Guys,

I'm planning an off-grid elk hunt for 2014. I expect to camp in a national forest area, with decent truck/road access.

We've been looking for a "deal" on a large army-type tent for off-grid camping. As it turns out..... one of my uncles has a heavy duty 10'x20' temporary carport. It is steel framed with ~2" steel posts, and fairly heavy canvas walls. The assembly weighs 195#.

Does anyone on here have any experience using such a system for off-grid lodging?

As best I can tell, all I think I'd need to make this habitable would be to stitch in some fire blanket material to make a chimney flue for a heater. Some allowances may be required for effective door access as well.

Any wisdom would be much appreciated.

shane

Should be fine in a pinch. Give some thought to assembly and tear down time. A fairly tight door would certainly help retain heat if one is headed into north country. Will the posts fit within the confines of ones pickup bed?

I have no experience with using a temp car port but have looked into the idea myself. Tractor Supply sells a similar that is a bit smaller.

A couple of initial thoughts:

1. I wouldn't worry about the heater. This sounds oxymoronic but isn't that big of deal. First, heating a rectangular 200 sq ft space is going to be problematic unless you have multiple heaters. Doable but I haven't found it necessary. Second, a fire necessitates a fire tender. If its wood, someone needs to feed the fire. If its gas, you need ventilation and an oxygen supply - both of which make me nervous. I've slept in canvas tents several times at below zero for extended periods of time. You need good sleeping gear to pull it off regardless of having a heated space. What happens if you run out of wood/propane in the middle of the night? If you don't have a good sleeping arrangements, you'll all be awake and sitting in the truck to keep warm. Buy a good cot, foam pad, and zero degree sleeping bag, wear some clothes in the bag when it gets cold, and keep a supply of the body warmers handy - throw them into your sleeping bag on really cold nights. You'll be fine, I promise.

2. You mention "off the grid". With the set-up you mentioned, you'll be real close to your vehicle, unless you pay a horse to take your camp in. Setting a base camp next to the road it very doable - I do it every year. It takes a bit more work to get to the elk but the trade-off is a comfortable night rest. I've done the spike camp thing and its very good when its not really cold and not much snow to deal with. When conditions are good, its tough to beat, but i prefer to sleep in my Base Camp cot. In general, when I'm camped next to the road, I figure adding an extra hour to my hike in the AM to get to my chosen spot before the animals do. Camps further back in, I've literally emerged from the tent and started hunting a couple of times.

3. Heaters. I'd look at the Little Buddy systems. I forget exactly which model I have but it heats my 9x10 canvas in minutes. It works in the 14x16 but would probably have two. Run them when you first get up and when you get in for the day for a couple hours. Turn them off when you go to bed. Most of them come with an automatic shutoff when high levels of CO2 develop. I don't rely on the shut-off system because with good sleeping gear, its immaterial.

As to suggestions, check Davis Tent starting about now. I bought a 14x16 outfitter tent with internal frame kit and floor for ~ $1000. It is the cheapest and most comfortable alternative I've used. We slept 4 this past fall very comfortably. Think about cooking. If your close to the road, the best thing I've found is pre-made meals sealed in Seal-A-Meal containers. We eat really good. When an elk goes down, we eat meat. Bought a Camp chef 2 burner 30k BTU this fall. I've used it 3 times this past hunting season and have no complaints.

Good luck.

agreed on the good cot/sleeping pad/bag. we've already got that stuff, but it sure is nice to step out of that warm fart sack in the morning and into a (somewhat) heated room (and to keep your hunting duds at some temperature above ambient....)

we may want to install a divider tarp mid-tent to section off the sleeping area from the kitchen, which would allow us to just run one heater at night on the sleeping end.

our planned campsite is about 30 miles from power/water but has decent vehicle access. we'll camp where we can park the trucks, and will drive further into the mountains via logging roads, and hike in daily.

I have heated with a Blue Flame ( Northern Tool) 30K BTU propane heater for quite a few years, both in a tent and in my stock trailer. Unless you get a freezing rain or melted snow that seals the tent you get enough fresh oxygen supply to make it work. Also a CO and CO2 monitor are a must. In the west, ( at least in CO) it is dry enough humidity wise that I have never had the rain inside the tent that many alluded to heating with propane.

Problem with a wood stove ,but I do really like them is getting up to start a fire in the AM and then worrying about leaving camp with it still burning. I sure use them at night though, but I don't get to excited if I don't have one in camp.

The little Buddy heaters might be ok, but I liked it a little warmer .

In the AM you reach over turn the gas on and in 5 minutes you have 55-60 temps in the tent. Sure helps to keep the liquid from freezing in the tent during the night.

