Your custom pop-up canopy looks a lot better on the ground than it does in a tree.
Kidding aside, figuring out the best way to anchor a canopy is a serious topic. You want to protect your investment from becoming damaged or possibly damaging something (or someone!) nearby when there are heavy winds in the forecast.
As a U.S. manufacturer of some of the most durable pop-up tents on the market, we know a thing or two about canopy anchors. Whether you’re setting up on the beach or wondering how to anchor a canopy on concrete, here are some of the best canopy anchor ideas to use at your next event.
How to Keep Your Canopy From Blowing Away
You have plenty of options when it comes to ballasting a canopy tent. These are some of the most common ways to weigh down a 10x10 pop-up canopy and larger sizes:
Tent Stakes
If you’re setting up on grass, gravel, or dirt, you can’t go wrong with heavy-duty tent stakes and some well-tied slip knots. We like this method of anchoring so much that we actually include a stake kit, complete with guy straps, with all of our MONARCHTENTs. Connect the guy straps to each upper corner of the tent’s frame and anchor it to the stake at a 45-degree angle for maximum stability.
Sandbags
Sand is accessible, cheap, and, thankfully, heavy enough that, when evenly distributed across your tent’s frame, can efficiently anchor your setup. Sandbags, like the ones we sell, can weigh about 35lbs each when filled with sand and a little bit of water. This is a great option when you’re set up on a beach because, well, sand is readily available!
It's also a great option if you're concerned about shipping costs, because with sandbags, you don't pay for the weight of the sand — just the softgoods.
Water Barrels
When you’re dealing with larger frame tents installed on concrete, you need a heavier anchoring solution, like water barrels. The water barrels that TentCraft sells, when filled, weigh 660 lbs. That means a water barrel on each corner gives you more than 2,600 lbs. of anchoring support.
Water barrels can get a bad rap to the point where some tent sellers, including some of our competitors, won't even sell them out of fear they will tip over and make a huge mess and cause damage. TentCraft water barrels are different, though. Most water barrel anchors, like the ones you can purchase at Home Depot, require you to attach your tent only to the top of the barrel. Our patented design, though, calls for the straps to go all the way to the bottom of the barrel — through the water — through the metal loop that's positioned in the middle of the bottom of the barrel and back up again. This provides for a much more stable anchor.
Here’s how we recommend setting up water barrels on TentCraft tents.
Concrete
Concrete cinder blocks are easy to find, but with the average cinder block weighing only 28lbs., they’re not always heavy enough, depending on the size of your tent. Another option is to take a 5-gallon bucket and fill it ⅔ full with concrete mix. While it’s still wet, set a large eye-bolt that can be used to attach your tent’s anchor.
Another option, which works well with frame tents, is a concrete ballasting block. Some hardware stores can make ballasting blocks with a hook in them to attach your tent to.
If you're looking for something that's more professional, in terms of concrete anchors, we recommend reaching out to Block and Roll Innovations, which makes excellent concrete tent anchors.
Footplates
At TentCraft, we love footplates for our heavy-duty MONARCHTENT and medium-duty mightyTENT — especially for farmers market tents that need to be anchored in a parking lot. We engineered and handcrafted 50 lbs. cast-iron footplates that perfectly attach to the legs of your tent. As you can see in this video, it’s pretty simple to install the footplates. And when you’re done using your tent for the day, you can easily store them.
How Much Weight Is Needed to Hold Down My Canopy Tent?
Our in-house team of engineers have helped us come up with recommended weights for the most-common pop-up canopy tents.
Anchoring a TentCraft Canopy Pop-Up Tent
As an American manufacturer of pop-up tents, we live and breathe tents every day. So, do we have a favorite anchoring method? Not really, but we’d first recommend our footplates since they are 1) easy to install and 2) aesthetically pleasing thanks to their minimalist design.
While all TentCraft tents come with a certified wind rating from a professional engineering firm, that rating only means something when the tent is properly anchored. When winds start flirting with 30 mph to 40 mph gusts, you definitely need a secure anchor, or your tent is going to start moving.
Still have questions about anchoring your pop-up tent? Send us a note and let TentCraft help you today.
