Securing Your Pop Up Tent on a Hard Surface Parking Lot

You can’t set your tent up on the grass every time you tailgate. Or maybe your favorite spot is on a paved parking lot next to your friends that you only see during football season. Here’s the best ways to secure down your canopy tent to make sure the wind doesn’t blow it away while you are at the game. A few simple tips to help you out.

Weight Set for Canopy Tents

This set of four weights can help add extra stability and security. Place each five pound weight at the base of each leg after the tent is up. Simple and easy to set up. It doesn’t take up a whole of of space in the vehicle either. And they’re less than $30 on amazon with 5 stars.

 

 

Five Gallon Buckets filled with Concrete with Metal Hook

Take a five gallon bucket, mix concrete mix in it about 2/3 full, then place a large eye bolt into the mix when it’s still wet. The concrete will dry and then you will have a nice secure anchor to bungee cord the leg to. Do this for each leg.

This takes up even more room in your vehicle and they’re bulky (each bucket will weigh about 40lbs.) to move around, but you won’t have to worry about your tent blowing away in the strongest of winds.

Add Pavers as a Base to each Leg

Purchase four paving blocks from your favorite home improvement store. Take each block and center them under each frame leg and mark the holes that are used for the stakes.

Use a masonry bit and drill the marked holes completely through the paver. Then, place a long enough bolt from the bottom up through the block and through the stake holes. Use the appropriate sized wing nut to tighten (and maybe a washer). Do this for each leg.

You could even paint the pavers to match your team’s colors.

Drill into the Concrete/Asphalt Parking Lot Directly

After your canopy is set up, use your cordless drill/driver with a masonry bit and drill through the stake holes. Penetrate a few inches. Then screw in the appropriate length and diameter concrete screw through the stake holes until it’s tight. Use washers at the head of the screw if needed. 3″ screws should be plenty unless you’re dealing with hurricane force winds.

Simple and easy if you are allowed to drill into the parking lot. Just remember to have your cordless tool fully charged beforehand or use an electric one if you have access to a generator.

Grass Parking Lot

If you’re set up on grass, it’s pretty simple. Just pound in the stakes through each leg base holes with a hammer. I prefer using a claw hammer instead of a rubber mallet, just because when you’re ready to pack up, you’ll probably need the claws on the hammer to pull the stakes out of the ground.

Conclusion

Here are 5 inexpensive ways to secure your canopy tent on a hard surface parking lot. It depends on how windy the day is, how much extra room you have to haul some of these bulky items, or how much time you have to build some of the weights. All of these tips will provide plenty of stability to make sure your canopy doesn’t blow away. If you are tailgating in hurricane type winds, well, then I’d prefer to watch the game from home on the TV!

Enjoy your football season!

Please let me know of any other suggestions or comments below! Thank you for reading!