Put me in the no mat crowd. If it rains, I don't want to be lugging a wet, mud soaked campground mat or piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting with me.
What we do is start by staying at a clean campground. If the site is dirty, we ask to move to a different site. To keep the coach clean, we have a floor mat at the base of the stairs so that we can either wipe off our shoes, or ideally, remove them altogether before heading up into the coach.
I can't say that I've realistically encountered any sort of major mess left from the previous camper. Most campgrounds we stay at have a staff that services the sites in between guests. I even see them going around cleaning old embers out of the fire pits.
When I was a kid my Dad taught us that the final thing when leaving a campsite is to police the grounds. I have taught this to my son as well... In fact, whenever he brought a friend along, I would sit back and listed as Nate explained what policing the site meant and then how to go about it... And for us, that means we clean up anything, everything and anywhere. So if the people next to us left a mess, guess what? Yup, we might as well grab that glick as well.
HC
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05' Layton Lite 170LT Cascade edition
06' Chevy Silverado K1500
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Mocoondo wrote: Put me in the no mat crowd. If it rains, I don't want to be lugging a wet, mud soaked campground mat or piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting with me.
What we do is start by staying at a clean campground. If the site is dirty, we ask to move to a different site. To keep the coach clean, we have a floor mat at the base of the stairs so that we can either wipe off our shoes, or ideally, remove them altogether before heading up into the coach.
I can't say that I've realistically encountered any sort of major mess left from the previous camper. Most campgrounds we stay at have a staff that services the sites in between guests. I even see them going around cleaning old embers out of the fire pits.
The mats made for camping ,from recycled pop bottles do not absorb water and clean with a shake
I have tried indoor/outdoor stuff all kinds of stuff all C**P compared to proper mats .
No mat owned here. We have a small mat to wipe feet & one of those thinghys that cleans the muck off the side of shoes.
Really hate being put in a site that was otherwise grassy but somebody has put down a mat & left it there long enough to kill all the grass that was previously there.
Do what you want on a dirt or gravel site. Have some consideration for future site users by not putting mats down on grass. Put a doormat down to wipe your feet.
Boat: 32' 1996 Albin 32+2, single Cummins 315hp
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Corkey05 wrote: I don't use my mat on the grass, but I sure do when there's nothing but dirt.
This...it depends on the surface for us.
2000 Ford F350 XLT 7.3L PSD CC 4x4 OffRoad SRW Long Bed
2008 Jayco Eagle 314BHDS (Momma Eagle)
Equalizer Hitch System (1400/14000lbs)
Prodigy Brake Controller
Curt XD Class V Receiver Hitch (1500/15000 lb)
Tvov wrote: I've never quite understood the use of concrete pads to park campers on. You park your camper on concrete, of which 98% is under the camper, and then you "setup" your chairs and tables on grass or dirt under the awning. Seems more logical to have the camper over dirt, and chairs and tables on concrete. Or, if you are going to have concrete/paving at a site, make it large enough to both park the camper and setup chairs and tables.
Anyways... we use a "mat" under our awning. As many others posted, makes for a much neater and cleaner camper - and campsite too, as most of the "garbage" seems to be generated where we eat (over the mat), and so it all gets cleaned up much easier.
Also, this is not just RVs, but I see many tents that have mats outside their entrance.
One campground we've been said no mats on campsites... and all the campsites had mud where your awning goes over. They had concrete slabs to park the campers on, so there was basically no choice where your camper goes, so the area next to the slabs was all beat up dirt and/or mud due to the extreme use.
Not sure what sites you have used, but when we pay extra for the concrete pad, we certainly are not putting our chairs in dirt. The pad extends out under the awning.
Mocoondo wrote: Put me in the no mat crowd. If it rains, I don't want to be lugging a wet, mud soaked campground mat or piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting with me.
What we do is start by staying at a clean campground. If the site is dirty, we ask to move to a different site. To keep the coach clean, we have a floor mat at the base of the stairs so that we can either wipe off our shoes, or ideally, remove them altogether before heading up into the coach.
I can't say that I've realistically encountered any sort of major mess left from the previous camper. Most campgrounds we stay at have a staff that services the sites in between guests. I even see them going around cleaning old embers out of the fire pits.
The REASON i use a mat is because of this dirt and mud you speak of. My mat didn't cause it, but I sure am not walking around and slushing in it - I put out a mat. I suggest you do the same. If you don't, that is your perogative, but I am not going to stop using mine.
If the site was grass, I wouldn't need the mat. And sorry but I am not going to go without my mat and keep walking in mud in hopes that in doing that the grass will grow back. I won't be there long enough for that to matter, so unless the CG mandates no mats, I will be using mine. Did you ever stop to think that grass - even without a mat - is eventually going to stop growing in a very high traffic area, and a campsite where people virutally everyday are sitting, walking, and basically living outside on it is eventually going to get like that. This is why most people have a mat in the first place.
I honestly would not camp at a CG with dirty muddy sites that did not allow a mat.
I have an open weave patio-mat and use it almost always. I don't normally stay in one spot longer than 4-5 days, but I've never pulled it up to find damage to the grass. Most places I stay, there isn't much to begin with. Keeps my rig cleaner.
I also keep my site clean and walk around just before leaving and pick up everything that nature didn't put there. Guess that's the Boy Scout in me coming back out.
Terry
Terry & Amy
2004 Hurricane 30F on P32 Workhorse Chassis
2010 GMC Terrain (Towed)
2010 Ford Escape(Future Towed)
Where are we going.....and why am I in this handbasket?
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