Tents

[WildRose]

I'm going to add a tent to my gear list soon and I'm looking at several.

Anyone here familiar with the Eureka K2 XT or other Eureka Tents?

My main concern is simply on quality, plenty of room for myself and possibly one other person and gear and a tent that is up to the task of dealing with fall/early winter weather conditions in places like the Rockies and eventually Alaska.

Super light weight is not a big issue to me at all. If I'm packing in very far I'll have horses and of course going to AK means in all likelihood being dropped into a camp by boat or air.

Being a cheap skate I don't want to spend more than is necessary but I do want a quality product.

I can tolerate a lot of things but I absolutely hate being wet and cold especially when I'm trying to sleep.

Any help will be much appreciated!

 

[marioq]

Motor home or 5th wheel work great!!!!!!


Yeah guys give good advise. Don't want to be wet when I share it with him!!!! Hahshahahshshsjshs

 

[WildRose]

Motor home or 5th wheel work great!!!!!!


Yeah guys give good advise. Don't want to be wet when I share it with him!!!! Hahshahahshshsjshs

I'm thinking Effie mighty have kittens if Hank, Louie, and Little Joe come along for the ride.

Hank does like couches and bench seats though. Have one that will fit a 1500lbs horse?

 

[marioq]

Hahahaja no way. You mean Etty?? Or u have a tiger named effie

 

[Timber338]

I've never used Eureka, but I just looked up the tent you mentioned to get an idea what you're looking at.

I think most 4-season tents are going to be nice and strong to stand up to just about anything you'll run into in the Fall. I have used a 4-person 4-season Cabelas Expedition tent for a lot of years when other guys are backpacking with me. Not super light, not super expensive, and the thing is bullet proof. Just looked and they're on sale right now too. It's a bit overkill for just 2 guys because there is so much extra room.

Typically if it's just me and one other guy we pack in a 3-person tent, and lately have had great luck with the 3-season 3-person Marmot Limelight 3P. Pretty dang light and we've used it snow storms and it's held up great even though it's only a 3-season. A great feature is it's got 2 doors and a nice sized vestibule covering each door. Most tents only have 1 vestibule and at best a 2nd vestibule is only a fraction of the size of the big one.

So one of the things I look for is plenty of room to store all of our gear under the vestibules to keep things dry when storms roll through. I looked at that Eureka you mentioned and it looks like it's designed to hold a good amount of gear under the vestibules. Looks like a good tent.

 

[WildRose]

I've never used Eureka, but I just looked up the tent you mentioned to get an idea what you're looking at.

I think most 4-season tents are going to be nice and strong to stand up to just about anything you'll run into in the Fall. I have used a 4-person 4-season Cabelas Expedition tent for a lot of years when other guys are backpacking with me. Not super light, not super expensive, and the thing is bullet proof. Just looked and they're on sale right now too. It's a bit overkill for just 2 guys because there is so much extra room.

Typically if it's just me and one other guy we pack in a 3-person tent, and lately have had great luck with the 3-season 3-person Marmot Limelight 3P. Pretty dang light and we've used it snow storms and it's held up great even though it's only a 3-season. A great feature is it's got 2 doors and a nice sized vestibule covering each door. Most tents only have 1 vestibule and at best a 2nd vestibule is only a fraction of the size of the big one.

So one of the things I look for is plenty of room to store all of our gear under the vestibules to keep things dry when storms roll through. I looked at that Eureka you mentioned and it looks like it's designed to hold a good amount of gear under the vestibules. Looks like a good tent.

Thanks that helps. I've looked at that same Marmot tent as well.

I have horses so I don't have to worry too much about weight. Even if I'm on the ground carrying a pack they can come along and tote the heavy stuff. Most of the 2 man tents I've looked at really look to me as though they've probably got just enough room for one man and their gear so I'm figuring on the 3 or maybe 4 man tents because I'd always rather have more than enough room vs not enough even if it means a few extra pounds.

Horses are an expensive pain in the butt so I figure if I'm gonna feed them I'm gonna make'm earn it!

 

[marioq]

Too late for u!!!! But I agree with you for sure. Can't wait to hunt with those horses

 

[WildRose]

Too late for u!!!! But I agree with you for sure. Can't wait to hunt with those horses

It's a good thing I have one really big, really stout horse since you plan to come along.

He's a great horse too. If he doesn't buck you off in the first hundred yards he'll probably be with you all day!

 

[marioq]

I'll feed him apples if he'll carry my fat ***

 

[WildRose]

I'll feed him apples if he'll carry my fat ***

He said you better bring a bunch of apples!

 

[Pdvdh]

Someone mentioned the Cabela's expedition or guide tent earlier. I've known hunters who've had those tents blown down/apart by high winds in Alaska. Although I've experienced winds up here that would level any tent. Best practice, no matter what tent you purchase, is set up in a location with some wind protection, whenever possible.

I tried to set up a tent in an open mountain valley on Kodiak Island just before dark one April after having shot a brown bear. No tree cover available in this mountain valley/pass. The wind blows too hard for any trees to survive. I was skinning on the bear until useful light was gone. The wind was averaging 50mph and gusting up toward 90mph. When I later hiked back out to the beach, a commercial fishing boat anchored in a protected bay had registered winds as high as 93mph while I was out hunting.

