I saw a blurb on here last winter about someone using aluminum roofing nails for winter tent stakes, primarily for camping on ice, but there wasn't much detail mentioned with it. Can anyone elaborate on this? How well do they hold? How do you get them out in the morning? Length, etc?
Thanks

I am sure they were talking about Aluminum Gutter Spikes. Theses are 7" long Aluminum "Nails" that are used to hold up older style gutters (most use screws now). They make Aluminum ones and Galvanized Steel, so obviously you would want the Aluminum ones. You should be able to find them at Ace Hardware, Lowes, or Home Depot for under fifty cents a piece. I have never used any as stakes, but they should hold as well as any aluminum nail type stake. They seem relatively strong and light, and might hold well because they normally have some slight ribbing on the side on the nail.

Shawn,

I have installed gutters using these aluminum nails years ago. I never weighed them but I recall being very surprised at how light they felt for such a robust looking nail.

Give 'em a try and report back!

I've used steel 7" nails for tent stakes in the Davis Mountains (bent them all), so I bet the aluminum would work great. For pennies on the dollar.

I'm curious what you are trying to solve?

You wrote that you want these aluminium nails for: "for winter tent stakes, primarily for camping on ice"

Where on earth will you be camping on ice? I've camped on the bare ice of alaskan glaciers in summer, and there is NO nail that would work in that stuff!

Do you mean snow?

Or firm icy ground?

I suggest reading the article about stakes in snow (or lack of them)
LINK:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ditch_your_stakes.html

I work up in the Boundary Waters in the winter doing dogsledding and we camp pretty much exclusivelly on ice as an LNT practice. Everyone I work with in the winter uses ice screws to stake out their mids, which is not the cheapest OR lightest option. When I saw people were using roofing nails I was curious how viable an option this would be. My main concern was how easily they would drive into the ice, how people were removing them in the morning (even the ice screws will freeze into the ice), and how durable, or more so,reusable they would be?

I guess worst case they sound pretty cheap, so I can always try it out when i get up there and the ice starts freezing.

Thanks

i use them for summer camping. they're part of my solo SUC kit.(super ultra cheap) you can sometimes find bags of these in hardware stores for cheaper than 50c each. they hold very well in soil, but i don't think they would make good snow/ice anchors. they just don't have the surface area. almost forgot, they are so light because they are soft aluminum.. they bend easy. Ive bent quite a few in just soil

Edited by pecos on 10/31/2008 17:06:13 MDT.

Message to SEAN the dogsledder:

You should review my article. I have a neat trick for setting up a tent on ice.


There is a simple way to make an strong anchor with ONE screw and a piece of wire!

LINK:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ditch_your_stakes.html