board and rain gap at the front of your canvas tent.
Wall tent flooring options.
Cotton canvas is naturally waterproof and doesn t require regular intervention from the user to stay that way.
You can use indoor outdoor carpet on your platform tent.
For this you can put your tent at a place where water is no accessible.
The footprint will be a barrier between the tent floor and the ground which will reduce condensation.
Why you want to keep your tent off the ground.
Sprays are least effective when they come in contact with the waters.
So keep away water from reaching your tent.
If you don t have a groundsheet try using an old tarp that is larger than your tent s footprint.
Think of it this way.
The cleaning process for canvas tents depending on the extent to which mold has impacted the fabric of your canvas tent you may have to decide between quick cleaning solutions or a deeper cleaning process.
Some tents come complete with either a large awning or screened in vestibule just for this purpose.
I have a eureka tetragon 7 i purchased in 1994.