10 Essential Tips for Hot Tent Camping
1. Consider purchasing a bigger tent & share it with a hiking partner.
This enables you to:
- Split the weight of the gear
- Share the task of wood collecting & processing
- Have room to stand and sit comfortably by the fire
- My tent of choice comfortably sleeps, 2 people. I can still use it solo & enjoy the extra space.
2. Do a test run at your house first. Ensure you are VERY proficient at setting up your tent & using your stove properly. I can’t stress enough about the importance of this.
3. Pack in dry kindling & fire starters if you plan on being in wet conditions. Not worth the time & energy to try and be a bush crafter here.
4. Start drying wet wood immediately. Collect and process all of your wood first thing at camp. Stack it around your wood stove so it can begin to dry as the stove heats up.
5. Collect a few large pieces of wood if you plan on keeping the fire going overnight. A well-established coal base can keep a fatty piece of wood smoldering for 3+ hours.
6. Don’t worry about your tent not having a floor. Floors add weight & hot embers can melt through them.
Don’t set your tent up in an area that collects water & you will be fine.
I’d highly recommend each person having their own groundsheet for moisture protection instead. You can see how I do this in many of the pictures in this guide.
7. Learn how the damper and vents on the front of your stove work together to keep your fire going optimally. It took me a bit of practice to get that dialed in.
8. An inner mesh tent isn’t necessary if mosquitoes aren’t present (they usually aren’t when it’s cold & or wet out). These add weight & you lose valuable living space.
In fact, I’ve never used an inner mesh tent out of the 50+ days I’ve been in a hot tent.
9. Avoid camping in exposed areas during high winds. I’ve spent 100’s of nights out in the wilderness & I can tell ya some of my scariest moments have been in this situation.
The risk factor goes up 10 fold here with a hot stove in your tent.
10. Upgrade your tent stakes. I’ve seen firsthand that many companies are providing very cheap tent stakes with their tents. They bend super easy & the heads snap off. This could put you in a bad situation if you are using a single-walled shelter.
If you can add any valuable information to this page, please feel free to comment.