Best Screw In Tent Pegs to Explore
Screw-in tent pegs are one of life’s conveniences when camping. They keep your tent or caravan awning firmly in place. They are some of the little inventions that have made camping so much easier and comfortable in recent years.
Technically a screw-in peg is a tent stake acting like a screw. It gets driven into the ground using a cordless drill or by hand through a socket wrench.
Screw-in pegs are in the running for best tent pegs as they are quick to use, easy to screw, firmly hold in place and typically come with a lifetime warranty.
We hope to provide this article as a comprehensive guide to finding the best screw-in pegs for your needs, real comparison with traditional tent pegs as well as considerations to make in buying these products for your camping or caravanning adventures.
What Are Tent Pegs Anyway?
Those who buy tents know that they come with tent stakes. These nifty little things pin your tent to the ground, preventing it from blowing away.
Standard tent pegs are made out of metal, shaped like long hooks for keeping the guy lines securely in place. The long stem, meanwhile, sinks into mother earth.
Tent pegs do a lot for your camping tent. Here are some of them:
- Prevent the tent from flying away, holding the material firmly
- Ensure your tend holds its shape
- Increase the interior space available
- Prevent serious damage such as fabric tears and damaged support poles
Tent stakes actually come in so many sizes, shapes and weights. While standard tent pegs aren’t always excellent, a topnotch tent peg works great for the right type of ground.
Next up, you’ll find the various types of tent pegs on the market.
Hard Ground, Loose Ground: Various Kinds of Tent Pegs
There are different types of tent pegs, mostly depending on the kind of ground you want to stake your camping tent to, whether soft ground, the hardest ground or virtually all soil types.
Standard metal pegs
These standard pegs, also known as skewer pegs, typically come with the tent package you buy. They fit regular soil best, either too hard, too soft or too powdery or rocky. They generally work with a wide range of surfaces.
These pegs are usually made of stainless steel. They have a long vertical part along with a small hook on top. You can’t, however, rule out nylon and plastic tent pegs like these.
When we say traditional pegs, we mean the ones hammered into the ground using a hammer. There are steel pegs at 200mm and 300mm long, or perhaps a 300mm long plastic peg. Of course, common sense applies: we can’t hammer the plastic sand pegs into hard ground while smaller steel pegs don’t fare well in soft sand.
Perhaps the biggest advantage with these standard pegs are their wide array of sizes, affordability and ability to be hammered back into shape once bent.
On the downside, they’re pretty serious work to hammer into and then retrieve from the ground.
Heavy-duty pegs
These tent pegs are made of hardened metal like titanium, which offers both durability and flexibility.
Less prone to bending, their design shows a Y-shaped cross section barring twisting in the ground. This offers added support whenever there are high winds.
Rock pegs
Camping in hard and rocky soil might entail choosing rock pegs. These are made of hardened metal and then shaped like a nail topped with a small cross bar.
A rock peg can break through a surface that other tent pegs might not be able to handle.
Take note, though, that the strongest tent peg may not necessarily be heavy. It may be extremely lightweight. With varying lengths available, it might be useful to carry a mix of these tent pegs, with a number of notches letting you attach one or more guy lines.
What Is a Screw In Peg?
If you’ve been camping for quite some time, you’re likely familiar with this scene:
- You whack steel tent pegs into the ground.
- With much frustration, you try to yank them out.
- Wanting to get the job done, you’re likely already swearing, skinned knuckles and all.
Screw-in pegs are lauded as a lifesaver, said to hold guy ropes to the ground, from sandy loam to tightly packed dirt, as strongly as possible without giving you a hard time.
Simply put, the screw-in design replaces your trusty hammer with a 12V drill. The pegs can also be inserted and extracted using a shifter, ratchet, spanner or a hand brace, such as the caravan leg winder you’ve relied on for the longest time.
How About Drillable Pegs?
Before we proceed, drillable tent pegs are also worth discussing. They are known for taking the strain out of setup, particularly if you’ve got plenty of camping tasks on your hands.
Drillable pegs are for those who want a quick, easy setup and without the strain on the knees or back.
They can be inserted and removed easily using a drill or impact driver, which comes in handy for larger tents or camping on hard ground.
While particularly more expensive than standard options, drillable pegs also prove popular for those for whom price isn’t an issue and enjoying the time outdoors is of utmost importance.
Hex Pegs is a particularly known brand of drillable tent pegs, marketed to make camping or caravanning so much easier with durable, efficient tent pegs.
How to Use Tent Pegs
A tent peg might be a tiny paraphernalia for camping. Its size, however, doesn’t prevent plenty of debates over how it’s used properly.
