• DCRC 2024

Tent Heaters

thefirstzukman

thefirstzukman

Finding Utah
Supporting Member
Location
SPANISH FORK, UTAH
I spent about $300 at sportsmans warehouse and bought a nice heavy duty oversized cot and a pad that is the same size and a bag that weighs like 28lbs....good for -40 and I have never zipped up the sleeping bag. I have camped in the henrys in December when it was 19 below and was never cold. I run a buddy heater when I wake up for about 10 min in a spring bar tent and a few min before we go into the tent to warm it up. I don't trust any heater to run for long periods of time.

I almost look forward to camping in the dead of winter just to use my bag :)
 
jeep-N-montero

jeep-N-montero

Formerly black_ZJ
Location
Bountiful
My wife and I have a pair of these in the XL size http://cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/mattresses/camp-and-comfort/dreamtime/product Paid over $400 for the pair but I now sleep better camping than I do at home. I have about a half dozen sleeping bags ranging from a summer weight Slumberjack to a North Face 0 degree bag. Hoping to get in a few winter trips this year. I typically sleep in light socks and cotton pajamas, with light cotton glove liners on my hands and a cotton or cotton/synthetic blend hat.
 
jackjoh

jackjoh

Jack - KC6NAR
Supporting Member
Location
Riverton, UT
I sleep nude or just skivvies to let the bag hold the heat in. I think if people sleep in clothes they lose the heat retention of the bag. To me the biggest gain in heat retention is a stocking cap, good ground pad, and don't touch anything unless it is another body, female of course. Of course that means you have a good down bag.
 
mesha

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
black_ZJ said:
My wife and I have a pair of these in the XL size http://cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/mattresses/camp-and-comfort/dreamtime/product Paid over $400 for the pair but I now sleep better camping than I do at home. I have about a half dozen sleeping bags ranging from a summer weight Slumberjack to a North Face 0 degree bag. Hoping to get in a few winter trips this year. I typically sleep in light socks and cotton pajamas, with light cotton glove liners on my hands and a cotton or cotton/synthetic blend hat.
Click to expand...

the dreamtime is the best camping mattress I have ever used. the new ones traded out the 2.5 inch pad for a 3 inch and you get 1 inch of memory foam on top of that:eek:. all wrapped in a micro fleece shell.

jackjoh said:
I sleep nude or just skivvies to let the bag hold the heat in. I think if people sleep in clothes they lose the heat retention of the bag. To me the biggest gain in heat retention is a stocking cap, good ground pad, and don't touch anything unless it is another body, female of course. Of course that means you have a good down bag.
Click to expand...

The nude sleeping thing is a common misconception. It works because people go to bed with tight fitting clothes or clothes that are damp(it you have been wearing them they are damp). As long as the clothes aren't constricting or damp or too bulky to allow you to now compress the bags loft they won't hurt the temp rating. Dead air space is dead are space.
 
K

KWight

Active Member
Location
Grand Junction, CO
thefirstzukman said:
Thanks for the mental image Jack:eek:

Now I need to see my therapist
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Someone called for a therapist? Here I am, and what a timely subject.

I have 2 old school coleman white gas heaters that I don't dare use anymore. Perhaps some of you may remember a few years ago when a man and his niece died at a paintball tournament near Logan, UT. They were reportedly using a propane Coleman heater to heat their tent

I have another option when tent camping. A kerosene heater, but also use this to warm up the tent at night or early in the morning. I had one in my bedroom when I was about 12 years old and it ran out of gas in the middle of the night I still remember awakening to my mother's screaming in the morning as I just burrowed under the covers to take refuge from the sooty mess that covered my bedroom.

I have a small cook stove for my small canvas tent or Teepee. I purchased a 15 gallon barrel and some scrap steel today to make a barrel stove for my 16x20 tent. I have a pop up trailer with a furnace that I can use to camp in during hunting season and use reflective blankets under the bunkends and egg crate foam pads on top of the mattresses to keep the chill off in that. If I really want to get serious I can buy some of the closed cell reflective insulation wrap at the home improvement stores to cut out and insert in the window openings. But then again, the trailer takes the fun out of the hunting outings.

Kevin
 
ret32

ret32

Active Member
Location
Midvale
My family and I don't own any genuine cold weather gear. Just a cheap Walmart tent, some 1.5" self inflating mattresses, some run of the mill Coleman bags, and a half a dozen blankets, layered on top or on bottom as necessary for padding or insulation. We've learned to make what we have adapt rather than spending a lot of money on different gear for different conditions.

When it comes to keeping warm, the most effective thing for me and my family has been to pack as many people as possible into as small a tent as possible. We stuff the 4 of us (myself, the wife, 6 yr old, 3 yr old) into a 2-man tent. We own a 4-man tent and 2 2-man tents that all zip together into a large compound if necessary. But over the years, we have slowly migrated to the smallest package possible and now sleep all of us in a single 2-man. Just enough room for bodies (we leave all non-sleeping gear in the vehicle).

If you have kids, take them camping with you. A 2 year old puts out the BTUs better than any tent heater on low could. It's amazing how hot kids sleep. With your first kid you'll think they have a fever every night, but that's just how they are.

When camping in sub-freezing temperatures, we put a $0.99 reflective emergency blanket on top of the tent, but underneath the rain fly. This reflects quite a bit of heat back into the tent.


jackjoh said:
I sleep nude or just skivvies to let the bag hold the heat in...
Click to expand...

mesha said:
...The nude sleeping thing is a common misconception. It works because people go to bed with tight fitting clothes or clothes that are damp(it you have been wearing them they are damp). As long as the clothes aren't constricting or damp or too bulky to allow you to now compress the bags loft they won't hurt the temp rating. Dead air space is dead are space.
Click to expand...

Like mesha said, if you've been wearing your clothes all day, there is ALWAYS some amount of moisture in them, especially undies and socks. I always put on clean undies and dry pajamas before I go to bed. Same thing in the morning, put on dry clothes (undies included) before you climb out of the tent and you'll adapt to the morning chill a lot quicker.
 
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DAA

DAA

Well-Known Member
Location
West Bountiful, UT
MOODY said:
Ditto. You haven't heard silence like that found in the desert in winter.
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Heck yeah. Fall and winter is when I do the big majority of my back country exploring and camping. Not so much the high country, deep snow stuff, but lots of high desert exploration. Mostly the Great Basin until the snow starts piling up too deep for solo travel, then I switch gears to the Swell and Roost country for the remainder of the winter.

- DAA
 
Rot Box

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Location
Smithfield Utah
I love winter camping :cool:

Never will a cup of percolated coffee taste better than camping in below freezing temps. The time it takes to heat the water long enough to thaw out and get hot--then boil long enough to brew seems like an eternity :D
 
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