Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting SO little bug out shelter/tarp/shelter

I've been pulling my hair out over tents thee last couple months trying to figure out what I want. I thought I had decided on a Davis Herder tent, but I just ran across this setup. I mainly truck camp now, and mainly by myself, but having the option with one of these to backpack is pretty nice. I would just get an 8 man tipi, but they cost too much and I think I'd like more useable room for long hunts than the 6 man. Would there be enough room in the shelter/tarp/shelter setup for a cot or two? Of would a thick bedroll like this one be just as comfy? One more question, is there a way to seal the bottoms of these tents like with a sod cloth? Caterpillars are hellacious in the Gila in September.

There is probably room for a cot, but I don't think the base/tarp/base setup is optimized for cots unless it's the short luxlite cots.

The LBO is very versatile, but if I were using a standard height cot most of the time I'd want something a bit taller. The 6 or 8 would be my choice.

I do have a full LBO setup, and love it so far. A base and vestibule are a 24 oz backpacking shelter, and the base/tarp/base can sleep 4 easily.

Does anyone have some setup pictures of a 6 man tipi? I think that the 8 man would be the ideal size for what I want, but I can get the 6 man and a stove for what an 8 man would cost. I'm trying to stay under 1k for a tent and stove.

A nest can keep bugs away in an LBO. I would say a lux lite cot is ok, but big ones would be pushing it.

What about in a 6 man tipi?

This is my second generation 6, housed 3 guys no problem. I had a green first generation 6 with the half door and we put cots in it once. Cots take up quite a bit of floor space, no matter the shelter.

You could put a cot in the LBO with the Base/Tarp/Base set up, but I think a nest would work better if not being on the ground, or bugs is the concern.

I had a Kifaru 8 man, which has a slightly larger footprint than the SO tipis.

Two cots could fit, but there wasn't much room for much else. If you wedged the cots against the wall you could get the stove in, but you had to be careful about bumping into it or your bag falling against it. Gear got stuffed under the cots or near the door, which when it rained usually got some water on it.

I purchased the Luxury Lite cot just for this reason, but it's so low that it's just like getting up off the ground anyway and you still need a pad for it in cold weather.

Considering what the Luxurylite costs, you can get a Exped Downmat XP9 and actually sleep better than on a cot. It weighs less than three pounds and has a R rating of 8.

For one person the 8 K tipi worked fine with a cot, stove, gear and even had room for a chair.

If you mostly truck camp and only do the occasional hike in and set up your tent and leave it in one spot for a week, then it's doable, but the tent, stove and all your gear in one trip won't be a pretty load, especially considering you will need two trips or more to get all your gear and meat out.

My suggestion is ditch the cot and get the Exped mat. You will still have better comfort and warmth and this opens up much more options for a shelter and makes the LBO much more doable for you.

Just be aware that you cannot stand up in the LBO.

The Sawtooth, BCS and 6 man tipis and up you can.

I have had 4 cots in a 6 man, without much left over space, it was tight. 4 can fit in an 8 with a fair amount of left over space. These were coleman cots maybe 10 or 12 inches tall.

The lux lite is ok, but I think the exped pad is warmer, easier to use and more comfortable.

Thanks for the info guys. It sounds like a tipi might be the way to go. I've never done any backpack hunting, but with a tipi, sounds like it would be an option.

There is a wall tent dealer here in Canada that sells stackable bunk cots. Perhaps that is an option when looking at floorspace in a smaller tent.

Cabela's carries those cots. Might be a cheaper place to get them.

Unless your tent has vertical side walls, cots take up a lot of room. Probably better off with a good ground sheet and a good air bed or thick foam pad. IMHO, anyway.

Tom

cots are uncomfortable to my back mostly. Rather sleep on a GOOD pad on the ground. They can get cold too if you don't have enough insulation under you. At least to us they can.

The key to good sleep for me is one of Cabela's cot pads. Mostly I use that pad on the ground inside a tent. Its really pretty darn good under-side insulation.

I've been watching what folks here post. I have to get more up to speed on nests, single wall tents, and so on.

Those pads look like the ticket T_O_M. And they're cheaper than a cot and pad combo.