My shelter dilemma

[Beastmode]

After hunting in one of the worst September rain storms I have seen a few weeks ago I have realized I need a shelter that can be stove compatible. Everything that was in my vestible was soaked. The ground was soaked all around my copper spur including in both vestibules. So I am considering a kifaru tipi with stove and tyvek floor. Not sure if this is 100% the perfect route but being the amount of rain it can dump where I hunt I need a cover on the ground and somewhere inside to dry clothes out hence the stove.

I considered the megatarp but I want something big enough to take the wife and kids and hunting. I usually share a hunting camp with one or two buddies as well. I am thinking the 6 man but open to other options (and companies) as well. Does anyone know of a company that makes a floored tipi and maybe a stove jack in the vestibule? A removable floor would be awesome. This is why the tyvek seems to be a good route.

 

[bmart2622]

I bought a Golite SL5, this year and absolutely love it. It has a removable nest with a bathtub floor, tons of room, sets up easy and a stove jack is a simple addition to it. I use mine floorless most of the time, the fly weighs 2lbs 2oz with all of the extra guy lines and stuff sack and then the factory pole weighs 12oz, very manageable especially if split between a couple guys.

 

[luke moffat]

Beastmode. You dont need a floor I dont care how much rain you get. The key it is making sure you setup on flat ground or maybe top peak of a slope. I dont care how much rain you get. If you setup your shelter correctly with any floorless design you will not get rain inside. That is a big misconception about floorless shelters that eventually youll get water in on the floor. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Ive done 3 days straight in down pouring rain and because of where i setup at everything inside including the ground inside was completely dry.

Im 3 years into floorless shelters and probably over 100 days with some monster colorado storms and never had an issue.

6man is great for family camping but if you backpack Id check out the Sawtooth or 4man Tipi. They give you the room you want and still light enough to pack in.

Hope that helps.

I do care how much rain you get. There are places and times when a floor IS needed in my opinion. Sometimes rain will saturate the ground or the ground is already saturated when you get there and it won't dry out. I've have mini lakes in my tipis before....luckily I had planned to sleep in our floored tent we had along as well. There is a time and a place for everything IMO. In this instance a piece of tyvek would not have sufficed. To each their own there...just my limited experience with tipis/flooress and regular tents. Take it for what its worth. Don't get me wrong I love my tipis and use them more than any other tents I have...take said they are not the end all be all for some of the places I hunt.

 

[Beastmode]

I do care how much rain you get. There are places and times when a floor IS needed in my opinion. Sometimes rain will saturate the ground or the ground is already saturated when you get there and it won't dry out. I've have mini lakes in my tipis before....luckily I had planned to sleep in our floored tent we had along as well. There is a time and a place for everything IMO. In this instance a piece of tyvek would not have sufficed. To each their own there...just my limited experience with tipis/flooress and regular tents. Take it for what its worth. Don't get me wrong I love my tipis and use them more than any other tents I have...take said they are not the end all be all for some of the places I hunt.

I can totally agree. This was the case for us on that hunt. It was raining over an inch an hour during this storm. We were on flat ground as well. Do you know of a floored shelter with a stove jack luke?

 

[luke moffat]

I have a floored tent with a stove jack, but it isn't a backpacking tent sorry. For the most part even with a floorless shelter a lot of rain isn't a probably, but you start hunting coastal Alaska where the only place to setup your tent is on Muskeg and it starts pouring rain for a week straight then it gets squishy inside to say the least.

 

[Lawnboi]

You can get nests to go inside of a tipi if you desire a bathtub floor, or full bug protection. My plan is to get one for my 6man, just to have it for times the skeeters are bad around some of the lakes I fish. And I agree with luke, sometimes you just need a floor, well or a good bivy. Cant always find the perfect place to pitch.

I would definetly go with a tipi over the tarp/annex/stove setup if your desire is to use a stove at all times. Being that the stoves are in the vestibule of the tarps, and there is very little stove pipe in the tent, I found it was pretty tough to keep them really toasty compared to something that has the stove coming right up through it like the tipi. Also those tarps are just plain old tight once you start piling wood in them. Cool concept, I just didn't find it worth my while to carry the stove with my tarp setup. No room to dry stuff either.

Tigoat and seekoutside also make tipis, much like the kifaru tipi.

 

[mfolch]

I've got a Bearpaw Wilderness Design Luna 4, with stove jack and bug liner which weighs just under 3lbs. It sleeps 4 (i.e. two or three with gear and a stove), and it's perfect for the kind of cold and wet or snowing and bitter cold weather we deal with in the Adirondacks. John, the owner, also sells bathtub floors and removable lining, all of which can accommodate a stove jack. For a family, one might consider a Luna 5, and I imagine a Luna 6 can be made to order easily enough. I also use a seekoutside large titanium stove, more than enough to keep things dry; it sucks the moisture out of your clothing in no time. I used a 6-man kifaru tipi and large stove last year, and they were great, but this combination costs about half as much and weighs several pounds less.

