Winter 2008

January 28, 2022: Mike's Hot Tent Shakedown (13 Photos)

With my new hot tent and related equipment ready to go, I was eager to get it set up for a shakedown run before venturing far back in the country later this winter. This weekend I had a short weather window, Friday night would be my last chance before high winds, high temperatures and rain pummelled the North East Avalon once again Saturday afternoon. The cycle of snow followed by torrential rain has been prevalent all season.

I set up the insulated pop up style shelter-turned hot tent in my backyard as everything I would inevitably forget on the maiden venture would be close by. Also I wasn't sure how much firewood I would go through so having an ample supply nearby would certainly help prepare me for the eventual outing.

With the tent set up I realized it would be real handy to have a table inside so I quickly threw together a decently sturdy folding table approximately 24" long.

I setup the wood stove on a piece of 3/4" plywood in practice for actual usage on ice, this will help slow down ice melting directly below the stove. A welding blanket creates a fireproof air gap to protect the fabric of the shelter directly behind the stove. I also had a battery operated Carbon Monoxide detector in the tent as well.

With everything set up I next tested cooking on my Princess Auto wood stove. It's not an ideal cooking setup due to the shape of the stovetop, but it got the job done. On the menu tonight was pan fried mushrooms, onions and a bottle of moose mixed with white rice (cooked separately on my MSR Superfly backpack stove).

Later I put the kettle on to brew a fresh cup of coffee. Today I used my Coughlin coffee filters with my beautiful blue Yeti Rambler mug.

My Princess Auto LED strip lights are absolutely fantastic for interior illumination. They ran all evening no problem on dual 12v 7ah alarm batteries providing perfect lighting for inside activities and picture taking. I also strung up my Gearline organizer to hang items up out of the way.

I arose at a decent hour after just a fantastic and fun campout. I got the shelter taken down and stowed in my garage to air dry before the weather changed. I was very pleased to find no frost or condensation built up inside the shelter, mostly due to its insulated construction, excellent ventilation and woodstove heat source.

I kept the fire going all night, the wood stove needs a little fine tuning as the door leaked a little smoke and needed to be re-stoked every hour. It also smoked a lot when opening the door. Removing the chimney cap helped, and it was windy overnight. All in all I burned approximately 1.5 fish pans of firewood in 14 hours.

All in all it was a very successful inaugural adventure even if it was close to home. Outside temperatures were approximately -10c all night while it stayed between 25 to 30 inside! I can't wait to camp out overnight on the ice!

Cheers, MIKE