Every year I take 5 each 20Lb propane tanks with me. One runs the3 burner stove, one runs the heater and a third is used for incidentals like lanterns, another 2 burner stove, etc. Very seldom have I ever used two tanks for the heater on a ten day hunt. I usually burn about 1/2 tank on the stove and the incidental one and bring back a full one at the end of the hunt

I would think with the car port that the door would be the most problem along with trucking the poles to the hunt area.

Here is the heater I use and my setup when I did the trailer thing. You can do with a smaller heater, but I like to heat the camp up quick and then turn it on low. It also does double duty in my garage off season. You can also get buy with one of those grid heaters that fix right onto the tank.

excellent feedback. thank you gents.

We set one up every year in Arizona. Lots of room to cook, hang jerky and sleeping quarters for some but we have never set it up in cold temps. Takes about an hours to set up and 1/2 to take down.

We finally got a little smarter and labeled all the different pieces to save time when setting up.

I have some friends that set up the carport deal like your talking about, they just use it for a cook shack though. Mostly mid October hunting, it freezes usually at night but no snow usually. The biggest problem I've seen, as already mentioned would be the large door opening. I would go with propane heat also instead of wood.

On heating. If one does manage to get things well sealed to cut drafts, I'd employ some sort of system vented to the outside.

Unvented gas units could cause carbon monoxide issues, and a lot of condensation on inside surfaces.
Personally, I'd lean toward wood, as we already have the gear and hunt in forested environments. A chainsaw and 1 gallon of gas could easily keep one warm for a 15-16 day season.

Whatever, be safe.

jswbga-
You probably realized this already, but from my experience with the tarped frames we used in Scouting, you will need to figure out how to hold it down in the wind. It is amazing how far they will fly with a 240 lb Scoutmaster hanging on to a guy line. Joe

these screw-in ground anchors work very well except in rocks. You need a twist bar to screw them in. They also come out fairly easy. Plus, they're cheap. I have several that cost under $3 each. Amazon has a set of 8 15" ones for $20.

Neighbor camp had a 'garage' set up this Wyoming season. They weathered winter storm Atlas. I never went in side but could see they had wrapped the entire dwelling with nylon tarps, had mounted a framed man size door in the one side, and heated with a wood burning stove. The campers told me they had been using one for several years. They all laughed and said it was important to first set it up at home, labeling all the connections, and making sure all the other campers were in attendance.

We weathered winter storm Atlas in my 7x14 box trailer. Burning a propane lantern lead to condensation dripping from the metal roof even though the roof vent was open.

excellent points on staking it down (the visual was comical on that one.....).

the carport actually has a zip up door on one end (I think), so I think it ought to be reasonably sealed there.

excellent feedback, gents. we still have much more prep to do.

prep work is a fun means of "hunting" the off-season for me.

I have a 12X14 wall tent And stove I've been thinking about selling and I'm in your neighborhood. PM me if you're interested.

A local hardware store had those tent garages for sale recently but with normal doors, windows and an insulation package. It looked like that silver Refletix stuff. Keep your eyes open maybe they are still around or you could make you own.

As long as it is canvas walls / roof, good to go. If its the plastic tarp setup- it does not breath and sweats any moist inside - be like a light rain inside especially if cold outside. I stayed in a car shelter camp for couple nights on winter as we were setting up our wall tent camp for winter sledding in the mountains - brutal.

RE: wind.

Along with the auger stakes, I saw something the Park Service did up at Mt. Rushmore. They hung a short bungee from each eav grommet and hooked the other end around the neck of 2 liter bottles filled with sand for weight around the perimeter. Worked like a charm. You could replace the sand with potable water for extra supply too.

I made a bunch of weights to hold down a hay tarp. I filled 24oz foam cups with cement and put a heavy wire hook in each one. I just hang them in the tarp grommets. 1 60lb bag of ready mix makes a bunch of them and is cheap.

I just saw Sportsman's Guide had a sale on 12 x 20 portable garages with sides, windows,and a zipper "people door" on the front end. Just a thought....

if you've never set up a car port, you're better off with a tent. They can be a pain with all the nuts bolts and hangers needed to set them up. A couple hours is normal, especially for a larger car port.

actually, the reason I'm considering this option is because my uncle already owns the thing, and its in really good shape. he had it setup in his yard before he built his shop/barn. it looks to be relatively easy to assemble.

as a bonus.... he (the owner) would be part of the assembly team.

all advice/experience still welcome/appreciated!

I've set up a couple and they can be a pain. Try it out in the yard a few times. You might be able to use some kind of pins instead of bolts, etc. to speed things up. The one I did must have had 100 bungees holding the sides on. It took a while.

lack of floor worries me when a rain storm rolls through. I've had some rain storms where i was very thankful i had a tin roof over my head in the camper.

'lack of floor worries' is one of the bigger money makers for tent makers. An unneeded expense unless yer civil/puss/ified.....