 

[justin davis]

I use floorless shelters alot. Year round rain or shine. I have camped in some torrential downpours in kifaru shelters and have always faired well. Pitch location is key. In some of the worst rain storms I have had water come in under the edge. But only by a few inches before is soaks into the ground.

In my opinion floors just add weight and hold water if water gets in. I would go with a Kifaru tipi 6 or 8 man and use a piece or pieces of tyvek if you wanted a little bit of floor.

I use a Kifaru 8 man and a kifaru supertarp. The 8 man usually always has a stove in it. The supertarp normally is stoveless when Im using it,



Pictured below is a Kifaru Supertarp with annex. This shelter is pretty dang bombproof. Have weathered some nasty storms in it. I always pitch it all the way to the ground however.

 

[Darren Best]

What Luke is talking about is when it rains so much, the ground is saturated and it's literally seeping water up like a swamp and no matter where you pitch your tent, its like camping on a sponge. The only thing that will work is a bathtub floor to keep the water out. Montana, Wyoming and Colorado don't hardly ever see wet ground like that.

 

[TEmbry]

I've camped/hunted in areas like Luke describes and to be honest, still preferred the floorless. I love not having to kick shoes off when going in/out of shelter and a small ground tarp to cover the area you sleep on and you are all set.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

I am sold on floorless, and have a nest for the really wet days.

 

[luke moffat]

I've camped/hunted in areas like Luke describes and to be honest, still preferred the floorless. I love not having to kick shoes off when going in/out of shelter and a small ground tarp to cover the area you sleep on and you are all set.

A small tarp would not have worked inside of our 12 man tipi this spring...but we were dropped off on a small island and it was literally the driest place on the island that wasn't covered in tree/brush and was atleast semi level. It was dry when we set it up....rained for a week solid (typical AK coastal conditions) and we had to water our mud boots to walk around in most of the 12 man tipi, in fact if your bathtub floored nest was less than 4" tall anywhere you'd have a flooded nest too ...time and a place for every thing man. Can't honestly say one shelter does it all. Was might glad to have the 6 man Cabelas guide model to sleep in even though a small stream was running underneath it....we were comfy though. Just stating that its not always as easy as throwing a tarp down. Someplaces just suck and you gotta "make it work".

 

[luke moffat]

HAHA....sometimes its all ya got. Can't always camp in the the ideal spot...some times you gotta deal with the hand you were delt. Sounds like for where you hunt though you could use just a tipi 100% of the time and if thats the case I'd do the same thing for sure!

 

[luke moffat]

HAHA...yours works differently than my 12 man Kifaru?

 

[luke moffat]

Kidding of course. But seriously I guess I can admit if your setting up on Saturated ground it wont matter much. I guess setting up a floored tent gives you a water bed experience? =)

Not quite but the babbling brook flowing under the pad and floor sings ya right to sleep.

 

[AZCoues]

However, hunting in AZ where there are over 15 different species of rattlesnakes, tarantulas, and other creepy crawly things-a floor is REALLY comforting.

 

[justin davis]

However, hunting in AZ where there are over 15 different species of rattlesnakes, tarantulas, and other creepy crawly things-a floor is REALLY comforting.

I have used a floorless shelter in Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida (states with known creepy crawlers and snakes). Never had an issue.

 

[Ironman8]

Did my first floorless shelter trial last weekend on a scouting trip in West TX. Killed a tarantula about 3 feet from my shelter, but didn't encounter anything else to worry about. That said, I was using a BA Lynx Pass 2 in Fast Fly mode and had a gap about 3-5" all the way around the tent...I would prefer to be able to pitch it all the way to the ground like you can with any of the true floorless shelters.

 

[Biggs300]

My primary tent for the past 3 years is a floorless, Integral Design SilDome 2-man tarp tent. I use this tent year around with a bugaboo event bivy sack. During warmer trips, I only use a light sleeping bag or a sleeping bag liner and I don't worry much about snakes, bugs, etc. During winter months I use my the bivy sack with my zero degree sleeping bag and insulated pad. I'm now using an ultra-light cot which makes this setup even more pleasant. I've never gotten wet from rain but have to admit that sometimes condensation can be a problem. I don't know that I will ever use a tent with a floor after again after using this sleep system. My next step may be a floorless tipi with a stove for even more comfort.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

And some people think hammock camping is bad. LOL