Canvas wall tent reccomendations?

gdpolk

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May 5, 2018
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106
I would like to pick up a canvas wall tent before next season. I most typically hunt either alone or with one other person. It might also flex as a camping tent for me and my wife. I'll likely run a cot and sleeping bag in it for myself or put an inflatable queen air mattress in it when the wife joins. What I'm looking for is:
  • quality construction
  • enough height to stand up
  • floorless design
  • efficient for 1-man to be able to easily put it up or take it down
  • the ability to run a stove in it
  • 8x10 - 10x12 ish in size...roomy for two folks but not really overly large
  • windows or an extra door would be nice.
  • Budget isn't the primary concern here, but on the same token I'm not looking for gold plated poles either. I'm looking for basic features with a quality build at a fair price for what it is. I need not impress anyone. I just want to be comfortable and have some room at base camp to dry out some clothes and cook in a warm tent through winter hunts.

What would you guys recommend to fit this need?
 

bhylton

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Jan 28, 2015
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-MT-
for 2 people with a stove i would recommend a 12x12 with 3 or 4ft wall. easy set up with single center pole and corner poles rather than a typical wall tent "frame" several companies make this size.

I have done a 10x10 and unless its a solo tent or really nice weather where you spend alot of time outside, i would not recommend one that small
 
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gdpolk

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May 5, 2018
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for 2 people with a stove i would recommend a 12x12 with 3 or 4ft wall. easy set up with single center pole and corner poles rather than a typical wall tent "frame" several companies make this size.

I have done a 10x10 and unless its a solo tent or really nice weather where you spend alot of time outside, i would not recommend one that small

Good to know. I'm certainly open to 12x12 so long as it can be put up and taken down fairly efficiently as a one man operation. I don't plan to do much of anything inside the tent other than sleep, some of the cooking, and dry out some gear like boots and socks and what not overnight. I'd say it will probably be a solo tent for 50-70% of the time and the remainder of that it will have at most me and one other person in it.

I have thought about doing a small camper as well but the reality is I don't want to store a camper, they cost much more than a wall tent, there is more maintenance to keep up with, they are more difficult to get into about half the places that I go which all but require a capable 4x4 to access, and when I camp I LIKE to hear the woods and get the camping experience. I also really strongly value the ability to just toss it in the back of my FJ cruiser with some basic gear and a quality cooler and hit the trails to disappear. I think I'll be better served by a quality canvas tent than I would a camper or rv or even a camping trailer. I have a couple domes and have extensive backpacking experience and quality gear for such. I'd just like to add a little comfort for car camping and the ability to run the tent hot and dry out some gear and clothing overnight.
 
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mtbn

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Nov 20, 2017
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Gallatin Gateway,mt
I used a Montana Canvas Relite 12x12 spike tent for a few years and liked it. About 55#, I could set it up by myself in 20-30 minutes in decent ground conditions. It does have a floor. I have no experience with snow trekker brand tents but they look like they might meet all your criteria.
 
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I have a few Montana Canvas wall tents. I can set them all up by myself with no problems. When just 2 of us go i take my smaller one, i think it is 12x10. It fits the two of us great with all of our gear. We heat it with a big buddy. It would not work with a wood stove.
 
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beckel canvas 9x12. get doors at both ends and an endwall stovejack......

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Joined
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Central Oregon
I have a 12x15 canvas cabin. And I think there external frame is the only way to go.
But with any wall tent I've ever seen idk that ur going to be putting the pole system in the back of an SUV.
Unless u plan on building your own poles in camp out of wood.
 
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MT and TX
After 12 years of using internal frame wall tents for 1-3 guys, I switched to a Kodiak flexbow canvas tent. Far faster/easier to pitch solo, way fewer stakes, much lighter frame, more usable space w near-vertical walls to the roof.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001NZWQ1C/ref=psdc_2204485011_t2_B001O02TK4

I was going to say the exact same thing. I know he is wanting floorless and the ability to run a wood stove.

Both can be done by adding a stove jack and getting a zipper put into a section of the floor.

There’s also another review on here of guys running the Kodiak Canvas with a propane stove.

