Reflectix as Tent Floor

[Minnesotian]

I've been thinking about using this as a lightweight tent floor. While I like the waterproof nature of it, I can only imagine it is slippery as hell. For those who use it, what do you think of it?

[Mike Bechard]

My group loves it. I don't think that it as slippery as a blue tarp, but we only use it on the sleeping area. The entrance of the tent is dug out to the ground with no floor covering. I taped 8' long pieces so that it can be folded up accordion style and laid in the bottom of the sleds underneath the load.

[Heavy Duty]

I use a foam reflective piece of insulation it's not reflectix though. For some reason I cannot find the manufacturer. I dont see why the reflectix will not work short term, the bubbles may get popped and you'll end up with something similar to a reflective tarp. Perhaps a reflective tarp may serve you better long term.

[DanCooke]

I made one octagon Floor for my Octagon winter tent. It was made in 4 sections that used Velcro to hold them together. It had a 70 denier nylon top. , then a layer of 1/4" closed cell foam and then a layer of reflectix, the bottom was Ultrex. The supplex part of the Ultrex would lightly bond to the snow so it would not slide around on the snow- the coating kept moisture from getting into the layers. The foam was on top to spread the load out over a larger area of the reflectix. Warm enough to be in the tent in stocking feet at 20 below. doormat just outside to wipe the feet off to keep as much moisture from getting onto the floor. It really helped keeping the tents moisture level down as the snow below was not melting significantly. Each section was a 5 folds of 14.4" wide x 6' long.

[Kinguq]

I made a reflectix tank for my pulk that doubles as a pad for the sleeping area. It is slippery, so I put some grommets in the corners so it can be tied in so it doesn't slide around. Works well enough and reduces the need to cut boughs. This stuff is much tougher than I expected it to be. You can walk on it without popping the bubbles.
Kinguq.

[Minnesotian]

I made one octagon Floor for my Octagon winter tent. It was made in 4 sections that used Velcro to hold them together. It had a 70 denier nylon top. , then a layer of 1/4" closed cell foam and then a layer of reflectix, the bottom was Ultrex. The supplex part of the Ultrex would lightly bond to the snow so it would not slide around on the snow- the coating kept moisture from getting into the layers. The foam was on top to spread the load out over a larger area of the reflectix. Warm enough to be in the tent in stocking feet at 20 below. doormat just outside to wipe the feet off to keep as much moisture from getting onto the floor. It really helped keeping the tents moisture level down as the snow below was not melting significantly. Each section was a 5 folds of 14.4" wide x 6' long.

Dan,
Thank you for weighing in with your setup. That sound exactly like something I am looking for. I assume it was pretty lightweight but bulky to pack?

[clrose]

I have one of Dan Cooke's Winter T-Hexagon tents. Love it. Dan also added little loops on the inside for clotheslines etc. (thanks for the outstanding customer service). Anyways, I used one layer of reflective foam as a floor and it insulated fairly well, but was slippery. So I got a 9' x 12' Trimaco One Tuff Coated Dropcloth, trimmed it to fit the tent, then attached the foam using double-sided carpet tape; with some duct tape on top holding pieces together. It can be folded to fit into the bottom of my extra-long Skipulk sled. Time will tell but it has survived a couple of campouts.

Chuck Rose