Wall Tents Tips and Tricks

[Gamblin Guy]

If you know anyone that does hardwood floors they often just take scraps to the dump to get rid of it.  I got a bunch from my neighbor one year, cut it down to length if it was necessary and took it to camp in a couple of Rubbermaid containers.  That combined with some of those compressed sawdust logs and we had fire all night no problem.  not quite as nostalgic as a pile of wood stacked outside but I didn't have to mess with a chainsaw and gas.

[the1rod]

The biggest thing that helped for me is to get that thing as full as possible,  I have a Davis stove and it's pretty long,  so I had to learn to cut my wood a little longer to prevent having wasted space,  also I split some of my wood down into real small pieces to stuff in as many gaps as possible after putting a few large pieces on. Then get the air flow just right,  too much and your sweating for a few hours then freezing,  too little it just goes out and you freeze. Also for their guys burning pressed logs,  have you ever had issues with them? On my first trip with the wall tent I figured I would just use those and leave the chainsaw at home,  well they burned really slow and cold!  After freezing for a couple nights I used the axe to cut some small wood and spent the rest of the nights in my boxers it was so warm. I'm not sure if I had bad quality pressed logs or if maybe it was the altitude,  I was at 10000ft in Colorado.

[ghosthunter]

The biggest thing that helped for me is to get that thing as full as possible,  I have a Davis stove and it's pretty long,  so I had to learn to cut my wood a little longer to prevent having wasted space,  also I split some of my wood down into real small pieces to stuff in as many gaps as possible after putting a few large pieces on. Then get the air flow just right,  too much and your sweating for a few hours then freezing,  too little it just goes out and you freeze. Also for their guys burning pressed logs,  have you ever had issues with them? On my first trip with the wall tent I figured I would just use those and leave the chainsaw at home,  well they burned really slow and cold!  After freezing for a couple nights I used the axe to cut some small wood and spent the rest of the nights in my boxers it was so warm. I'm not sure if I had bad quality pressed logs or if maybe it was the altitude,  I was at 10000ft in Colorado.

They do burn slower and often stay in their form until you move them around. I like them because they keep hot coals going all night. I stir them up about o300 on my trip by the stove and throw some wood on.
I think coal would be the best all night option, but hard to find.
Just bought 10 bundles of 6 for camp. Two per night for two stoves goes about 15 days.

[the1rod]

It would be interesting to try coal, I might have to do a test burn with some. If I get a chance I'll report back.

[ghosthunter]

I have seen a few tents with stove jacks out the sides or ends. Not a real fan of that design.
Use to have stove jack out end of our cook shack. Was always a pain to support it.

What’s your preference?

[Rainier10]

Mine goes out the side and I use this tripod stand to hold mine up.

[kentrek]

I have seen a few tents with stove jacks out the sides or ends. Not a real fan of that design.
Use to have stove jack out end of our cook shack. Was always a pain to support it.

What’s your preference?

Out the side with a 90 and an aluminum pike pole for support

[elksnout]

I have seen a few tents with stove jacks out the sides or ends. Not a real fan of that design.
Use to have stove jack out end of our cook shack. Was always a pain to support it.

What’s your preference?

Out the side wall. Pipe supported by a bolt together framework.

Elksnout

[MHWASH]

Out the side. No support but use a couple of sheet metal screws at each joint.

[MHWASH]

Hunting camp 2019 is set up.

[vandeman17]

I have seen a few tents with stove jacks out the sides or ends. Not a real fan of that design.
Use to have stove jack out end of our cook shack. Was always a pain to support it.

What’s your preference?

Another vote for out the side. No worries about rain/snow coming in and also easier to cover the tent with a tarp

[Rob]

I bought a couple sets of the foam puzzle board squares for flooring.  I run them from the door to in-between the cots.  keeps things very well insulated for walking in socks.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Greatmats-25-Pack-24-in-x-24-in-Black-Loose-Lay-Foam-Tile-Multipurpose-Flooring/1000159227

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I have seen a few tents with stove jacks out the sides or ends. Not a real fan of that design.
Use to have stove jack out end of our cook shack. Was always a pain to support it.

What’s your preference?

I definitely like straight up through the roof the best, for a couple reasons. First, you are less likely to have an accident where someone or something bumps the stack and it falls apart.  But the big reason for me is creosote. It's not a big deal for a week to 2 week camp, but if you are doing a long term camp out in cold weather you do a lot of turning the damper down to slow the burn and creosote builds up on the inside of your pipe. With a straight up pipe you can tap the pipe with a branch or something similar and the creosote will break loose and fall down into the stove.  Easy cleaning.  With a pipe out the side or back wall  you will have a couple 90s and creosote will build up and there is no way to get it out without taking the pipe apart which creates a big mess.

I learned this the hard way when I spent a couple winters on Afognak Is. near Kodiak.  My first wall tent had the stack go out the back wall And about once a month I'd have to take the pipe apart and clean it.   

One other thing I learned was the placement of the stove in the tent.  When the stove was in the back of the tent (no back door), if it got too warm in the tent it wasn't easy to cool things down and packing wood through the whole tent was messy.  Inevitably bark would fall off and create something else to clean up.  With the stove near the front of the tent opening the flap lets heat out faster.  And you don't have to bring wood through the whole tent. Since that first tent, I've always had my wall tents arranged with the stove in the front of the tent and the pipe goes straight through the roof.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I have seen a few tents with stove jacks out the sides or ends. Not a real fan of that design.
Use to have stove jack out end of our cook shack. Was always a pain to support it.

What’s your preference?

Another vote for out the side. No worries about rain/snow coming in and also easier to cover the tent with a tarp

That was my worry on my first wall tent. But since then I always have a stove jack installed in my fly to match up with the jack hole in the roof of my tent. Have never had a problem with leaks because of it. And I have used it in some very rainy places.

[vandeman17]

I have seen a few tents with stove jacks out the sides or ends. Not a real fan of that design.
Use to have stove jack out end of our cook shack. Was always a pain to support it.

What’s your preference?

Another vote for out the side. No worries about rain/snow coming in and also easier to cover the tent with a tarp

That was my worry on my first wall tent. But since then I always have a stove jack installed in my fly to match up with the jack hole in the roof of my tent. Have never had a problem with leaks because of it. And I have used it in some very rainy places.

Only wall tent I have owned has the side jack so my experience is limited