The good man Butthead (Ken) hooked me up with his old Canvas Tent, a Laacke & Joys Wildwood 10x12. I procured never used Cylinderstoves.com Outfitter Package with coal grate and everything, pretty nice score for $60 off craigslist, way to big for this tent (meant for a 15X15-16X20 wall tent) and way to heavy for any sort of man powered excursions but for mechanized means of travel or very short haul-ins it will work pretty good.

It was kind of a last minute prep as I got the tent from Ken at Wingnight on Sat and was heading up to Sag on Wed. Ran up to Four Dog stoves and grabbed a 6" jack and some other small items, considering the beastly size of the tent and my tiny home sewing machine I think it turned out about as good as it could have, ugly for sure but should be very functional. For the most part it will be a two man rig, two 85" x 40" cots, tip them up on their sides against the walls and we had plenty room for a card table and chairs. had a couple of 9 watt (60 watt equivalent) light bulb strung up inside running off a small battery/invertor setup, it was truly "glamping" at its finest.

Took the boat over to a nearby blowdown/fire struck island and pulled some premo cedar out, brought a 3.5lb "Eco-log" to pop in just before bed, those really have a nice slow burn rate. While not winter it was still getting down to freezing or close to it, was very nice to go to bed with it being 70 and wake up to it being in the mid 50's, the big Cylinderstove really held heat nice.

All in all in was a pretty fun little trip, felt like we had a poor mans cabin on a private island, will likely use the tent again for Deer hunting in November. Going to modify the tarp corners to be a bit more "fitted", might even extend the ridge pole a bit to create a nice awning.

That's a sweet set up. Thanks for posting pics.

Having a stove really does make camping in cold weather a treat. Have fun with your new setup.

You'll want to figure out a way to keep the tarp up off the roof of the tent to let moisture out and allow air to circulate between the roof and the tarp. Maybe a few nerf balls along the top, then tie out the edges.

RA Hawk 2013, 10x12 Equinox Sil-Nylon tarp just fits.
Fall camp SKM, during late turkey season.
Good to see it up in the BWCA!

butthead

quote awbrown: "Having a stove really does make camping in cold weather a treat. Have fun with your new setup.


You'll want to figure out a way to keep the tarp up off the roof of the tent to let moisture out and allow air to circulate between the roof and the tarp. Maybe a few nerf balls along the top, then tie out the edges."

You can see it better in the pics that Ken posted but there is actually a pretty good sag to the canvavas between the top and side poles, combined with how the outer cross poles sits (higher than the canvas) its pretty easy to keep a great airgap up there. I bet we spent 60 hours in there over the 5 days and the canvas was always completely dry on both sides, same with the inside of the tarp (wish I could have said the same for the outside- damn rain!) But thats not to say it wouldn't be an issue in other circumstances and yes, the tarp is a hack-job for sure, just didn't have time to come up with something better, my main concern was staying dry. I may actually add a few lightweight poles here and their to help keep the tarp off the mid section, but part of me thinks if I put a decent awning it wouldn't really matter if it touched a little in the very center, at any rate I'm not going to overthink it too much, it worked splendid with a less than ideal setup, any improvement will just be insurance.

quote butthead: " RA Hawk 2013, 10x12 Equinox Sil-Nylon tarp just fits.
Fall camp SKM, during late turkey season.
Good to see it up in the BWCA!


butthead"

Great pics Ken! I rigged my 10 X 14 CCS tarp on it and it worked great but being a new to me tent (not knowing how it does in the rain) and a new to me stove (not knowing how much crap was going to come out the stack) I didn't want to chance getting wet from sideways rain or wrecking a $230 tarp so I opted for the beastly utility tarp I had in the garage.

Glad it worked so well for you, especially in the inclement weather. A comfortable setup like that, with heat, greatly expands a person's camping seasons.

My son-in-law and I were up in the UP last weekend. It was rainy and cold, but we were warm and toasty. My son-in-law earns his living as a computer geek, but he loves the hot tent. It is so "un-techy" that he loves it. He did all the cooking, I did the dishes. We had a great time.

I own that same tent, Ragged. I have often thought of converting it over to a winter tent much like you have. Looks good.

When I was first using it, I did the same thing by throwing the tarp over the top. However, I have stopped doing that and have been in some serious downpours with it since then and have found the tent is still completely waterproof. So it is possible, if you want to go down that route, of not even having to throw that tarp on.

Also, be wary of over-tightening the corners down where the stakes go. I have had a couple seams break through my overzealous tensioning. Nothing a little waxed cotton thread and an awl can fix, but still, annoying.

Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, carve out a spot somewhere in your house or garage where you can let this tent completely dry out before storing it away. It only takes one time for you to forget drying it and BAM! discoloration all over it for life. Trust me, I know.

And if you already know all this, then....never mind.

Here is a picture of my Wildwood back in April of 2012 on Brule Lake. Such a fun tent to use. Just really heavy to move around.