Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Tipi/tarp vs. floored tent

VAnimrod:

Man you've stepped into it now.

Currently in the backpacking community, there is an energetic debate regarding which system is best, a single wall tent with a stove or a double wall tent with a floor. Each system has its� benefits and liabilities and much is dependent upon anticipated weather and terrain where you�re going to be using your shelter.

There are a bunch of good guys with lots of backpacking experience, that know what they�re doing, who advocate for single-wall tents with a lightweight, collapsible wood burning stove and no floor, as their primary backpacking shelter. I respectfully disagree.

I think I�m also a good guy who knows what he�s doing and I advocate for double-wall backpacking tents. I�ve been backpacking for fifty years and gone on maybe 300 wilderness backpack trips in that time. I�ve used every kind of tent that�s manufactured, and some that I made myself, including single-wall tents with wood burning stoves and no floors. I think there are more benefits and fewer liabilities when using double-wall tents vs single-wall tents.

Single-wall tents are significantly lighter than double-wall tents and weight is a primary concern for anyone who does more than the occasional casual backpacking trip. But moisture will condense on the inside of a single-wall tent unless you use a stove to keep the interior warm. If you don�t use a stove inside, the condensation will get everything inside the tent wet, even if it�s dry outside. By the time that you add the stove and ground cloth, the entire assembly is as heavy, sometimes heavier, than a double-wall tent.

I own several single-wall tents including a Black Diamond One Shot http://www.sierradescents.com/reviews/tents/black-diamond/oneshot.html and a Sierra Designs Origami-3 http://www.sierradesigns.com/p-294-origami-3-tarp.aspx. Both have problems with condensation on the inside of the waterproof single-wall fabric. Yes, you can deal with the condensation problem but why bother when there are acceptable alternatives. I also own several traditional canvas tents that are impregnated with paraffin/oil. They are waterproof and they breathe and they work great but they are way too heavy and bulky for backpacking.

Another thing to consider is that teepee style tents have sloping walls and although they may have a bigger floor plan, the useable floor space is less because of the sloping walls.

I do a lot of camping in places where there is no wood available. In that situation wood burning stoves are superfluous extra weight









Double-wall tents do a better job of keeping out insects than single-wall tents without floors. There have been times when the vampire mosquitoes would have eaten me alive if I had been sleeping in a single-wall tent. One can employ methods such as repellent and staking the walls tight to the ground, to reduce the insect problem inside a single-wall tent, but it�s a lot of trouble and never quite as good as a double-wall tent. It�s much easier to keep out insects when using a double-wall tent.

Some people like the warmth inside a single-wall tent with a stove, in cold weather. That�s hard to disregard but that warmth comes with a price. Since single-wall tents are lighter than double-wall tents, you can carry a single-wall tent with a bigger floor area than a double-wall tent for the same or less weight. But the stove presents a hazard that must be accounted for. A good way to ruin a sleeping bag is to roll up against a hot stove while you�re sleeping. So you have to give up some floor space to the stove and the end result is the same or less usable floor space for the same or more weight. However, even with all that taken into consideration, it�s real nice in the middle of a snow storm to be able to lounge around inside a heated tent.

The small, lightweight, collapsible stoves require constant work to keep them going. You can only use small pieces of wood so you have a big pile of twigs and you have to keep feeding them into the stove to keep it working. If you go to sleep, which is of course what you�re hoping for, the stove will go out. The tent will get cold inside and moisture will condense and freeze on the inside of the tent wall. In the morning when you restart the stove all that frost will melt and things will get just as wet as if you had no stove at all.

I guess in the final analysis I just don�t want to have to deal with the stove. I usually wait until last light to setup my tent and settle in for the night. By that time I�m usually pretty tuckered out and I just want to get inside my sleeping bag and get some rest. I don't want to have to collect a bunch of firewood and break it into pieces small enough to use in the stove and I don�t want to have to mess around with a stove inside my tent.

When I rent horses for an extended trip, I take a big standup dome tent and a small propane space heater. I run the space heater for short periods of time to heat up the tent. The effect is about the same as using a wood burning stove because both heaters are running when you�re awake and they�re not running when you�re sleeping.

There�s an art to keeping warm when sleeping in temperatures below zero. Start by insulating yourself from the frozen ground and then use a really good sleeping bag. I suggest that you use both a closed cell foam sleeping pad and a self inflating pad like a Thermarest. Wrap one inside the other for packing and sleep on both of them. You need a mummy style sleeping bag rated at 0� or colder.

A good 4-season, double wall backpack tent with a vestibule will make a big difference. It's important to keep the inside of the tent free of snow and dry. So leave your boots in the vestibule. One big advantage of sleeping directly on the snow is that there won't be any rocks, sticks or bumps under you and the snow will eventually conform to your body contours. If you setup your tent on the snow then first put a light waterproof tarp on the inside of the floor. Any moisture will run under the tarp and freeze between the tarp and the tent floor. Next build a nest inside the tent with extra clothes, stuff sacks, backpacks, etc. This keeps you from rolling off the sleeping pads onto the frozen floor of the tent. Wear only clean dry clothing to bed. Wet clothes, even those wet with only perspiration, will take several hours to dry. Wear your knitted hat to bed as a nightcap. Also sleep 2 to a tent and the extra body heat will make a difference. If your feet are cold, zip up your coat and slip it over the bottom of your sleeping bag. If your chest is cold, put your coat on inside the sleeping bag.

Bring a good thermos with an insulator. I couldn't find an insulator big enough to take a thermos, so I built my own using foam rubber and duct tape. At night first temper the thermos and then fill it with boiling water and put it inside the insulator and then inside your backpack. In the morning you have hot water for instant cocoa and oatmeal without getting out of your sleeping bag. Bring a wide mouth pee bottle so that you can urinate in the middle of the night without leaving the tent.

There�s really no right or wrong way to do it. Each system has its� benefits and liabilities. The important thing is that you go, do it and enjoy yourself.

KC