Weed Control Matting Footprint & Penetration Test Result

[Bam]

*** Penetration Test Results are 2 posts below ***

I wanted to make myself another, more sacrificial, cheap & lightweight footprint for my tent for those occasions when you have no choice but to pitch on spiky, stony or muddy ground & therefore would rather not use the manufacturers footprint which I would much rather prefer to use as a canopy tarp anyway.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a cheap source of Tyvek & Polycryo here in WA, I did find retailers elsewhere in Australia that sells the materials by the metre but the total delivered cost was more than I wanted to pay.

So, a quick internet search for another alternative material revealed that weed control matting actually works quite well & more importantly is also very cheap to purchase so I decided to give it a go.

For those not familiar with the product it’s basically a strong & durable woven fabric made out of polypropylene that’s designed to ‘breathe’ by allowing water & air to pass through.

I would like to credit that person who suggested using weed matting as an alternative material but just can’t remember where I read the article or find it again, so if that person happens to read this post thanks for the idea.

So, after successfully manufacturing a footprint out of the matting I’ve drawn up a quick list of the pros & cons, as I see them, of using the actual material.

Pros

Very cheap (approx. $9 for a 1.83 x 5 m roll)
Offers good strength to weight ratio (weighs 80 gms/m2)
The material is hydrophobic & surface water dries quickly
Very resistant to puncturing from sharp objects
Water doesn’t pool on its surface
Did I mention that it’s very cheap!

Cons

Material edges need to be sealed to prevent unraveling
Material not really suitable for stuffing, prefers to be folded or rolled
Not really sure how well it will hold up in service but at least it’s cheap & easy to make another

A few other details, even though I made it slightly larger than the manufacturers footprint it still weighs slightly less by about 20 gms, probably because there’s no corner webbing or eyelets attached.

I did strengthen up the corners slightly by using a double-layer just in case I need to put a eyelet in (see image below).

I used an industrial bag sealer to seal along the edges which was a bit challenging as it’s only about 30 cm long, a domestic iron could also probably be used to run along the edges to seal them as long as you use grease proof paper to prevent the iron from sticking to the material.

Finally, as I had lots of material remaining I thought that I would also manufacture a vestibule mat as well.

Close-up of the material & strengthened corner

550AC595-19EB-408B-BE37-A546BDED155D.jpeg (131.44 KiB) Viewed 10003 times

Vestibule Mat

9DF08E65-8F34-49E1-B1A2-0EC66DF94767.jpeg (106.12 KiB) Viewed 10003 times

Last edited by Bam on Wed 24 Jul, 2019 8:01 am, edited 2 times in total.

[alanm]

Sounds interesting, let us know how it goes, particularly the resistance to sharp objects.

Al.

[Bam]

Sounds interesting, let us know how it goes, particularly the resistance to sharp objects.

Alanm your post got me thinking, rather than wait to see how well the matting goes whilst in use why not try & come up with a test now to determine its resistance to sharp objects in a more controlled situation.

So, in an attempt to come up with something that would simulate a worst case scenario type of situation I came up with the following rough & ready test method.

Place a swatch of matting on top of a bed of upward pointing screws
Next place a double layer of thin foam on top that would allow the screw points to penetrate through the matting if its resistance to sharp objects is low
Then place a piece of wood on top of it all & stand on it with my full body weight (approx 72kg of rippling muscle!)
Finally disassemble the wood, foam & matting & check for any damage

Test results as follows in pictures rather than words.

Matting before test

E21F07A9-B694-4D83-A85C-3E04E0C988EF.jpeg (207.8 KiB) Viewed 9863 times

Screws & Foam used in test

9AB8D202-7572-4734-8EC0-EB257867DCDF.jpeg (78.86 KiB) Viewed 9863 times

Matting after test

893892B8-5A69-443F-9A26-908F8B09BEE8.jpeg (165.28 KiB) Viewed 9863 times

Matting Close-Up

8895DF94-41BE-485E-99BA-6088A38F378F.jpeg (148.55 KiB) Viewed 9863 times

Foam Close-Up showing where the screws pressed into the surface

5BC0371A-E795-476F-AAC5-C6B935A3E4EA.jpeg (100.32 KiB) Viewed 9863 times

Backlit view showing the mattings weave still fully intact

BCA91969-AD38-4C50-9C8B-07315009A42D.jpeg (263.2 KiB) Viewed 9863 times

Personally I think that the matting survived the test quite well, far better than I thought that it would!

Given the above results I’m quite confident that it’s capable of withstanding most sharp objects normally found in the environment under a tent floor especially as the average loading on the floor material, by a knee for example, is usually far less than the test load & spread over a larger area.