Cycling UK Forum

i've got a set of Ti 'pegs'. easy to push in by hand most places. sometimes have to be near horizontal in really stony ground, but holds the tent fine.

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
What you taking a Marquee
No mallet needed, you just push and twist as you go.
If its rocky under the grass, angle the peg and place rock on top to hold.
Its camping not boy scouts

You've obviously never used some of the alpine sites where the ground is like concrete and for your comfort surface stone has been laid! and have you ever tried twisting a V peg?

I get some impressed watchers as my tent goes up from people that struggle without a mallet.

Camping on Baltic sand, now maybe you don't need the mallet but rocks would be useful if there were any!

Hi,
No, I havent camped on all stony ground true.
But as an ex boy scout and boys brigade too , I would take the right gear if I thought one night would be on stone only.
Also a thick foam mat that would be comfortable.
I would probably only carry a free standing tent, heavy too, and tie it to my bike
Excuse me I forget that where I live there are plenty of soil to put pegs in.
I believe that from pictures I have seen that on stoney ground they use mountain tents with flaps
If I lived further north then a mountain tent would probably be wiser.
Mallet, a wooden head of a mallet would probably do the job, less damage to the peg.

foxyrider wrote:You've obviously never used some of the alpine sites where the ground is like concrete and for your comfort surface stone has been laid! and have you ever tried twisting a V peg?

Hard and rocky ground where there are no rocks for use as hammers is rare. If the ground isn't hard, pegs can be pushed in easily enough that a mallet is of no benefit, so why not save the weight and packing space?

On hard stony ground I use a very strong straight peg, such as a 6" or 8" steel nail, knock it in with a big rock, then pull it out carefully and poke a lightweight alloy skewer down the hole. If the hole is at the correct angle it holds just as well as a straight hammered in skewer would.
I've found it best to have a variety of pegs available so that I can use the most appropriate type on the most important pegging points whatever the ground is - nails on hard or rocky ground, wide Vs on notably soft ground, and Y-pegs on your average field. My tent (Akto) only needs 4 out of 10 pegging points (the end guys) to be solid in normal weather, so I take 3 sets of 4 pegs of different types.

Coming through northern Spain one June about 3 years ago, the ground was so hard that I had to tie the guys to bushes or rocks or anything I could find. That tipped the balance because I'd been thinking of a new tent. I bought one that is free standing - provided it is not windy of course. Naturally I peg it out but it is a comfort that I do not need to use them all. I now have a Hilleberg Unna but I still borrow a mallet from other campers if needed.

+ 1 for the cheapo plastic mallet mentined above a few times.

You wouldn't think it would work but it does.

gordy wrote:A mallet? I've only ever used one with wooden pegs and huge tents.

+1. I'd use one with the metal pegs shown by Natural Anking, but both my tents (and all the other lightweight ones I've used) have skewer-type pegs. I neither hit them nor tread on them. Generally, I find that, if I can't get the peg in by hand, it will bend anyway if I apply more force (especially with the alloy pegs on my lighter tent). I move the peg around a bit till I find a place where it will go in.

I suppose on very rocky ground this may not work, but I'd still expect to bend a few pegs.

I agree with foxyrider.

It depends on where you go, but IME hard and stony ground (ie sones and compacted aggregate) is sufficiently common, at least in mountain areas, to make carrying a plastic mallet worthwhile (and as for twisting the peg in - dream on).

Using a steel nail to make a pilot hole sounds like a good tip, but it seems like a lot of extra faffing around for not very much weight-saving.

I suspect that part of the problem is that the people who don't use the plastic mallets are thinking of one of the big heavy rubber-headed mallets or a wooden mallet - whereas in fact they weigh about 200gs or so. For me that weight gain is offset by the number of spare pegs I don't have to carry. I carry a half dozen y-pegs and a half-dozen nail pegs as backup (to last five months).

I have managed to break pegs whacking them with stones (this includes the clamcleats y-pegs which are some of the toughest around). I don't carry titanium v-pegs anymore, but my experience was that with a plastic mallet I broke or mangled far fewer than other methods.

If I get to a campsite and it's raining I have a tool which gets the pegs in quickly and efficiently and means I can carry fewer spare pegs. What's not to like?

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:But as an ex boy scout and boys brigade too , I would take the right gear if I thought one night would be on stone only.

The right gear as in ooh let's say - a plastic mallet?

If people who do actually have experience of these situations are saying that a plastic mallet is useful perhaps that should be something to consider? just a thought.

50p! http://www.outdoorworld.co.uk/sale/camp ... ing-mallet

A green and pleasant land – visions of teasing in tent pegs through a thick grass clad turf – sans le mallet – However on to reality.

I have always carried a mallet – typically rubber with a stout wooden handle – If the ground is hard relying on being able to find a suitable rock is wish full thinking - ditto borrowing a hammer while wild camping – on sites it must work as a plan because I am always loaning mine to people without one (they can obviously not find a convenient rock either) - belting pegs with whatever I have handy just ends up damaging whatever it is – and the hand holding the peg - ditto rocks.

I did flirt with plastic mallets but they didn't cut it when it mattered – ie when the ground was hard – something to do with conservation of momentum I believe- there is a reason mallets have a reasonable mass - The tent I use is relatively free standing and three pegs are sufficient in most conditions – however when I need more pegs then I need more –NOW

Where the ground is hard – and that’s quite a lot of southern Europe, parts of Norway etc –the rubber mallet is often supplemented by a small steel hammer and a set of cheap small diameter screwdrivers - either to use as pegs in relatively good weather conditions or to form pilot holes to knock my standard round aluminium pegs into when the wind goes to gale force or an alpine or Mediterranean thunderstorm threatens.

I don't carry a mallet, and use round pegs, so have always been able to twist them in (so far!).

However just thinking laterally, is there anything already being carried on the bike that could be used for a mallet if needs be?
Like a spanner? Any ideas?

Edit - just noticed the previous post which says use a screwdriver to make a hole first - good idea

I carry a 2 lb club hammer with me... well not exactly, but I do know that 1 litre of water weighs 1 kilogramme, and 1 kilogramme is the same as 2 and-a-bit pounds.

Depending on conditions (soil type) and circumstances (how many tents in the family do we take?) I sometimes take a wooden peg as a hammer. That is lighter than a mallet and works fine. If weight matters, I use Easton Nano pegs. They are lighter than most pegs, work well in stony ground and are extremely strong. See here: http://www.trekking-lite-store.com/trek ... ::503.html Avoid the previous model as it had quality issues in its last production batches.
Willem

Binkyboy wrote:However just thinking laterally, is there anything already being carried on the bike that could be used for a mallet if needs be? Like a spanner? Any ideas?

We've usually got about half a kilo of water on the bike, in a bidon. There must be some way to employ that. A plastic water bottle won’t work on its own, and my metal bottles are far too precious to mistreat by using them as a mallet, but I’m thinking that there ought to be a solution. An 80mm disk of 5mm thick HDPE, stuck on the bottom of the bidon perhaps?

In my experience steel hammers are more effective and lighter than wooden mallets. I have a small Gedore hammer that weighs all of 89 grams: https://www.primexbv.nl/gedore-bankhame ... /itm/10420. It is fine for small pegs, but for larger pegs I would suggest to opt for one size up. I also helps if the pegs have a flat top.