Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Wall tents

I've never owned a canvas wall tent before and wondering how well they deal with the moisture issue that most other tents suffer from when used in cold weather? What maintenance do they require?

Set em up when you get home, clean it, let it dry and put it away. That's all you need to do

If using a wood burning stove, at least in the west here there are no moisture problems.

I used a 30K btu propane Blue Flame heater in mine and really didn't have a moisture problem that some encounter.

Biggest maintenance is to make sure they are dry, dry, dry, before rolling up and putting away after the season.

I did lightly scrub mine with Dawn dish washing detergent a few times.

If you have zippered doors, the zipper takes some maintenance every so often.

Always using a poly tarp on them solves any leak problems and protects against UV damage.

Basically if you take care of it, it is relatively free of any up keep

So, you still need to use a rain fly or tarp if in snow or rain?

We don't use a tarp on our two wall tents. Every few years we set them up and spray a canvas waterproofing on the roof. We have zero problems with them.

I don't use a water proofing as it adds weight which I can't handle and I don't like the smell.

Mostly I use the poly tarp for two reasons. #1. They are 100 %water proof. #2. When it does snow, the snow slides off easily. With out one,the snow next to the canvas melts and then freezes and it builds up making an extra snow loading I don't need.

You don't have to worry about tapping the canvas and getting leaks when you do have to remove the snow.

I did wall tents hunts for about 40 years and the poly tarps are about the best thing I ever come up with. Because of physical problems I gave it up two years ago. Look at most oufitter's camp andyou will see them in use also

What do you do where you bring the stove pipe through the tarp?

A tarp or fly is a must IMHO and I have taken it one step further with a front awning.

A tarp is a blessing if you get heavy snow, it slides off a lot easier.

Another reason I use a tarp is to keep the embers off your new tent (roof)
I've done trailers, campers and wall tents and something about the wall tent is what Calls out to me while hunting. We bring another tent for chow hall as well

Stove pipe out the side....or you get a lot of holes in your roof.

Tarp will take an ember or two. easier to replace the tarp than the tent.

if you order a new tent, just order a tarp at the same time, my tarp is just a over size square hole that fits over the stove jack.

I install a spark arrestor for added protection.

Notice where the tarp is out front for my awning has snow on it but over the tent has melted and has much less snow. My tarps are also long enough to give me some out of the
weather storage beside the tent outside under the over hang.

I'm looking at a 12x17 with 5' walls, so it looks like a couple 12x24's would do something similar to what Huntinut is doing. I take it you just lay the tarps right over the top of the tent and stake them down?

Looks like a roll of indoor/outdoor carpeting inside for a floor?

I use a tarp on the floor first then put down your carpet. That will help keep the carpet dry. We also use a big enough tarp inside to raise it along the sides and back a few inches (tied to the internal frames) to help keep critters and water out.

[bleep] floors......

Definitely putting the stove jack in the front or back wall eliminates the problem of how to tarp around the stove pipe.

Plus it makes cleaning the pipe a lot easier which tends to get sooted up if all you have to burn is pine

I have never had floor in my tents, but I do put a tarp down in the back where the beds are to keep gear dry. A small piece of carpeting to stand on when I got up was an extra comfort.

Creosote can be a problem and why you can't just use any spark arrestor as it will get clothes up. Chinese cap work fine.
I don't use carpet or big tarps on floors.
I Found the cheapest and best space saving option to be A painters tarp from harbor freight under my cot.. Nice to get out of bed onto something dry and clean.
Last thing you want to do is pack bunch of extra stuff or take it back when it's covered in mud.