Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Canvas or Alaknak synthetic tents - which and why

Yep,if the water happens to be under her sleeping bag, on it,or even on the side the wife is on,it could be fatal

That is one of my favorite times hunting, when the storm blows in and everyone packs up and leaves, I stay then when the storm is over you have the mountain to yourself and animals all over.

Funny story;
Storm blew in everyone packed up and left, I stayed and hunted Elk came right out like I wasn't even there. Enjoyed another full day of relaxing after, then headed out Monarch pass was still closed so I drove over saguache pass, when I got home I found out the guys that left ahead of me were still in gunnison, they jacknifed trying to get all the gear out tore some stuff up and stayed in the motel in gunnison till monarch opened up.

We stayed in our 12x12 Alaknak last December for a week or so in rain, snow, and sleet. We kept the stove going at night and kept the small vents open, like it says to. I also have the vestibule, and left the muddy and wet stuff out in that, and got no condensation whatsoever. If you put your muddy and soaked stuff inside, you're probably more likely to get some condensation. It also was dry and ready to put away at the end of the hunt due to the storm breaking and getting a little sun. Anything cotton or canvas was still SOAKED. I have one and like it, don't think I'd have a canvas one again for my purposes. I don't have to take out the synthetic to dry after I get home either, since it's usually dry when I put it away. FWIW. You pays your money and makes your choice.

Ours probably wouldn't have been so bad but we had snow and all we used for heat was propane (not my choice) Johnny brought a apartment wall heater with thermostat, and as you can see the whole kitchen stove. I think if you use only wood heat and keep it toasty you probably wouldn't have a drop of condensation. But It would take a lot more wood becuase the thinner material is a lot harder to keep warm on the cold days.

A few years back we got caught in a mess and the entire mountain was pulling up stakes and leaving. I suggested we stay, one guy just had to go home. He ended up trashing his Jeep, rolled it off the trailer that he jacked into his truck, ruined his truck bed, and blew the front pinion gear in half on his truck. All in all it was around seven grand in repairs. We ended up leaving his Jeep and went back to get it a few days later. Drove right in with no trouble. Two days in a wall tent loaded with wood, a bottle of Jack and a few cases of beer would have been just frigging tragic!

Based on the posts thus far, I'm guessing a canvas Alaknak-style tent would be hard to beat??

pointer:

That's called a GP small. You can buy them at most army surplus stores.

Check out this website.

http://www.calarmy.com/tents/index.html

KC

pointer, another option........

http://davistent.com/html/HerderTent.html


Most tent outfits make some kinda range tipi or sheepherder tent.........

huntsman:

That does look like a good option. I wonder how much it weighs. The GP Small weighs 186#. If the Herder Tent weighs substantially less than a GP Small, then I would go with the Herder. Davis Tent & Awning has a good reputation.

KC

About milsurp tents: if they're lined, they're warmer and reflect lantern light much better. But they're also much heavier. If they're not lined, they're like a tomb. That's a problem with OD color. They're usually very well made, though. Almost indestructible - except to mice.

Thanks for the tips fellas. The company that I assume makes the Alaknak (Montana Canvas) also offers all canvas and canvas/relite blends as well.

KC- The ones offered by MT canvase weigh a lot less than 186#.

I believe Leonard at Buckstitch Canvas in Cody will make his 12'x12'x5' spike tent with a Sunforger canvas roof and Li-Tent (Relite) sidewalls.
Buckstich 5' sidewall spike tents

I'd also look into the Kodiak or Yellowstone by Reliable Tent and Tipi.
Reliable Tent Kodiak
Reliable Tent Yellowstone

After a year of research I went with the big Alaknak for our camp in Kentucky. As others have pointed out there are plusses and minuses.

Plusses
- Much smaller and lighter than a similar canvas tent. Mine is the 12'x20' with the additional vestibule and the extra floor liner. It folds up into a bag approx 5'x2' and can be handled by one person.
- Dries quickly and if you have to put it away wet for 48 hours it won't be destroyed.
- I paired mine with an Outfitter sized cylinder stove. It keeps it warm and dry down to the 20's we experience in camp in SE KY. Usually someone has to shove some wood in about 0400 before you roll out of the rack. Inside temp at that point is in the low fourties.
With the wood stove there are zero moisture problems. U
- It vents very well in warm weather. Eight windows and two doors allows for good flow and regulation. Four of the windows have a very slick arrangement with "dormers" that hang on the side pole guys that allows it to rain and blow but you can keep the windows open with no water intrusion.
- Easy to put up. I put it up myself in about an hour including the alcove and the stove. Most of that is pounding in stakes for guy wires. The realizing I set them too close and having to move them
-It's sturdy. We've had it out in winds up in the fourties and no issues at all, wasn't particularly noisy we thought (and rain sounds great!)
- It's significantly less expensive than any comparable wall tent of that size.

