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What is a Bathtub Floor?

Bath Tub Floor, Courtesy of Bear Paw Wilderness Designs

What types of tents have bathtub floors?

Most double-wall camping tents, so-called because they have an inner tent with bug netting and an outer rainfly, have a bathtub floor in the inner tent. In these tents, the waterproof fabric on the floor extends up the side tent walls for a few inches. This is to prevent rainwater that pools under your tent from leaking through the walls and swamping your gear. The sides of a bathtub floor are low enough that it’d probably be better to call them sandbox floors, but the term bathtub has stuck.

Bathtub Floor - Tarptent Squall 2

Bathtub Floor – Tarptent Squall 2

Bathtub floors are also commonly found in tarp tents like the ones manufactured by Tarptent.com and Six Moon Designs. However, in these tents, the bathtub floor is a distinct component, like the one pictured above, where there’s a line of bug netting that attaches it to the exterior tent wall.

Some tarp manufactures also provide a bathtub floor as an optional component with their products. A good example is the classic Golite Shangri-La 1 tarp. BearPaw Wilderness Designs also sells separate bathtub floors that can be used with any floorless tarp shelter.

Should you always use a bathtub floor with a shelter?

No. Bathtub floors may be unnecessary if you have good campsite selection skills and you can pick where you pitch your shelter. For example, you want to avoid concave, dished-out ground that has been compressed from having lots of people sleeping on it.  If you sleep in a depression like this and it rains heavily enough, there is a good chance that rainwater will overrun the sides of your bathtub floor and swamp your gear. Unfortunately, it’s common to find these depressed areas at campground campsites which is probably why so many double-walled tents were given bathtub floors in the first place.

If you have the option of pitching your tent or tarp someplace else, you want to do it on a slightly rounded area that will drain easily and on a loose surface like dried leaves or forest duff where water can seep into the ground and not pool.

What if having a bathtub floor makes you feel safer at night?

When camping, psychological comfort is as important as physical comfort. If you feel more secure sleeping on a bathtub floor, then it makes perfect sense to camp with one.

7 comments

  1. I hadn't heard the term "bathtub floor" used to describe that type of tent before, but judging by how poorly some of the tents I've owned of that style have performed during heavy rain, I would say that the term "bathtub" is very appropriate!

  2. The bathtub floor on the Tarptent (at least the ones that I own and have seen online) are an intergal part of the tent not a stand alone component as you stated. The floor is connected to the tent body by the bug mesh and can not be removed.

  3. Dennis – I replaced the word standalone with distinct and rephrased the rest of the sentence a bit because it was ambiguous. What I was trying to convey was that you can distinguish the bathtub floor from the side walls. Tarp tents seems like a good example. The Squall 2 pictured is my tent. Thanks for the editing suggestion!

  4. The BearPaw design seems very similar to the TarpTent floor. When I was deciding on a tent for my AT hike I ended up ordering a SMD Lunar Solo and a Tarptent Contrail. I sent back the SMD tent because of the length and orientation (no head clearance for me at 6'2"), but also because the floor in the Tarptent stands up, while (IMO) the SMD didn't. I have never had an issue with the Contrail.

  5. I have never heard of this before but it's pretty cool. When should I use a bathtub floor? Or when is it necessary? And is it connected to the tent or is it put in separately as a different component?

    Liz Lembeck

  6. You'd use it with a tarp if you felt more comfortable having a sided floor.

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