6-8 man Tent for Alaska in September

[elkguy]

I’m looking for a new floored tent and wanted to get a few different opinions. I’ve looked through pervious post, didn’t see much on the 6-8 man tent.

Last year we rented an Artic Oven. It was an amazing tent, but wayyy too heavy for flying in via cub. I was looking at the AO Nunatak, but they discontinued it and no release date on the new design. I wanting to reduce weight and bulk a bit.

Any suggestions for a 6-8 man would be appreciated.

 

[ppwack02]

I use a Kifaru 8 man tipi + stove for all my Kodiak trips. I would not put more than 3 people in it though. Hasn't blown away yet and has held up great!

 

[Where's Bruce?]

 

[Moose83]

+1 for the cabelas alaskan guide tent

 

[kwackkillncrew]

We used an alaska guide series outfitters tent this year and it survived a beating. 65 mph gusts and it didnt flatten. The thing is a beast and weighs around 65 pounds with all thr stakes. There was only 2 of us. You could probably get 3 people with small UL costs and gear in it if you dont bring the kitchen sink. If you can store gear outside and you dont have cots you might be able to sleep 4 comfortably. What ever the tent is rated for you have to cut it in half if your using it for hunting. 4 man is actually a 2 man

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[John Havard]

Your choice of tents should be influenced by where you will be camping. If down in the trees with good wind protection then just about anything will do. Even an inexpensive Timberline or similar would be fine. If you're up high above tree line then you need to lean more toward summit-quality tents.

I'm a devout flourless tipi person myself (own a 12-man and a 16-man) because I want to have heat in the tent/tipi, value space, and hate having to get down on my knees to crawl into a tent. Lately I have been intrigued by the Stone Glacier 6P Dome tent as it has a stove jack and would be better suited to where I camp (exposed ridges above tree line). However, its relatively small floor space compared with large tipis I view as a negative. That said, for a floored bombproof heated shelter it's worth a look. I wish I had personal experience with one but cannot offer first-hand info.

 

[mcseal2]

On Kodiak we took a Cabelas Alaskan Guide Instinct 6 man tent. Interior is about 10ft square. It held up to some pretty good weather on Kodiak, but we were tucked back in the brush pretty good too.

There were 4 of us. We had 2 guys sleep in the big tent, and the other two of us kept our clothes bags in there. We'd get out of our small tents in the base layers we slept in, walk to the big tent, and get ready for the day in there with standing room. It worked well.

Our small tents were a Kuiu Storm Star and a Hilleberg Staika. We had 1 guys sleep in each of them. They worked well too.

Just another option to consider. I personally like the redundancy of having multiple tents if the weight limit allows for it. If we choose to spike out, we can take the small tents to do so. If Kodiak breaks a tent, we can double up in another one. Luckily we did not have that issue.

We slept 3 guys with Thermarest mesh cots in the Cabelas 6 man on our caribou hunt out of Kotzebue a few years back and did not take any other tents. That worked fine but was fairly tight. When we were tagged out the last day we stacked the cots along the wall and sipped whiskey in our camp chairs out of the weather. It was nice to have the space for that.

 

[dutch_henry]

^^^

I have the same tent--alaskan guide instinct 6 man. It served me well on the Kenai and Brooks Range. A palace for one, roomy for 3. Okay for four. Definitely replace the stakes. They're pretty lousy and you'll also save weight with aluminum or titanium.

Couldn't agree with @mcseal2 more. Consider adding a second tent for all the reasons he mentioned plus sanity if you're stuck in camp.

 

[VernAK]

Your choice of tents should be influenced by where you will be camping. If down in the trees with good wind protection then just about anything will do. Even an inexpensive Timberline or similar would be fine. If you're up high above tree line then you need to lean more toward summit-quality tents.

I'm a devout flourless tipi person myself (own a 12-man and a 16-man) because I want to have heat in the tent/tipi, value space, and hate having to get down on my knees to crawl into a tent. Lately I have been intrigued by the Stone Glacier 6P Dome tent as it has a stove jack and would be better suited to where I camp (exposed ridges above tree line). However, its relatively small floor space compared with large tipis I view as a negative. That said, for a floored bombproof heated shelter it's worth a look. I wish I had personal experience with one but cannot offer first-hand info.

Are you intending to house 6-8 persons in the tent? If so, you need a hell of a big tent to be comfortable and not be sleeping nose to toes.

Alaska is the same size as all of Europe so please help us by refining your area and terrain.

For a typical moose hunt on an exposed ridge, we take a 12 man Tipi with stove for dining and our fire tender sleeps there. A Kifaru Sawtooth sleeps two guys and an 8 man tipi sleeps two. We have enough redundancy to allow for loss of one tent.

Although we have several Cabelas Outfitter tents [6-8 man] we don't use them for fly-in hunts because of weight and they are the one tent we've lost to wind.

 

[BCSojourner]

Check out Beau Baty's Continental 13x13 wall tent (Wilderness Ridge Trail Llamas). I have one and it can accommodate 5 on cots with a stove. It is canvas, extremely wind-worthy (internal Easton aluminum A-frame with ridge pole) and the canvas weighs 22 lbs. Frame is another 15 lbs. It stands 9 1/2 ft at the ridge so plenty of height for a clothes line to dry stuff out. Not cheap but about the same price as a 12-man tipi and just a lot more rugged and versatile.

 

[mtbn]

A friend of mine has used his Marmot Lair on quite a few hunts in Alaska and elsewhere and said it works well. He shows it in a few you tube videos under , I believe, Shedhorn Sports.

 

[mtbn]

Check out you tube- shedhorn sports- 2018 Missouri Ram at 2-3 minute mark and 2018 Alaska hunt episode 2 at the first 3 minutes. Quite a bit bigger than the stone glacier, removable floor and I bet you could put a stove jack in it.

 

[mcseal2]

I second the idea of changing the stakes on the Cabelas tents. We got a cheaper version of the MSR Cyclone stakes off Amazon that have worked well. We use every guy-out we have in AK, we take enough for all of them.

 

[Matt79]

As others have stated, I agree with the cabelas 6 man guide tent. We had a 6 and a 4 man set up in Alaska this past September in our moose camp. We had crazy winds for a day and half, the tents held up great.

 

[elkguy]

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback! I’m patiently waiting to see the new Nunatek.

I looked hard at the SO and other tipis, just don’t want to deal with condensation. The Cabela’s tents seem to be a bit heavy for a cub flight.

 

[william schmaltz]

Good call. That's exactly what I was going to suggest. All of the test models I've seen for the Nunatak have not included the Vapex interior lining so I guess we will see what the options are when they finally release it. That material is one of that main features that make Arctic Ovens different from every other tent and what controls the condensation. They typically have a big spring open house event in early May where they discount some tents so keep an eye out! I'd imagine they release that model before or at that event.

The Cabela's Guide tent is probably the most widely used tent in Alaska by a large margin. Every outfitter in the state has a Conex full of them. There's a reason that's the case. They're a great balance of reliability, weight, and affordability. If a person can make the weight and cost of an Arctic Oven work, it's in a whole different category that's orders of magnitude above the guide tent. I personally plan to sell my SO tent. Now that AO has come out with the Nunatak, I will replace my SO with that. I have no use for the SO tipi unless a person wants it backpacking, but there are better options there IMO.