7 Best Screw-In Tent Stakes For Sandy Soil In A Fifth Wheel Vets Swear By

You’ve found the perfect campsite right on the coast, sand stretching out before you. You extend your fifth wheel’s awning, drive in the standard metal stakes, and crack open a cold drink. An hour later, a gust of wind rips one side of the awning loose, sending it flapping violently because those flimsy stakes pulled right out of the sand as if it were water. This isn’t just an annoyance; it’s a recipe for expensive damage and a ruined afternoon.

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Why Standard Stakes Fail in Sandy Soil

Standard tent stakes, the thin metal pins that come with most awnings and tents, are designed for one thing: friction in cohesive soil. They work by being wedged into firm earth, where the surrounding dirt grips them tightly. The soil particles stick to each other and to the stake, creating the holding power you need.

Sandy soil throws that entire principle out the window. Sand is just a collection of loose, granular particles with almost zero cohesion. Driving a thin stake into sand is like pushing a needle into a jar of marbles; there’s nothing for it to grip. Any upward or lateral force on the guy line simply pulls the stake right back out, creating a small, temporary hole that immediately collapses. It’s a fundamental mismatch between the tool and the terrain.

Orange Screw: The Ultimate Large Ground Anchor

When you need to secure something substantial, like the main support of a 20-foot awning or a tie-out for a large, energetic dog, the Orange Screw is in a class of its own. Made from a shockingly tough recycled polycarbonate, these large-diameter ground anchors don’t just pierce the ground—they actively grip it. Their wide, deep flights carve into the sand, packing it and creating an immense cone of resistance beneath the surface.

Installation is straightforward. You use the included clear T-grip tube to manually screw the anchor into the ground. As you turn it, you can feel it bite and lock in. This isn’t about brute force; it’s about mechanical advantage. The sheer volume of sand it engages is what provides its incredible holding power.

While they might be overkill for a small ground mat, they provide absolute peace of mind for critical applications. I’ve seen these hold down large event canopies in coastal winds that sent everything else tumbling. They are an investment, but one that pays for itself the first time a serious storm rolls through and your gear stays exactly where you put it.

GroundGrabba Pro II: Unmatched Holding Power

If the Orange Screw is the heavy-duty champion, the GroundGrabba Pro II is the industrial-grade terminator. Forged from heat-treated carbon steel, this is less a tent stake and more a piece of serious drilling equipment. Its aggressive, sharpened flights are designed to burrow into the most challenging ground, from loose sand to hard, rocky soil.

The key thing to understand about the GroundGrabba is that it’s a power tool accessory. You don’t hammer this in; you drive it with a powerful 18V (or higher) cordless drill and a 19mm hex socket. This is both its greatest strength and its primary consideration. The mechanical force of a drill allows it to sink deep and lock into the substrate with a grip that manual screwing simply cannot match.

Is it for everyone? No. You need to carry a capable drill and keep it charged. But for full-timers who set up in unpredictable locations or anyone facing potentially high winds in the desert or on the coast, the GroundGrabba Pro II is the ultimate "set it and forget it" solution. When your expensive awning is on the line, the need for a power tool seems like a very small price to pay for near-total security.

The Peggy Peg System: Versatile & Adaptable

The Peggy Peg system is the clever, engineered solution for people who appreciate smart design. Originating in Germany, this isn’t just one stake, but an entire ecosystem of ground anchors. Their screw pegs, made of a tough, UV-resistant fiberglass-reinforced plastic, are brilliant for sand and soft soils. They are surprisingly lightweight yet incredibly strong.

What truly sets the Peggy Peg apart is its adjustable locking clip. You can drive the screw peg completely flush with the ground, maximizing its buried depth and holding power. Then, you simply slide the blue hook down the peg’s head until it’s at ground level and lock it in place. This design eliminates any leverage on the stake, meaning wind forces pull laterally against the entire buried screw, not upwards on an exposed shaft.

This system offers a fantastic balance of weight, strength, and intelligent design. They can be driven with a cordless drill or a manual wrench, offering flexibility. For the RVer who camps in a wide variety of conditions from forest floors to sandy shores, a Peggy Peg kit is one of the most versatile and effective investments you can make.