To install tent pegs, you will need a drill, adapter as well as a socket. Some also use impact guns (or 5/16” rattle guns).
An 18V drill also comes in handy, doubling as a tool for winding the caravan trailer legs down, and for general repair and maintenance.
These pegs can be manually installed but this will take time and effort. A drill is therefore worth carrying around.
The standard process of installing is to use the drill for winding the screw into the ground at a 45-degree angle. You may also go a little more vertical.
Here are some tips to consider:
- Check if the ground is suitable for pitching your tent. Too soft ground where you can effortlessly push the stake in by hand likely won’t provide lots of strength.
- Drive the tent peg in a vertical manner, slightly angling it towards the tent. This will increase strength and slash the risk of the peg bending.
- As for the hook, face them away from the tent to prevent guy ropes from slipping off when there’s high wind. Got Y-shaped tent pegs? Make sure the top of the Y is facing away from your tent.
- Use a light hammer or rubber mallet to drive the tent pegs into the ground. If you have neither of these, a flat rock will probably do.
5 Top-Rated Screw In Peg Products
Here are some products to choose from if you’re partial to using or trying out screw-in pegs for your camping tent.
Blue Screw
Blue Screw offers plastic pegs in two sizes, namely 310mm and 580 mm long. They work well in sand, snow, sloppy mud and underwater as suggested by the company.
These pegs have a rope hook on top that’s big enough for attaching multiple guy ropes.
If you’re wondering, they fare well in sand and soft ground. Forget hard ground, though; it just won’t work!
In summary, Blue Screw screw-in pegs are long, flexible and have to be wound all the way in if pulled at an angle.
Ground Grabba
Ground Grabba pegs are of three types incorporating two size steel pegs and a glass-reinforced nylon peg. They all use a hexagonal head driven by 19mm sockets provided.
These pegs are touted great for securing all types of structures into loose soft grounds along with sand. They can be used to secure tents, tarps, canopies or other outdoor shelters and structures in sand and loose soft grounds.
The 400mm-long unit, for example, is classified as a “recreational grade” camping tent peg, ideal for the beach and sand dunes. It’s glass-reinforced and features large diameter flutes along its shaft as well as a moulded open rope hook.
There are two steel units, too, measuring in at 300mm and 600mm long.
It might interest you to know that these tent pegs come with a warranty.
Screw Pegs Australia
Screw-in pegs from Screw Pegs Australia come in three sizes: 8mm, 10mm and 12mm, all utilising a hexagonal head as well as stainless steel washers. They are driven using 16mm and 18mm socket drivers.
Use the included clips or wire rope hooks to drill into the ground and easily attach guy ropes. You may also use the pegs without the clip; simply use the washers while you hold the legs to the ground directly.
The pegs also feature an inverted rope hook, so no surprising sharp ends that can mess with toes!
We particularly like the Starter Pack, which comes with 16 pegs in three different sizes plus washers and clips:
- x2 12mm x 300mm Pegs
- x4 10mm x 300mm Pegs
- x10 10mm x 250mm Pegs
- x2 13mm 316 grade SS Washers
- x28 10mm 316 grade SS Washers
- x10 10mm 316 spring grade SS Clips
Peggy Peg
How about some Peggy Peg? This brand offers quite a number of different lengths and diameters. Its screw-in pegs also come in UV-reinforced fibreglass material.
Diameter-wise, the rope clips can be slotted over the head onto the main shaft. Use the clip anywhere on the shaft, which means you don’t need to drill it in completely. This is good for reducing the likelihood of damaged pegs.
A guy rope ladder attaches to the clip, which then replaces the steel spring present on most guy ropes available.
Some Peggy Peg benefits:
- Applicable to soft to dense grounds with stones present
- Fits jobs to fix large crew tents, making them storm-proof
- Hooks are height-adjustable
- Weighs only a fraction of standard tent pegs
Whites
Whites wires screw-in tent pegs are also worth the attention, featuring an electro-galvanised finish, heavy duty quality and extra strong holding for when life (and serious camping) happens.
Versatile for use across marquees, shelters and caravan awnings, these pegs can be ideal for hard, stony ground.
The tops are vibrant yellow for high visibility, and they come with a convenient storage case to store the complete package.
Customers often rave about the price point, along with the ability to make pegging a complete breeze.
Final Note
When screw-in tent pegs first came out, they were available only in a couple of places.
Today they’re everywhere and heaps of campers and outdoorsy people recommend several different brands, from Ground Grabba to Screw Pegs Australia to Bunnings Whites.
When purchasing, consider not just the type, material and price of the pegs, but also the type of ground and conditions you’ll be using them in. Of course, don’t forget to have fun once the job is done!
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