Do You Need a Footprint for a Coleman Tent? A Straight Answer
Heads up: some links below go to Amazon. If you buy through them it costs you nothing extra, and we may earn a small commission that keeps this site running. We only recommend tents we'd actually take camping.
Straight answer: no, you don't strictly need a footprint for a Coleman tent. A Coleman Sundome already ships with a welded, seamless bathtub floor that has no needle holes for groundwater to sneak through — it'll keep you dry on its own. A footprint isn't there to make the tent waterproof. It's there to protect that floor from abrasion and add a moisture barrier, which extends the floor's life and keeps it cleaner. For a few bucks, that's usually worth it. But "worth it" and "required" are two different things, and which side you land on depends entirely on where you camp.
We've put Sundomes down on grass, gravel, packed dirt, pine duff, and one regrettable patch of crushed shell. Here's the honest breakdown of when a footprint earns its place under a Coleman, when you can skip it, and how to make a cheap tarp do the same job as a $30 branded one — without turning it into a rain gutter.
What a footprint actually does (and what it doesn't)
People assume a footprint is a waterproofing upgrade. It mostly isn't. On a tent with a solid floor, here's the real job description:
- Abrasion protection. The ground is the enemy of a tent floor — sharp gravel, pine cones, roots, and grit slowly grind the coating off the underside. The footprint takes that wear so the floor doesn't.
- A moisture barrier. Even a great floor sitting on saturated ground for hours will eventually feel clammy. A footprint adds a second layer between you and cold, wet earth, which also helps a little with warmth.
- A clean, dry pack-up. The footprint takes the mud so your tent floor doesn't. You shake out a tarp; you have to wipe down and dry a tent floor. On a multi-day trip that matters.
What a footprint doesn't do: it won't rescue a tent that's leaking from the seams or the fly, and on the Sundome it isn't plugging any holes — the welded floor already has none. So if your worry is rain getting in, a footprint is the wrong tool. (For that, our guide on whether the Coleman Sundome is actually waterproof covers the seams and pitch that matter.) The footprint is about longevity and comfort, not waterproofing.
So do you need one for a Coleman Sundome specifically?
Coleman Sundome
Welded WeatherTec bathtub floor — dry without a footprint, but a tarp keeps it lasting.
The Coleman Sundome is one of the few budget tents where I'll happily tell people to skip the footprint for a casual trip. Its WeatherTec system uses a welded, seamless bathtub floor — the floor edges curve up the walls and the seams are heat-bonded shut, so groundwater has nowhere to wick through. That's a genuinely tough floor for a tent that runs around $45 to $115 depending on size and season. On a soft grassy site for a weekend, you're not gaining much from a footprint.
Here's our rule of thumb after years of doing this:
| Your situation | Footprint? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Soft grass, one or two nights | Skip it | The welded floor handles it fine; little wear to protect against |
| Gravel, packed dirt, rocky or rooty ground | Use one | Abrasion is the real threat — this is where floors die young |
| Wet, boggy, or recently rained-on ground | Use one | Extra moisture barrier keeps the floor from feeling clammy |
| You camp 10+ nights a year | Use one | Cheap insurance to make a $90 tent last many seasons |
| Festival / backyard / fair weather, occasional use | Optional | Nice-to-have, not a need; a tarp scrap covers you |
The short version: the Sundome doesn't need a footprint to keep you dry, but if you camp on anything abrasive or you want the tent to outlive a few seasons of hard use, it's some of the cheapest insurance in camping. The floor is the one part of a tent you can't easily replace.
DIY tarp vs. a bought footprint
Coleman sells fitted footprints, and plenty of third-party ones are cut for the Sundome's exact floor dimensions. They're tidy, they snap or clip neatly, and they pack flat. If you want zero fuss and a clean fit, a bought footprint is fine — usually around $20 to $35.
But I'll be straight with you: a cheap tarp does the same job for a fraction of the price. A hardware-store poly tarp, a painter's plastic drop sheet, or a piece of Tyvek house wrap all work. Here's the honest trade-off.
