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CumminsHunter: I spend 14 to 20 days a year in our high country Hunting camp and its 12'x16' wall tent.
Without a doubt the greatest addition to our tent/camp has been a stainless steel water heater that attaches to the side of our tents stove!
It is SO wonderful to have boiling water available for washing our bodies, cooking, cleaning dishes, to make an impromptu cup of hot chocolate, coffee or a hot toddy made with boiling water, Tang and good whiskey (try this sometime - it is much better than it sounds!).
Happy camping.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Then dont. Still cleaner than dirt..

Instead of putting a tarp on top of the tent, use Visqueen. It allows more light in. You can get the ripstop kind and use if for a couple of years in a row.

Thanks for all the replies!

Huntsman22 and Bwalker, I agree that there are conflicting opinions on the floor thing. What I've come up with is sort of in between. I use the 3/4 floor that came with my tent. I just put it down and use a couple of old carpets near the cots for a nice place to put your feet on in the morning. However, I haven't cleaned, swept or washed the floor since I've owned it. I don't take off boots on the tarp, and the entire camp (10-15 people) gathers in the tent frequently. If you're going to do a floor, I'd do no larger than 3/4. This leaves room near the door to store wood, dig a hole for a dutch oven, and help soak up mud.

MontanaMarine, those look like they hold pretty well... ever had any problems getting them to come back out?

GreatWaputi, I made someting similar to the cot organizer out of PVC, but switched to the over the door coat rack because it's pretty handy to move closer to the stove when clothes are wet, or move back to the bunks when they're dry. I have one by each cot...

Fuzzyone, any pics of the reflector? Sounds like that may be a good idea for the cold nights and to help the heat more evenly distribute around the tent...

RockChuck, I agree with the self igniting propane torch. I honestly haven't started a fire in my stove with a match ever... And it's really nice not to have to worry about the matches when its dark and cold out (or in).

Varmitguy, I agree, the stove jacket water heater is very nice. It can be a pain to keep full with water depending on the use of the stove and how hot it is. However, I've been looking at the Zodi Extreme Camp shower. Seems simple enough just to put on the stove and heat it up... That would make the Royal Throne I have from Davis a little more useful.

Snake River Marksman, I haven't seen visqueen before. As for covering the tent with a tarp, I simply haven't been for the last few years. I had one the first year, as you can see in the pics below. Instead, I've had snow simply slide off the roof by tapping the roof from the inside. Easy and quick. (A warm fire helps too). Plus, I've been told and noticed that the hardest thing on these tents seems to be the sun.

Thanks again. I'm hoping for this thread to be a good reference tool with all the tricks, tips, etc in one place for future (and veteran) tent owners, so keep them coming. I've had a Kings Package (14x16 tent, 2 cots, stove kit) from Davis Tent since 2010. I spend between 15-25 nights a year in it with anyone where between 1 to 4 hunters in there. I wouldn't want more than 4 in there because it gets tight with gear. However, If we have 4, I usually add the 8 ft. porch on. It pretty simple and can be seen in the pics below. Its nice to park the quad and leave the coolers out there if its snowing. Saves ice and space!

I've learned that using coal helps make starting the stove in the morning easier, although it doesn't really give off that much heat. I make the coffee the night before, put it on the stove warmer. Then in the morning its a quick jump out of bed, break up the coals with the firepoker, toss a couple split logs in, open the dampers, slide the coffee over, and back in bed for an hour or so...

Pictures of my set up:

Bought a Riley pellet stove for my wall tent this year and I love it. Fill the hopper before I go to bed and wake up in the morning with it still burning. I burn pellets in my garage because trees are few and far between here in eastern montana and the ones that are here people don't want cut down so burning pellets work better for me. I take a bag for each day and don't have to waste time cutting firewood when I could be out hunting.

Laker,

I've heard great things about riley stoves. I have seriously considered adding a pellet kit to my stove to help make it through the nights...

CumminsHunter,
Is that in Logan Canyon in Utah?

Nope... Unit 44/444 in Colorado

Come a big snow dump, I'll bet the guy with the big, tip-out fifthwheel wishes he had it pointed toward the road...... like the resta the guys that know what they're doing.

