Regarding having a floor or not, very few backpacking tents are designed
without a floor; I can only think of one.  And they do everything possible
to trim weight.  Must be a reason.  One I can think of is that backpackers
sleep on that floor; it's not nice to wake up at 2 am to discover you
pitched the tent over an ant colony.  But then that wouldn't be very nice
for a side tent either.  //Jack

From:                   George Goff <THX0001@AOL.COM>

> In a message dated 4/17/04 5:33:26 PM, vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM writes:
>
> << modern European side tents lack a floor, whereas most Americans want one.
> >>
>
> For good reason.  As the great and wise Smokey Yunick once said, if you gave
> an American everything he wanted, he would be dead before he was 21.  A
> fabric floor in a tent is a dirt-collecting, moisture-harboring nuisance at
> best. Admittedly, I have only lived out of a tent when I was force to and I
> assure you that whoever spec'd it would have laughed at the thought of a
> floor.  Even the tree-huggers, at least the serious ones, who look forward to
> being under canvas are starting to slowly realize that in most conditions a
> floored tent is hardly the way to go.
>
> If I were ever to go car camping cum side tent and I anticipated muck, I
> would pack some roll up wooden slat matting for the outing.
>
> George