This is our own personal experience in making the decision on what hot tent to purchase. What is hot tent camping? Hot tent camping is about using a wood burning stove inside a tent to heat it. It is like a portable cabin with a mini stove and chimney that can be packed up and brought with you. Hot tents can be made out of canvas or fire resistant treated nylon or polyester.
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The Search Begins…The Nylon Tent
I first looked for a cheap way to get into hot tent camping. I looked at some Chinese distributors and most of the cheap hot tents they offered were made from nylon or polyester. I researched how safe nylon is around sparks and while regular nylon tents can burn easily, this particular nylon is apparently treated with a fire retardant material. One way to avoid getting any burn holes from sparks is by using a spark arrester and placing your stove exhaust high enough above the tent or to the side of the tent depending on its set up.
The advantage of a nylon tent is its pack ability. If you are a backpacker and are looking to get into hot tent camping, a nylon tent may be the way to go. Nylon tents are very lightweight and the other advantage is in comparison to a canvas tent they are much more affordable.
One of the drawbacks of a nylon or poly tent is the fact that the material doesn’t breath. Condensation can build up on the tent walls. Many of these tents come with venting systems to help alleviate this problem. As well by running a stove the heat from it can help reduce condensation.
A canvas tent may be heavier than nylon, however the natural fibers allow air to pass through it reducing condensation problems. Since we would be using our tent in winter conditions and would be using it for more than just sleeping, having a breathable fabric in a tent was a high priority of mine.
Canvas Tents
I started looking at canvas tents as an option. Most of the canvas choices here in Canada with the exception of a few such as Esker tents are quite large and heavy. A lot seemed to be made more for prospecting, field work or other semi permanent operations. These large steel framed tents would be great for these sorts of applications, however for my needs they would be too large and bulky.
I narrowed my search down to just a few tent options. One is the Snowtrekker tent that is made in the USA. What appealed to me about these tents is the fact that they are made with mobility in mind. While canvas is still heavier than nylon, these tents seemed overall lighter and used aluminum poles instead of steel.
The set up of these tents were also more familiar having done a lot of tent camping. They use an A frame style configuration with guide ropes on the sides. The setup seemed practical and fairly quick using clips and tensioners, rather than needing to completely hand tie everything, which gets more difficult in the cold.
You can choose various tent styles and sizes which gives a lot of options for different types of camping. At first I was looking at the 3/4 man Crew Alpine with the small or medium stove. The footprint of the tent was 10×10 which we felt would be big enough for our needs.
Considering Our Camping Needs
When backpacking or doing multiple portages we of course would be using a lightweight nylon tent. We wanted the hot tent for car camping, winter trekking using sleds, or shoulder season cold camping and fishing with minimal portaging. We had the idea of using our tent less as just a sleeping area and more of a sleeping and living/cooking space. So the 10×10 seemed like a practical compromise between size and mobility.
We wanted a space where we could put cots in one area of the tent, then be able to store some items under the cots. We also thought of using the space around the fire for our sitting living and cooking space. We needed some space to store wood for easy access. We would of course keep some items such as food outside the tent, however we would also have the option of bringing those items into the tent for cooking.
While the 10×10 crew with the small stove seemed adequate, after seeing some YouTube videos on people using the Snowtrekker basecamp tent we ended up changing our mind. We liked the inside spaciousness of the basecamp and that the stove placement was angled outwards into the tent from the front right corner. We felt the basecamp 12×12 while nice and roomy was a bit overkill for the size we needed. We felt that while we certainly would have ample room inside the tent, at times finding a large enough level space to pitch would limit our options of where we could go. As well we felt that the added weight of the tent plus the recommended large stove would add unnecessary weight for just two people.
We ended up deciding on the basecamp 9×11.5. We liked the hight of the peak which my being 5″10 would be more than high enough so I could walk around easily. We felt that we could still set up seating around the stove for two people and if needed a few more for friends. We would have more than enough room for the wood, the living area and a sleeping area. While smaller than the basecamp 12×12 we felt that it would serve our space needs without feeling too cramped. We would also be able to use the slightly smaller medium stove cutting down on weight and the tent itself would be slightly smaller and lighter.
Considering Cost
When we moved from deciding on using nylon to using canvas for a hot tent, the biggest shift in the two choices was the shift in price. How much is a nylon hot tent compared to a canvas one? You can buy a nylon hot tent for under 200 dollars. Most canvas hot tents start at just under 1,000 dollars. This starting price is usually for a solo or one man sized canvas tent.
We narrowed our search down to two companies. One was Snowtrekker tents based in the USA. The other company we looked at was Esker tents that are made near Toronto Canada.
The Snowtrekker tent is in a similar price range to the Esker tent. However, since we were purchasing from Canada, after exchange rate costs, shipping and taxes the Snowtrekker came in around 13-1500 dollars more.
Esker makes a good quality tent. Their tent is a different style than the Snowtrekker. The Esker tent doesn’t use an internal A frame like the Snowtrekker. It is hung from a center pole. The guy-lines are then pulled out from around the exterior base of the tent and tied off on either trees or stakes driven into the ground. You have the choice of either using an aluminum adjustable center pole or pulling your center pole and stabilizing platform from the surrounding brush.
You can choose either a pentagonal shape or a classic square shape. You can also choose depending on the model having your stove in the center or on the side of the tent with the chimney facing out like the Snowtrekker.
The advantage of having the chimney facing out rather than straight up is that you don’t need to worry as much about staining and sparks. The disadvantage is that you must angle your chimney away from the prevailing winds so as not to have smoke back up in your tent.
While the Esker tent looked well made and presented a much more appealing price point we ended up going with the Snowtrekker.
Snow Trekker Vs Esker
In deciding on which tent to buy we considered both the pros and cons of each tent. Both tents looked very well made with top quality materials. This is certainly our opinion and others may prefer one or the other depending on what they like. You can use a similar thought process and method when deciding between other tent options as well.
Esker Pros:
- Less expensive for those living in Canada
- No internal frame needed
- high ceilings
- option to use surrounding bush materials to set up tent
Esker Cons:
- The tent seemed to be a little more difficult to set up and get right.
- After the set up the tent didn’t seem strung as tightly (more sagging)
- While a pro could maybe eliminate these issues, we wanted the learning curve to be quicker for us
- Centre pole seemed to be in the way a bit for our needs
Snowtrekker Pros:
- Set up time seemed quick and straightforward
- Guy lines used more of a clip system, less knot tying
- Could add on mosquito netting. Good for non winter camping
- high ceilings
- no center pole
Snowtrekker Cons:
- Price (exchange rate, shipping high for Canadians)
- while light and minimal, must carry a frame
We decided on the Snowtrekker Basecamp. We wrote this article to document our search for the right hot tent. Hopefully this article can help you in your own search for a hot tent. In further articles we will explain how our decision turned out while using this tent.
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you have a winter of camping under your belt with the snowtrekker. I really appreciate you documenting your decision making process. Very helpful.
Yes went a lot last winter. Snowtrekker basecamp is where its at no regrets. The 9×11.5 is the perfect size for us 2 people. The quality of this tent is worth the investment and the stove that can be purchased with the tent is the right size. We went with the medium stove and it works great, no smoke leaks, and the fact that the chimney links can be screwed together ensures the wind wont pull them apart. We use a cot for our crown land camping and its been great keeping the sleeping area above the ground and free of snow or sand or whatever. The basecamp is great since the cot fits well into the high walls. I might write an update blog about it. Blog is just a hobby so gotta find the time. But there’s a few more posts I wrote trying out the snowtrekker last winter.