MSR Cyclone Stake: Lightweight Spiral Design

Don’t let its minimalist appearance fool you. The MSR Cyclone stake, born from the ultralight backpacking world, has a place in the fifth wheel toolkit. Constructed from 7000-series aluminum, it features a spiral design that provides a surprising amount of surface area for its weight. Instead of screwing it in, you hammer it, and the spiral shape displaces and packs the sand around it.

This stake shines in light- to medium-duty applications where a heavy steel screw is overkill. Think about securing your large outdoor patio mat, anchoring a portable solar panel frame, or adding extra guy lines to a privacy screen. In these scenarios, its low weight and compact size are a huge advantage. You can carry a handful of them without adding any significant weight or bulk to your gear bins.

The Cyclone is not the right tool for holding the main leg of your awning in a 40-mph gust. It lacks the deep, aggressive bite of a true screw anchor. But for the countless other things around your campsite that need to be secured in soft ground, it provides far superior holding power to any standard pin stake without the weight and bulk of the heavy-hitters.

Blue Diamond Screw Pegs: An RV Awning Favorite

Walk through any RV park, and you’re bound to see Blue Diamond screw pegs in action. They’ve become a de facto standard for a reason: they are a massive, cost-effective upgrade from the stakes that come in the box. Typically made of plated steel with a tight corkscrew design, they are built specifically for the needs of RVers.

Most Blue Diamond kits come in a convenient plastic case and include a socket adapter for your cordless drill, making them a complete, ready-to-go solution. They provide excellent grip in sand and soft soils, easily securing large awnings against typical afternoon breezes. The holding power is more than sufficient for the vast majority of camping situations you’ll encounter.

They represent a fantastic middle ground. They are stronger and more reliable than budget options but not as extreme (or expensive) as a GroundGrabba. For the weekend warrior or the full-timer who avoids extreme weather, a set of Blue Diamond pegs is often the perfect, practical choice.

Camco Spiral Stakes: A Trusted RV Brand Name

Camco is a name every RVer knows, and their spiral stakes are a common sight for securing pet leashes. Often made of bright yellow plastic or coated steel, their defining feature is a large, integrated T-handle that allows for easy installation by hand. No tools are required, which is a major point of convenience.

These stakes are ideal for low-force applications. Use them to keep your dog from wandering off, pin down the corners of a beach blanket, or secure a small decorative flag. While they offer a better grip in sand than a smooth stake, they don’t have the deep-threading design needed to hold an awning against a strong, persistent wind. The manual handle just can’t generate the torque needed to drive them deep enough for a truly secure hold.

Think of these as the convenience stakes. They are perfect to keep in an outside storage bay for quick, simple tasks. When you just need to tack something down quickly and don’t want to break out the drill, the Camco stake is your friend.

Coghlan’s Screw Pegs: A Reliable Budget Pick

Sometimes, you just need something that works without costing a fortune. Coghlan’s, the classic camping supply brand, offers simple, no-frills steel screw pegs that do exactly that. They are shorter, thinner, and have less aggressive threads than their premium counterparts, but they are a world away from the uselessness of a standard pin stake in sand.

These are the stakes you buy to have a bunch on hand. They are perfect for securing secondary items, like the straps on an awning sunshade or the lines for a portable clothesline. They can be screwed in by hand using a screwdriver through the top loop for leverage, or slowly with a drill.

Their holding power is modest, but their value is undeniable. For the RVer who primarily camps on firm ground but wants an "just in case" kit for that annual beach trip, a bag of Coghlan’s screw pegs is a smart, affordable preparation. They get the job done for non-critical tasks and will save you a lot of frustration.

Ultimately, choosing the right stake is about matching the tool to the task and the conditions. A heavy steel screw is essential for your main awning in a windstorm, while a lightweight spiral is perfect for a ground mat. Stop thinking of stakes as simple pins and start seeing them as critical safety equipment, because the first time you watch a storm roll in, you’ll be glad you did.