DIY tarp / groundsheet
- Costs a few dollars, not $30
- Cut it to the exact size you want
- Easy to replace when it wears out
- Tyvek is ultralight and tough
The catch with DIY
- You have to cut and size it yourself
- Cheap poly tarps are heavier and bulkier
- No clips — you just lay it down
- Wrong size = a rain-funneling mistake (see below)
For a car-camping tent like the Sundome, where weight and pack size barely matter, I reach for a cut-down tarp almost every time. The only place I'd pay for a fitted footprint is if I wanted a clean, pre-sized fit and didn't feel like cutting one. Functionally, in the rain, they perform identically — what matters far more is how you size and place whatever you put down.
The one mistake that turns a footprint into a leak
This is the part most people get wrong, and it's worth more than everything above: a footprint that sticks out past the tent floor will funnel rain underneath you.
Picture it. Rain runs off the fly and drips onto the ground around the tent. If your footprint extends past the floor edge, those drips land on the footprint instead of bare soil — and the footprint channels that water inward, right under your floor, where it pools. I've watched campers "waterproof" their setup with a big tarp and wake up floating on a puddle they built themselves. The tent didn't leak. The tarp delivered the water.
Get the sizing right and a footprint is pure upside. Get it wrong and you've made the one tent problem a Sundome's welded floor was supposed to prevent. This sizing rule is the same one I hammer in our broader piece on picking and pitching a budget tent — it matters that much.
The contrast: tents that include a footprint
Not every tent makes you buy a footprint separately. The clearest example on this site is the backpacking pick.
Naturehike Cloud-Up 2
Ultralight 2-person — and the footprint comes in the box.
The Naturehike Cloud-Up 2 includes a matching footprint right in the box, and on a backpacking tent that's a bigger deal than it sounds. Its floor is thin 20D nylon — light and packable at around 3.3 lb on the trail, but far more vulnerable to abrasion than the Sundome's heavier welded floor. A thin floor genuinely wants a footprint, so getting one included (and pre-cut to the exact size, so it can't overhang) is a real value add at the roughly $119 the Cloud-Up runs.
That's the useful contrast. The Sundome gives you a tough welded floor and lets you decide whether to add a footprint; the Cloud-Up gives you a delicate floor but throws in the footprint to protect it. Different philosophies, both reasonable. If you're weighing these two against each other for other reasons too, we break the whole matchup down in our Cloud-Up 2 vs Sundome comparison. The takeaway for footprints: a thin backpacking floor needs one more than a burly car-camping floor does — and Naturehike knew that, so they included it.
The bottom line
You don't need a footprint for a Coleman tent — the Sundome's welded WeatherTec floor keeps you dry on its own. You'll want one if you camp on rough or wet ground or you want the floor to last for years, and a cut-down cheap tarp does the job as well as a branded footprint. Just size it smaller than the floor and tuck every edge under, or you'll funnel rain right under your sleeping bag. Cheap insurance, one easy rule.
Check the Sundome price on Amazon →Still narrowing down which tent to buy in the first place? Our ranked picks of the best cheap tents sort the genuinely weatherproof ones from the fair-weather shelters, so you start with a floor worth protecting.
FAQ
Do you need a footprint for a Coleman Sundome?
No, not strictly. The Sundome already has a welded, seamless WeatherTec bathtub floor with no needle holes for groundwater to creep through, so it keeps you dry without one. A footprint is about protecting that floor from abrasion and adding a moisture barrier, which extends the tent's life. On rough or rocky ground it's cheap insurance; on a soft grassy site for a weekend, you can skip it.
Can I use a cheap tarp instead of a Coleman footprint?
Yes, and most people should. A cut-to-size tarp or painter's poly sheet does the same job as a branded footprint for a fraction of the cost. The one rule that matters: make it smaller than the tent floor and tuck every edge under so nothing sticks out. A tarp that pokes past the floor edge catches rain runoff and funnels it under you — turning your money-saving tarp into a puddle bed.
How do I size a footprint so it doesn't collect rain?
Cut or fold the footprint so it sits an inch or two inside the tent's floor edge all the way around — invisible from above once the tent is pitched. The goal is for water running off the fly to land on bare ground beyond the footprint, not on the footprint itself. If any edge peeks out, fold it back under.
Does the Naturehike Cloud-Up 2 come with a footprint?
Yes. The Cloud-Up 2 includes a matching, pre-sized footprint in the box, which is part of why it's a strong value for a backpacking tent. That's a real difference from the Sundome, where a footprint is a separate purchase — though the Sundome's welded floor needs one less than a thin 20D backpacking floor does.