Screw in Tent Pegs; the ultimate peg upgrade
If you are still struggling to knock tent pegs into ground that is like concrete, the ultimate solution has been around for some time now; Screw in Tent Pegs.
If you’ve not used them before, know that everyone who has them raves about them, for good reason. Over the years, camping has become so much easier, and more comfortable, and little inventions like this go a long way to making this happen.
We picked up a set about a year ago, and they’ve made life much easier when putting pegs in (although this isn’t so common anymore, with our Reconn R2). We really only use them when the awning goes up, or for our shower tent if its windy.

Why are they so good?
Easy to put in
The main reason for the drill driven tent pegs being so good is they can be used in hard ground. This means crushed limestone, gravel or even compacted dirt is no issue at all.
I’ve lost count of the number of tent pegs that I’ve bent, or flattened so badly that they’ve snapped from smashing them into the ground.
There’s even been times where I’ve given up trying to knock a traditional peg into a hard ground, because its just too hard on the gear. With so many camp sites being converted to crushed limestone or gravel, this problem is only getting more and more common.
With our previous soft floor camper trailer, we had to put pegs into the corners of the tent as a minimum, and I had some big 12mm steel pegs that were about 400mm long.
Over the couple of years that we had it the corner that you hit got so flattened down that they would snap off, and you’d be left with just a piece of straight peg.
Easy to take out
The major issue with traditional pegs is that they can be a mission to pull out. Sure, you can use another peg to make it easier, or a peg removal tool, but sometimes you still struggle for a long time, and that’s not much fun. The screw in pegs simply unwind, and cause you no stress or issues at all.
Light weight
Compared to large, traditional pegs, these drill in tent pegs are much lighter, and you get away with much smaller pegs as they provide far more grab into the ground than a traditional peg. I’d have no issues using half size screw in pegs, as long as the ground is solid.
Using Screw in Tent Pegs
To install these, all you need is a drill, an adapter and a socket. Some people use impact guns, or the 5/16″ rattle guns. They all work.
A huge number of people travelling these days carry 18V drills, and winding a few tent pegs in and out is easy work. These can double up for winding the caravan or camper trailer legs down, repairs and maintenance on your gear and don’t take up much room.
You can manually install some of these, but it takes more time, and unless you are very limited with what you can take, a drill is well and truly worth throwing in.
To install them, just use the drill to wind the screw into the ground, at a 45 degree angle, or a little more vertical and hook what you need onto them.
Some tents don’t have the ability to hook it over, so you may need to run the screw down in the centre of the loop, being careful that it doesn’t grab the fabric and start to twist it around!
These probably take a similar amount of time to put in as a traditional peg, but its less effort, and the removal is where they are really valuable.

DIY screw in tent pegs
I have seen people make these up using long tek screws and washers welded to the top, but for the price that you can buy them I really don’t see why you would.
I’ve snapped and bent a couple
After several years of using these, I finally broke a couple. The first one snapped from too much torque on the drill, trying to go into seriously hard ground, and it basically just twisted the steel off.
I also managed to drive the Dmax over one of them, and bent it pretty badly, but otherwise they are going well!
Where can you buy screw in tent pegs from?
When these first came out, you could only buy screw in tent pegs from a couple of places. Today though, you’ll find them everywhere. The most popular option is Bunnings, where you can get 15 Whites Wires Screw in Tent Pegs for $19.95. This is what we run, and are very happy with them.
Beyond this, you have Ground Grabba, Ezy Achor, Supa Peg, Hex Pegs, Screw Pegs Australia, Peggy Peg, Blue Screw, Ground Dogs Pegs and then a huge range on eBay and Amazon.
No doubt there are a couple of best screw in tent pegs, but for us the Bunnings Whites option works just fine.

Should you get a set of screw in pegs?
If you already carry a drill, or are considering getting one and you use pegs enough that they frustrate you from time to time (or you have a camping trip planned to somewhere with rock hard surfaces, like the Ningaloo region) then yep, they are absolutely worth it.
We are very pleased with our Bunnings Screw in Pegs, and have recommended them to a heap of people already.
Hey Dave,
They are awesome, and make life much easier. Your story had me chuckling; we had a similar experience with a big sand peg that we put right through a shacks water supply from a bore in the middle of no where! I was so puzzled as to where water was coming from!
All the best
Aaron
Just bought some of these, what a great idea. Many years ago we were setting up a tent in a caravan park and bending pegs due to the hard ground, finally found a soft spot only for the peg to go straight into a poly water pipe less than 8 inches deep. After drying ourselves and confronting the park manager, they were very easy going, we helped them repair the pipe, even gave us a beer for our trouble. Gotta love camping
Hey Jimmy,
You’re probably right; technology never sleeps!
Take care
Aaron
Hi, I was walking past these in bunnings the other day and I thought to my self in another 5 years there will be self screwing tent pegs