Floorless vs Floor shelters

[Gobbler36]

Alright pretend I have know previous knowledge of tents or tarps and I walk into your store and you have both of all the high end brands, and I tell you I'm looking for something light weight and durable that I can use early season and late in the winter for elk, mule deer, sheep, goat, moose, etc. 2-3 people size preferably. Pitch me a product and give pros and cons to both set ups, ready go!

 

[5MilesBack]

As soon as you said "late in the winter" that means having a stove to me. That rules out regular tents. For what you described, I'd be looking at an 8 or 12 man tipi. I'd say wall tent, but you said light weight, so I assume you're packing it in. With 3 guys it wouldn't be much to split up the weight of the tipi and stove and the rest of your loads.

 

[sodaksooner]

Agree with 5miles back. I just show you the Ti Stove in the floorless tent and you are sold We split our 6 man and stove among 3 guys.

 

[COlineman78]

However fitting a larger shelter sheep and goat hunting can be difficult due to the rocky terrain. If you are going to have 2 more than 3 you might prefer a Sawtooth with a Moffat (unofficial) Mod.

 

[Gobbler36]

So how do floor less designs do in weather, with rain does it not run underneath and wet your gear

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Adam634 floored or floorless if the water starts running under your shelter your stuff is going to get wet.

 

[Wasatchbuck]

Personally the biggest deal breaker for me is bugs, I cannot stand the damn things and having them crawl on me in the middle of the night prevents me from getting a good nights sleep. So...the solution for me was to go with two different tents depending on time frame. If there will be bugs present I am running a three season UL tent with bug netting. If its winter and I am hunting late season its a floorless tipi or tipi hybrid with a stove. For me there just isn't one tent that does it all.

 

[Travis1984]

Still haven't had a rodent, and only had one bee inside the tent...

I've been in some pretty torrential weather in a floorless and never had water come inside. I also haven't pitched in a low spot...

 

[BroodBuster]

I'd talk you into buying a family of tents .

 

[mfolch]

I'm divided on this.

For long hunts in late fall having a stove is essential. So that seems to necessitate a floorless shelter. On the other hand, I was in a torrential downpour and sudden heat snap a few years ago that melted all the snow on the mountain I was camped on. The ground literally turned into a running stream and I had 4-6 inches of water flowing under my floorless tent (bpwd Luna 4) in the middle of the night. Everything got completely soaked. I woke to the sensation of melt water streaming into my sleeping bag. When I tried to get back to the trail, a river had flooded its banks and blocked the path. I had to pitch my tent on the side of that mountain to get the stove working and dry out all my gear. And when that was done I had to climb straight up that mountain in the pouring rain with 70lbs on my back. The next day there was a cold snap, and it started snowing like crazy. For the eight days, the weather repeated the pattern: heavy snow followed by rain warm enough to melt it (never got above 40 degrees). The ground was soaked through no matter where I pitched the tent, so it was either snowy with mud or just muddy. And all I could think was thank goodness I had the stove to dry everything every night and, man, what I would give for a genuinely dry surface to take off my shoes and socks for an hour.

I don't mind the bugs, but my wife does and will never go camping with me again in the north east because of them.

 

[COlineman78]

I am going to try floorless this year, but am considering carrying a 6oz Borah as a crutch as I am learning how to do it and in the case of either severe bugs or severe water (most likely due to poor placement). We don't have a ton of bugs here in CO, especially up high, but I was in MT last year when my buddy left my tent open and it was absolutely full of mosquitoes. If I were going to be in the desert I'm not sure I would go floorless as there are too many creepy things crawling around. As someone who is tall the idea of a floorless shelter is very appealing.

 

[Hungarydog]

My all around is a floor less mid with stove for winter and small nest for bug season.

 

[COlineman78]

Aron and Brian must've heard you... New Gritty Bowmen came out tonight about shelters and mostly answering your question.

 

[dotman]

I'm a Floorless guy, it isn't for everyone but I don't see a floored tent in my future.

 

[justinspicher]

floorless shelters allow you more flexibility with entering with dirty gear or spilling something. I haven't had an issue with bugs or rodents yet, but keeping a clean camp prevents this regardless of your shelter options. To me, going floor less is like using a quilt, you don't know what your missing until you try it. If you don't like it, you can always sell it.

 

[sodaksooner]

A lot of the floorless have optional nests (for more $$$ and weight) We had a good compromise with ours that has a mesh door, and mesh around the perimeter. Doesn't stop everything, but the lowest altitude Ive used mine at was 8500 feet so bugs werent a concern for the most part. Had a few mosquitos around but not really in the tent, and what bugs, flying type anyway, we did have went to the peak and stayed there for the most part.

 

[smokinf15]

Done both, I now have a ti goat vertex 5 and it's perfect. Tyvek ground cloth I've never been wet

 

[gmajor]

You know, the best shelter I've ever had in torrential rain is a megatarp. I prefer floorless in most rainy conditions unless you're going to be camping on saturated moss or something absolutely soaked already. Would love to try a hilleberg in those conditions (thinking NZ west coast bush during rain and sandfly)...although even then I might prefer a small mesh shelter with a big tarp strung up above...

Granted, I use a borah bug bivy which keeps my pad and bag organized, has a silnylon floor, and has noseeum mesh on the entire top half.

 

[Bughalli]

Floor for early season (Aug/Sept). Bugs just annoy me, whether ants all over the place, mosquitos (not often), bees or regular house flies landing on me during the mid day nap. In Oct either is fine. It's not too cold or wet, no bugs, etc. Nov, Dec...either is fine as long as you have a good sleeping bag. In my zero degree bag I can sleep through anything. While I haven't used a stove in late season, I could see the benefits for drying out your boots. Little warmth is great, but not a big deal. Frozen solid boots (from sweat or snow melting) kind of suck the first half hour of the morning.

Tarps are half the weight, but that's a difference of a 1 - 2lbs compared to light weight tents. Tarps can be placed in much smaller areas or on crappy terrain, where a tent requires more space. I also like bivy's once it gets colder. I can sleep anywhere. I climbed up a mountain once and decided to spend the night rather than hike down. I couldn't find a decent place to camp without feeling like I was sleeping where the elk might show up at sunrise. Ended up sleeping in a deer bed perched under a mini cliff. Just enough room. Not the greatest nights sleep due to wind and elk bugling at 4am, but I woke up to elk 300 yard below me and above me. Kind of surreal experience.

 

[Gobbler36]

Floor for early season (Aug/Sept). Bugs just annoy me, whether ants all over the place, mosquitos (not often), bees or regular house flies landing on me during the mid day nap. In Oct either is fine. It's not too cold or wet, no bugs, etc. Nov, Dec...either is fine as long as you have a good sleeping bag. In my zero degree bag I can sleep through anything. While I haven't used a stove in late season, I could see the benefits for drying out your boots. Little warmth is great, but not a big deal. Frozen solid boots (from sweat or snow melting) kind of suck the first half hour of the morning.


Tarps are half the weight, but that's a difference of a 1 - 2lbs compared to light weight tents. Tarps can be placed in much smaller areas or on crappy terrain, where a tent requires more space. I also like bivy's once it gets colder. I can sleep anywhere. I climbed up a mountain once and decided to spend the night rather than hike down. I couldn't find a decent place to camp without feeling like I was sleeping where the elk might show up at sunrise. Ended up sleeping in a deer bed perched under a mini cliff. Just enough room. Not the greatest nights sleep due to wind and elk bugling at 4am, but I woke up to elk 300 yard below me and above me. Kind of surreal experience.

Sounds like a dream!