Originally Posted by
saddlesores
instead of the full tarp, cut out a tent footprint....same shape as the tent but a couple inches SMALLER on all sides. otherwise you'll be sitting your NON waterproof tent on top of a FULLY waterproof barrier. set up your tent in the bafftup with the drain plugged, turn on a light rain, and.........
I suggest skipping the footprint or ground sheet. I found that I get very little wear there and generally my tents will fail in some other way before the floor fails, but my strategy would be to waterproof and patch as needed and ultimately use a ground sheet inside if needed (I never have needed to).
Maybe it is because I take care in how I use my tent, crawl onto the sleeping pad, and mostly only sleep or read in there, but the floor gets very little wear. It isn't like I am crawling around on the bare floor much or at all. Thses days i am mostly using a bivy, but I have used a tent plenty and still do for other types of trips.