Minuses
- It's not a classic canvas tent. Yes, we're all romantics at heart.
- The door zippers are a pain and I need to come up with an alternative.

Other than that very pleased with ours and really looking forward to camp again this year. Here's a few pics.


The vestibule end. We need to get a roll of indoor outdoor carpet for it to keep from tracking a ton of dirt in.



Inside you can see the stove set up. Worked awesome for four guys and tons of gear. If you were neater and stowed cots during the day no doubt it would work for six.

Looking the other way towards the vestibule.

I know all too well how much you researched your purchase,Allen. I think much of the decision is based on geograpghy. For camping east of the Mississippi in the US, the Alaknak econimically and efficiently meets the need. It's a superb tent,I believe, and there's a reason it's a top 3 seller. For the gentlemen dealing with the possibilty of huge snow storms and prevailing strong winds, I understand the desire to go with canvas but, should you read the multitude of user reviews on the Alaknak, it seems to more than adequately meet the needs of the western hunters/campers, as well.

Alaknak 12 x 20 for me.

I stayed in a 12x12 Alaknak in New Mexico on an elk hunt, Late November into December. It wasn't my tent, so I wouldn't light the wood stove while the owner wasn't there, due to I don't have the funds to replace it if it were to get any damage. So I heated it with a small propane cat heater. No problems with condensation, vents stayed open the whole time, no wet/muddy boots or rain gear in the main part of the tent (left them in the vestibule).

Rain, Snow, Sleet, Wind, Easy ups had to come down because they were collapsing from the amount of snow on them. Broke some lines that were holding the tarps up. The Alaknak held strong threw the whole ordeal. When the owner of the tent showed up, the wood stove was used for heat instead of the propane. Still no problems with condensation, and was warm enough in the tent at most times that I had to sleep on top of the sleeping bags instead of in them.

I also spent a fair amount of time in a GP small / GP medium while I was in that Army. Thing was a pain to put up, and had a lot of issues when them if they got wet.

I plan on buying a 12x20 Alaknak in the near future for my New Mexico / Arizona hunting endeavors. Which brings me to a question for Pugs.

Is it possible to put vestibules on both ends of the 12x20?

If you don't mind me answering, I believe the answer is yes. From the Cabela's "reviews" in the vestibule section, I found this:
++++++++++++++++++++++


"As if you need more space with the 12x20 Alaknak...
After 4 camp outs with my 12x20, I finally was able to use my Vestibule and wish I would have used it earlier. I found it perfect for my folding camp kitchen table and all of my gear that I did not want to stow inside the sleeping area (chairs, Zodi Shower, stove, etc). The ground tabs are color coded (Blue) and the attachment mechanisms are fine quality and work well. The zipper down mesh windows were great when I cooked in the vestibule. The poles spring together, no fuss. The front flap was a nice porch cover that I used two poles to secure out from the vestibule when the weather was nice. A little practice at putting it together will make you an expert. Here's where it payed off - the last day of camp was pouring cold rain and dark. While breaking camp, we took all our gear, cots, equipment, stow bins and stowed it in the vestibule and brought down the tent and allowed the vestibule to free stand, keeping our gear dry until we could back the truck in and load. We didn't lose a thing, it was all in one place - NICE. I want another one to add to the other end of the tent to make this a 3 room monster. People love to take tours already in the thing, mind as well add another room. Don't put a wood stove in it though, use the Big Buddy with a propane tank, Toasty. Cheers!"

Yep, as Bob found on the Cabelas site you can put them at both ends if you want. We used the vestibule end as our primary exit and entrance and had a cot and the woodpile at the normal end.

Alright, I had read that on Cabela's before as well, and was pretty sure that you could. I just wanted to confirm with someone who had a 12x20. Thanks to Isaac and Pugs. I appreciate the info.