Hot Tent and floorless shelter in super rainy SE Alaska

[ramses342]

It seems like a lot of people here use floorless shelters with stoves in them. I have been looking at potentially buying one this year depending on the draw hunts I get. Having a floorless for goat hunting this August sounds awesome because I wont have to hike my tent up a mountain. The stove though I am wondering how hard it is to start a fire in, if it is just pouring rain here all the time and everything is soaking wet. Curious if maybe anyone in the PNW has one or has insights into how well they would work up there?

 

[BackcountryBloodline]

I used to think hot tents were a luxury item and more on the glamping side of things...I've come to realize that for extended trips in the PNW they can actually pretty crucial, if you get soaked down on day one and there's nothing but more rain in the forecast good luck drying out without a stove. Cooking your gear "dry" in a synthetic sleeping bag only helps so much when you've truly been soaked through. It can be tough getting a fire going in ideal circumstances here, I try to get as much practice starting fires in wet, miserable weather as possible, if you can get a fire going in a pit you should be able to get one going in an enclosed stove...I always bring a beater fixed blade for batoning wood that has moisture on the exterior...which is basically everything here, I'm sure it's even worse up there. Big benefit to a hot tent is you can stack wood around the stove to cook dry, can do the same thing around a fire pit but when it's pissing rain that wood isn't drying out much and neither are you. With goat hunting I would be more concerned about access to firewood if you're camping above the timberline, otherwise bring some trioxane and enjoy the dry heat!

 

[*zap*]

Cotton balls dipped in Vaseline and some carried in fatwood should get things going and once you have a fire I would think you can dry wood enough for it to burn fairly well with a stove. Wet materials is a pia and it takes some skill/time but I can usually get a campfire going pretty well.

 

[ramses342]

Cotton balls dipped in Vaseline and some carried in fatwood should get things going and once you have a fire I would think you can dry wood enough for it to burn fairly well with a stove.

I have some of those duraflame logs, which a lot of people here use to start fires on the beach or in wet situations. I wonder if I packed one of those in would it be safe to use in a stove if I broke it into pieces.

 

[*zap*]

Search results for query: duraflame

www.rokslide.com

 

[ramses342]

Sounds like a no go on the duraflame logs. The fat wood is a good idea, never used that before.


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[*zap*]

Check e-bay for fatwood. It is very good for Firestarter supplement along with cotton balls dipped in Vaseline or cotton pads that were soaked in candle wax.

Cotton pads soaked in candle wax will burn longer than cotton balls dipped in Vaseline...crack them in half and put down in an upside down v shape, lite exposed cotton in middle of pad.

 

[BackcountryBloodline]

Fatwood is awesome and may also be readily available within feet of your camp, where I hunt I can go for a 2 minute walk and have a couple pockets full of shiny red fatwood. Other areas ebay would definitely be your best bet...worth looking up how to find it, it's a great resource in the PNW. Trioxane is the gold standard in my experience if you're packing in fuel though, haven't found any conditions so far where I couldn't get a fire going with some blue gold.

 

[MTElkChaser]

It’s doesn’t take much fatwood. You can baton it in really small pieces/slivers. It burns hot and fast. Also, you can gather wet fire wood and dry it by placing it under your stove while the stove is burning.

I’ll usually gather several small rocks and place them under and around my stove. Heats up the rocks and adds some radiant heat for awhile after my fire has gone out.

 

[bigbaddad71]

I build a fire out side and get a good bed of coals, then use my foldi g shovel to load coals into the stove.. Make lighting and an even burn so much simpler..

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[tdot]

It’s doesn’t take much fatwood. You can baton it in really small pieces/slivers. It burns hot and fast. Also, you can gather wet fire wood and dry it by placing it under your stove while the stove is burning.

I’ll usually gather several small rocks and place them under and around my stove. Heats up the rocks and adds some radiant heat for awhile after my fire has gone out.

Awesome tip about the stones. I was thinking about that this year and didn't get a chance to put it to the test. I'll definitely try it next winter. Was sorta curious why I've never seen it mentioned before.

 

[alexanderg23]

I’ve got a Sawtooth and a Paratarp with a Ti stove in Wasilla, if anyone wants to check it out.

 

[Dinger]

You still bringing in a jet boil, reactor or similar for cooking?....if so then then you don't need much bushcraft to kick things over in that woodstove.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

I've used a sawtooth for a couple seasons in Ketchikan. Not many places wetter than here! I love it for the most part. There will be condensation problems because the ground is so dang wet. But with the liner its pretty minimal. Having the stove for later goat hunts in October or November is pretty dang amazing. Its made trips that would have been survival situations quite comfortable. I'm not hunting late season without mine again. August? No, I won't carry the stove in August. When the conditions are crap I do carry duraflame logs and burn them. Way more consistent heat from the duraflame than any wood that I've burned, though not as hot. If you don't have a damper on the chimney of your stove I wouldn't recommend one. The first year my buddy threw a whole duraflame into his Kifaru box stove. Once the log got going it was uncontrollable since the stove didn't have a damper. Thought it was gonna burn down the tent for a minute.

 

[Russellback]

We used a Kifaru tipi and stove in Alaska and they worked great. You can’t imagine how just building a fire after coming in can totally take the chill off and help dry things out. A real morale builder. We were moose hunting in September.

 

[FishfinderAK]

How do the tipi tents do in The wind?

 

[Aaron Warpony]

There's a video out there of a seek outside tipi in some nasty alaska wind....If i remember right I believe it was 60mph?? not sure though. I took my seek outside this weekend and spent 2 nights in some nasty hail, snow, and wind at Alaska 6,000 ft just to test what it could do before hunt season. seems to shed wind well and was very strong. There is an art to controlling condensation inside though that i'm still learning. I'm a beginner with floorless but guys here in alaska use them for certain hunts. 10 day hunts in late season would kick my butt in my floorless though......just not experienced enough with it . Cool tools though

 

[Beendare]

Heres my home made tipi in Alaska.


We were dropped in a swamp, but thats where the moose were- literally had water under us, had to build a grid of willows under us and it worked fine. We did have to cut some much longer 30 tent stakes to anchor in that muck. We had measured 60 mph wind one night...no problem.