I know how that goes. Years ago I had a full sized Blazer and an old 16' camp trailer. We set up about 50 yds off the road in a few inches of snow - and pointed towards the road. During the night, it turned to rain and poured all night. The next morning we decided to screw the hunting and get out of there. I chained up the fronts and headed for the road...for 10 yds. Then I chained up the rears. That got it to the road. The road was fairly solid but it was so greasy that it took us 3 hours to go 10 miles, even with 4 chains. We couldn't keep the trailer out of the barrow pit even at 5 mph. We never got stuck but we did a lot of sweating.

Na, he keeps it plenty warm in there. He's also got a ladder and a broom if he needs it - though I've never seen him need it. It's turned that way to be a wind block. We have almost no wind in the center of camp there because of the way it's turned.

All 3 of those guys double tow and they have chains for every axle (6 sets). I've seen them pull out of camp in deep deep snow no problem.

We did need a hatchet to get to the beer in the cooler...

My apologies but despite my relative youth I am not particularly computer savy when it comes to posting pics. Here is my best depiction of the heat shield

\_/ The angled parts being 12" and the middle 24". It folds flat nicely for storage and transport.

Fuzzy

a stack of firewood behind, and to the side of the stove will reflect heat also. With the advantage of keeping your wood dry, and the disadvantage of having the stove further from the wall. I'll take the dry wood......

A heat shield UNDER the stove will keep grass from cotching fire, as in my first pic.

Fuzzyone, I think I know what you mean... May have to try that.

Huntsman22, I stack the wood near the stove too, but honestly that's mostly for convenience.

My stove stands roughly 10" off the ground, so no worries about burning anything underneath unless I've jammed a bunch of wood to dry down there. Huntsmen you owe it to yourself to try a good reflector you can dry more wood safely this way and reap the benefits of increased heating efficiency and maximized space. I was completely blown away at much better the tent is with the reflector. I have since made 2 more for friends and there reactions have been the same.

Fuzzy

yeah. It's convenient to have dry wood....

Fuzz, If it is heating efficiency yer after, insulate the whole fugging tent.....

then you can really talk about being blown away.....

I'm surprised nobody has brought up the convenience of having an indoor chitter. A bucket buddy is yer friend...as is the midnight pee bottle...


Nothing like taking the ol' morning constitution in woodstove heated comfort as compared to the wind-blown, snow-covered latrine log at 0 degrees......

Got this trick from a buddy as most of us like our latrine a distance from camp. Made a commode by buying one of those blue plastic barrels. Cut it in half and cut a hole to fit a toilet seat in the bottom. Bolt the seat down to the barrel, with the seat at the front edge of the barrel and all you do is dig a hole an place it over the hole. Keeps the splashing down and is more comfortable than most toilet seats. The last couple years we finally bought one of those small "privacy" shelters to keep the rain and snow off the toilet between uses. Usually just keep a couple rolls of TP in a gallon ziploc bag near the toilet to keep it dry and handy.

Have to disagree with the floor thing. We all have carpets for our tent floors and put a tarp underneath to keep the moisture out. I hate getting up in the morning or during the night and putting my bare or stocking feet on a cold dirt floor. Also, tends to keep the floor a little more even than the natural dirt floor. Never really had much problem with getting mud on the floor- sometimes some snow gets tracked in like it did this week, but never really and issue. Sweep it off with a stiff broom and roll it up for the next use and throw it in the utility trailer.

I've never liked cooking in my main tent for lots of reasons, moisture in the tent, heat, food smells in the tent in bear country, loss of usable room, etc.... so we bought a 10 x 12 cook tent to concentrate the cooking, food storage, clean up, coolers, food smells, etc.. all in one place away from the main tent(s). We got one of the those foldable 3 x 6 tables for the main tent and some foldable metal chairs for everyone to eat together and BS when the weather is really crappy outside and keep it in my main tent. Great to have a place to sit, set our plates when we eat, and have the serving dishes on the table instead of setting them on the ground or sleeping cot. .

Cabela's sells some great camp kitchens and you can find all kind of canvas organizers that hang from your tent frame to keep all sorts of things up and out of the way. Personal items get stored under the cots for additional room.

We do like a comfy camp.

Bob

Never liked to crap in my kitchen. I did put one in my stock trailer once.