After inspecting some of the fantastic (and cushy) setups at the recent Winter Camping Symposium, I decided to give new life to my 10’x10’ Cabela’s Outback Lodge…or burn it down trying. After several days of testing, it’s still standing. A special thanks to Kevin at Empire Wool and Canvas for info on how he uses stoves safely in his synthetic, floored tents.
I suppose the jack location isn’t ideal, but it’s pretty dern good. I run a baffle in my stove, so I situate the chimney over the door. I was able to get it into the relative middle of the tent floor, too, giving room for cots on the three walls and plenty of entry space inside the door. Even got a corner reserved for the pup.
For floor protection, I’m using a 3 ft.² welding blanket with a notch in it for the center pole. On top of that is a blanket made up of three layers of old blanket wall with a canvas topper. On top of that, I have a piece of siliconized fiberglass stove jack material. I rigged up a reflector for underneath the stove that doubles well as a browning/warming shelf. Combined with the makeshift stove top oven made from smoker trays, it does a treat in baking up your favorite fare.
I still have some work to do, like trimming the jack opening to final dimensions and experimenting with longer burn times, but I’m excited to have this in the arsenal this season. It may not handle snow loads the best (we don’t get quite what you all get up north anyways) but it always has done very well in wind and rain (minus the uncovered, sloping door). Plus, it’s got a lot of venting options. In all, it’s a three person hot tent hotel.
I suppose the jack location isn’t ideal, but it’s pretty dern good. I run a baffle in my stove, so I situate the chimney over the door. I was able to get it into the relative middle of the tent floor, too, giving room for cots on the three walls and plenty of entry space inside the door. Even got a corner reserved for the pup.
For floor protection, I’m using a 3 ft.² welding blanket with a notch in it for the center pole. On top of that is a blanket made up of three layers of old blanket wall with a canvas topper. On top of that, I have a piece of siliconized fiberglass stove jack material. I rigged up a reflector for underneath the stove that doubles well as a browning/warming shelf. Combined with the makeshift stove top oven made from smoker trays, it does a treat in baking up your favorite fare.
I still have some work to do, like trimming the jack opening to final dimensions and experimenting with longer burn times, but I’m excited to have this in the arsenal this season. It may not handle snow loads the best (we don’t get quite what you all get up north anyways) but it always has done very well in wind and rain (minus the uncovered, sloping door). Plus, it’s got a lot of venting options. In all, it’s a three person hot tent hotel.
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