Ultralight Teepee style tent with wood stove?

[Timnterra]

Do any of you guys have experience with these new ultralight teepee style tents like those made by "seek outside" or kifaru? I've been dreading the weight of my pack for an elk hunt this fall and a buddy recommended buying a newer lighter tent. I've currently got an REI half dome with fly and foot print that weighs in at roughly 6 lbs with stakes and all. These light teepee tents are only about 2.5lbs and you can add a titanium wood burning stove that only adds another 2 lbs or so. I have to admit the idea of a wood stove and room at stand up sounds fantastic to me after a long day of back country hunting. I would love to hear from anyone who has tried one of these.

 

[FearNoWind]

Teepee is fine, if you don't want to stand up straight. I've found them to be suitable as long as I crawl around or sit down but having to bend over for most of the activity inside the tent tends to make my back, which is already a bit abused after a day packing in or out, complain a lot. The titanium wood burning stove is OK for cooking but unless you find some way to vent it through the tent wall it's pretty easy to kill yourself with CO accumulations inside a tent. Venting it through the apex of the tent requires a lot of extra chimney pieces so that defeats the purpose of the compact package. In my experience, the Teepee is great for sleeping and having shelter to sit out the storm but not much else.

 

[Timnterra]

The manufacturers I listed both provide a kit to vent the stove out the top and the stove pipe is made in sections that roll up small and are included in the weight of the stove. I see what you are saying about bending over a lot, that doesn't sound fun. My main thought was not freezing during the night. Last time I went elk hunting we slept in the horse trailer and it was only 18degrees inside. Not very fun.

 

[dmj]

I do agree with the above post that they aren't the best when it comes to trying to stand up in. But most tents that you pack on your back don't allow a lot of room to stand up. My brother and I have the seekin outside 6 man. It might be a little more than you want to pack, but it does have fair room. Can stand up in it fairly easy, sit on a chair (if you have one) etc. I have the tigoat vertex 6.5 that I use on my back pack hunts. I can stand up, but have to be fairly close to the middle, can sit in a chair with no problem. I use the tigoat wood stove with 7.5 feet of pipe. The pipe comes in one piece and you have to roll it into a chimney. Little bit of a struggle the first time, but after you have a good hot fire in it once it is quite easy after that. Don't remember the exact weight on the wood stove, but pretty sure the stove and pipe are under the 3 lb. mark. The wood stove doesn't hold a fire real well but do put off a fair amount of heat, and believe me if you're wet and cold it sure does feel good. I don't have any of the liners for our tents and you will see some condensation in them, my understanding is that the liners cure that problem, but so far with the wood stove it hasn't been to bad. Overall I do like them, are they as nice as a good old wall tent with a wood stove. Nope, probably not even a close second, but then again better than nothing. Hope this helps a little. Good luck

 

[Timnterra]

Thanks for the input! I'm actually looking at the seek outside cimmaron tent stove combo, which is the little brother of the 6 person. They say it's a 4 person without a stove and a two person with the stove. I've spent many nights in the half done and the best you can do is sit up. Kneeling requires bending over, so being able to sit up in a chair to put on your pants and boots seems really nice. All the tents I've used produced condensation some nights more than others. I'm not dreaming that this will be anything like a canvas wall tent. However it sounds like a good compromise between comfort and packability.

 

[Timnterra]

Also, the idea of being able to dry wet clothes inside the tent is fantastic. I swear a lot and know that I'll have to pack at least a couple if not three pairs of base layer clothing. It would be nice to rinse the stuff out with water and hang it to dry over night. Probably not going to help with the condensation though...

 

[Cmrem700]

The stoves are about 2-1/2 to 3 pounds. They produce heat fast. I boil water and cook on mine. They do go through wood fast about 20 min. I started to use tin foil over the intake and that helped a lot. This is all burning pine not much larger then your thumb and about a foot long. I have had coals lasts for hours after extended use. The stoves will dry your cloths, dry the condensation and get the chill out of you.
The tents red clif is about 3-1/2 pounds, 6 man is just under 6 (with out the stove) that's with extra stakes and lines on all of the tie outs. Since I started using floor less shelters I have had way more bad weather then good. Most nights have be from single digits to the low twenties. Had one trip when the highest temp got above freezing for a short time and it snowed 9 out of ten days (I learned about tire chains that year) and to different 10 day trips it rained or snowed most days. The tent did well on all trips. You must under stand it is a single wall shelter and if it is damp out and the stove is not going the walls can get wet.
I love the larger size without the weight, I like not worrying about getting the floor dirty, and I love the stove.
Good luck

 

[Timnterra]

Thanks for the input. How did your tent do in the wind? One concern of mine is the wind blowing under the bottom edge of the tent since there is not floor.

 

[dmj]

We packed in about 4 miles last year and set one of our tents up. We left it set up for about 3 weeks. It was on the top of a ridge. We'd go in and stay for a night or two at a time. During the time it was set up in this location, it poured rain and blew pretty darn good. Guessing 25 mph with gusts up around 35 plus mph. Tent remained in place just fine and nothing ever got wet in the tent. Only spot that any water got in the tent at all was around the stove jack and this wasn't very much.

 

[Timnterra]

Wow! I'm guessing you used their carbon fiber pole with aluminum extension to set up the tent? That really instill confidence in the tent. I would not be able to sleep at night if I had left my tent set up on the side of a mountain.

 

[Timnterra]

Also I'm curious did you and all your gear smell like a campfire after using the wood stove or is it cleaner burning than that?

 

[dmj]

No we didn't pack the pole in with us. We just took an old towel cut a pole and wrapped the towel around the top to ensure the pole wouldn't damage the tent. Took a few of the aluminum stake to anchor the bottom of the tent. Then just made some stakes out of limbs to tie the sides out. As far as smoke from the stove. It's been my experience that anytime you use a wood stove you stand a good chance of getting some smoke. Down draft, wind, low pressure or maybe I just don't know how to operate a wood stove.

 

[Cmrem700]

Thanks for the input. How did your tent do in the wind? One concern of mine is the wind blowing under the bottom edge of the tent since there is not floor.

I have not had it in extreme wind, I try to find sheltered areas. It has been in 25mph plus winds with no issues or concerns. The seek out side tents have a sod skirt I think it is 4" on the red cliff and 6" on the 6and 8 man. It stays as draft free as you want it never had a issue. My buddy brought a a sleeping bag that was not rated for the temps we were having once and we needed to burn the stove most of the night the hole trip. The stove pipe (screen) clogged up 1 time. That was the only time that we had smoke or the smell of smoke.

 

[NYSHUNTER]

I have the seek outside BCS-2 with the seek outside stove also the nest ..works great . I'm only 5'8 so I can stand some but not to much walking around room lol.... I must say the nest feature works great when your in the land Mosquito's..

One of the great features of using the stove is drying out your cloths. You can hang a line in the shelter and hang your cloths and dry up your boots very quickly The downsides of having stove is wood gathering takes time from scouting...

When the temps start tumbling down you can stoke up the fire and be nice and comfortable over night. Also there's nothing like not worrying about taking off your boots before you get into your shelter