I’m done with canvas tents myself, but I’d strongly consider the Kodiak Canvas or another Springbar design if I was going to do canvas again.
 

akrdkill

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Feb 25, 2012
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look at the Alaska Tent & Tarp. arctic oven or igloo models....be the last tent you'll have to buy
 

snowburns

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Jan 6, 2017
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Eagle River, AK
I own the AK Tent & Tarp 10 x 12. I don't have an internal frame and have mostly used trees from the area I'm in. I've also hung it from rope strung between two trees as well as an experimental 3 pole system I tried this year - the external tree frame has been the best so far. My experience has been It's not practical to set it up for one or two nights and then move or go home. It's also not practical in open tundra or anywhere I can't harvest 9 roughly 12' long trees to set it up. The tent alone weighs almost 50 pounds, the complete wood stove weighs almost 80 and my cot weighs 20. It takes a couple hours to find and prep the trees and then set up the tent so it's not the kind of thing you can roll into camp after dark and start setting up camp (though I've done it). Ideally it's a two man tent, and the extra hand really helps with set up. The stove typically burns for 3 - 4 hours before the fire is out completely so I have plan to get up every 3 hours to stoke the fire - my hunting partner doesn't share that same of motivation...The wood stove draws in the rest of the hunting group and it often winds up being a community hang out at the beginning and end of the day.



Is it amazing to be able to warm up and dry out your clothes? Absolutely.
Is it a pain in the ass? Absolutely.
Is it worth it? Sometimes.
 
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Whisky

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I also really strongly value the ability to just toss it in the back of my FJ cruiser with some basic gear and a quality cooler and hit the trails to disappear.

Ok, FJ crusiers are quite small. I don't have one but know a guy who does. Traditional canvas wall tents with a complete internal frame take up a lot of room. The poles can get long depending on what size you go with. With a 5.5ft box (worthless) we have to run the ridge poles through the back window of the cab to get them to fit (14x16 tent). Now you add in a stove and gear, I don't see how any size internal frame wall tent would fit in the back of that FJ, with much room left, if any, for any gear.

Just something to think about. Maybe it wouldn't be a problem with a 10x12 and smaller stove. Or maybe you want to look more into backpacking shelters such as tipis?

I don't know how the Kodiak Canvas tents pack up. Might be another option as well, as already mentioned.
 

CorbLand

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I have never used on but what about the Cabelas Alanaks? They are big and weigh half as much as a canvas tent.

I will also second the Kodiak tents. Couple of my friends have them and they are solid.
 

Matt W.

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Anyone used the Sportsman Guide canvas tents? I have a friend debating one, but neither of us have heard much about them? He likes the 4 Pay Option they use to spread the cost out.
Wall Tent
 
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I used a Davis Wall Tent this year. No complaints. CS has been excellent.

I will agree with Whisky. A FJ cruiser will be tight at a minimum. I've got a long bed 3/4 ton and I can't fit an animal or another person in my vehicle with everything I need for my 14 by 16 wall tent and hunting gear. I really need to buy a topper.
 

MTElk1987

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Aug 12, 2014
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Montana
I have been using a 10x12 Montana Blend from Montana Canvas for the last 6 years and it will sleep 2 with plenty of room for our gear. The roof is canvas and the sidewalls are relite. It only weighs about 40 lbs so I can top pack it on a mule. Have had no issues with it and with the Riley Wrangler stove, you'll stay plenty warm even in below zero weather.
 

Whisky

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Dec 25, 2012
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I have never used on but what about the Cabelas Alanaks? They are big and weigh half as much as a canvas tent.

.

They are good early to mid season tents. I feel they are shitty late season. Basically a single wall nylon tent, shaped like a canvas wall tent, without the benefits of canvas. The one I stayed in this year had shirts "sewn" into some of the vents with paracord on a late season MT hunt because the stove couldn't keep it above freezing in the tent.
 

5MilesBack

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Feb 27, 2012
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I wouldn't trade my 14x16 Davis tent for a motel room, and I use it solo most the time. Davis has a video of a 10 year old girl setting up one of their tents by herself, so they set up easy. They run specials throughout the year and sometimes have a good sale in the Spring. I've had my current tent for 11 years now and I paid $800 out the door complete. Love it.
 

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Dirtydan

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May 11, 2016
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Have you considered a canvas tipi/sibley? They run a single pole with 10 to 20 tie outs and can withstand some serious wind and snow load. They're made out of 10.10oz Sunforger canvas and weight anywhere from about 30-50lbs. Check out Dark Timber Bows to see some pics or PM me and I can get you some pictures. I offer a 6 man which is 14' dia, an 8 man that is 16' and a 12 that is 20'.
 
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