Back to setting up this 2-3 man tent. My hands were getting cold and clumsy. I managed to get the tent up. Although it didn't look like it was apt to rain, I thought I should try to install the rain fly. As I was preparing to place the fly over the tent, a gust of wind hit and that rain fly took off like it was shot out of a cannon. I got up and ran in pursuit. I could barely see it in the distance flying over the surface of the ice/snow covered beaver pond/lake. I got to the end of the pond and didn't really expect to ever see that rain fly again. Fortunately some of the tie downs got caught up in the brush off the end of the pond and tangled the fly in the brush. I grabbed that thing, bunched it up tightly and headed back to the tent. Climbed into the tent with all my gear, and spent the night listening to the wind pounding my tent. There were periods where I was trying to keep the tent from lifting off the ground. Needless to say, all the tent poles were bent and collapsed by the next morning. It was a Northface tent, and they replaced the tent poles under warranty.

All this to say, I've experienced some strange and wild winds a number of times. Winds that would level any tent set up in the open. The tents will either collapse or tear. Any time I set a tent up without protection from the wind, I know I risk losing that tent. Kodiak Island is particularly bad. I've never seen weather change as quickly and abruptly anywhere else.

 

[WildRose]

Someone mentioned the Cabela's expedition or guide tent earlier. I've known hunters who've had those tents blown down/apart by high winds in Alaska. Although I've experienced winds up here that would level any tent. Best practice, no matter what tent you purchase, is set up in a location with some wind protection, whenever possible.

I tried to set up a tent in an open mountain valley on Kodiak Island just before dark one April after having shot a brown bear. No tree cover available in this mountain valley/pass. The wind blows too hard for any trees to survive. I was skinning on the bear until useful light was gone. The wind was averaging 50mph and gusting up toward 90mph. When I later hiked back out to the beach, a commercial fishing boat anchored in a protected bay had registered winds as high as 93mph while I was out hunting.

Back to setting up this 2-3 man tent. My hands were getting cold and clumsy. I managed to get the tent up. Although it didn't look like it was apt to rain, I thought I should try to install the rain fly. As I was preparing to place the fly over the tent, a gust of wind hit and that rain fly took off like it was shot out of a cannon. I got up and ran in pursuit. I could barely see it in the distance flying over the surface of the ice/snow covered beaver pond/lake. I got to the end of the pond and didn't really expect to ever see that rain fly again. Fortunately some of the tie downs got caught up in the brush off the end of the pond and tangled the fly in the brush. I grabbed that thing, bunched it up tightly and headed back to the tent. Climbed into the tent with all my gear, and spent the night listening to the wind pounding my tent. There were periods where I was trying to keep the tent from lifting off the ground. Needless to say, all the tent poles were bent and collapsed by the next morning. It was a Northface tent, and they replaced the tent poles under warranty.

All this to say, I've experienced some strange and wild winds a number of times. Winds that would level any tent set up in the open. The tents will either collapse or tear. Any time I set a tent up without protection from the wind, I know I risk losing that tent. Kodiak Island is particularly bad. I've never seen weather change as quickly and abruptly anywhere else.

All good points. Where I grew up we averaged 3-4 weeks every spring and fall with high to extreme winds and of course in the warmer months severe thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes.

Given a choice I'll never pitch camp in an area that doesn't have some natural cover and protection from the wind and weather.

One reason I always carry a poncho and poncho liner is that if worse comes to worse I can always make an emergency shelter out of it.

 

[Timber338]

I tried to set up a tent in an open mountain valley on Kodiak Island just before dark one April after having shot a brown bear. No tree cover available in this mountain valley/pass. The wind blows too hard for any trees to survive. I was skinning on the bear until useful light was gone. The wind was averaging 50mph and gusting up toward 90mph. When I later hiked back out to the beach, a commercial fishing boat anchored in a protected bay had registered winds as high as 93mph while I was out hunting.

Alaska just gets some insane weather. I can't imagine being out hunting/camping in 50+ mph wind. You can't even think in that kind of wind let alone set up a tent. This is one of those hunting stories that as I was reading I was expecting you to say you crawled inside the grizzly to keep warm and get out of the wind.

Where I hunt out here in CO I've been through some pretty rough storms and wind but nothing like that. Heavy snow has seemed to be more of a problem than wind, we've had guys with cheap 3-season tents wake up with their roof collapsed down onto their face. But lots of shelter from ground cover and trees that knock down the wind so it's really never been that bad. And now that I say that my tent is probably going to blow away this year...

 

[Timber338]

Given a choice I'll never pitch camp in an area that doesn't have some natural cover and protection from the wind and weather.

I'm looking to go elk hunting in a new area this year and from the research I've done so far (have not scouted in person yet) is that there is a ton of Pine Bark Beetle killed trees... this obviously makes it nearly suicidal to try and set up a tent in the forest especially in a storm with wind. So I'll be looking for open meadows but then loose the cover from the wind.

I do not think I'll be buying a new tent this year, but will definitely be staking out the guy lines to the mid portion of the tent. I would assume any new tent is going to have these but I would check the details to make sure the rain fly has plenty of guy line attachments.

Also thinking about your comment about horses and tent weight not being critical. I would go with a 4-person if you have the choice. It sure is nice to be able to fit 2 guys plus all gear IN the tent rather than just under the vestibule if a big storm blows through. Keeps gear warmer at night too, like my water filter element that will freeze outside (and crack) I can keep it in the tent covered by some clothing and it never freezes.

I have found that 3-person tents are just big enough for 2 guys to sleep comfortably with only a small amount of room left over for gear.