Winter tentage

[Toddy]

Speaking with my elderly Uncle recently, he said that during the War they had blow up tents that were thus insulated and meant they could sleep warm. He said that every couple of days a lorry would come out from a larger base and leave two dry blankets per man and take away the used ones to be air dried in a hanger somewhere.

He said that when those specialised tents weren't available, they sometimes put up pup tents inside a larger tent and though not as quite as warm they didn't have a problem with condensation.

Anyone tried a tent within a tent when it's perishing cold out ?

M

 

[sandbender]

I have used a Lavvu that had an inner tent arrangement, as we had a stove running through the night condensation wasn't an issue, it was still fairly chilly in there though, not as cold as outside though (-41c).

 

[JohnC]

I guess that's the idea of a four poster bed (indoors of course) a tent within the building.
We put a parachute over the lavvu we made when camping at Comrie in the autumn and it noticably increased the warmth of the tent.

 

[santaman2000]

We had the Temper Tents (basically they were exactly that; a tent within a tent) in Desert Shield/Desert Storm. They weren't warmer or cooler in and of themselves, but they did do better at holding in the heat from the diesel heaters or the cool from the diesel ac that was vented in.

 

[ged]

Well I suppose most double-skin tents could count as tent-within-tent designs.

Oddly enough last weekend I used one for the first time in several years and I was mildly surprised by how much warmer it was than I remembered. Not that it was a cold weekend.

The inner on this particular tent isn't even a windproof fabric, it's more a sort of mesh.

Any condensation is entirely on the outer shell and doesn't wick into the inner unless you press them together by carelessly stowing gear etc.

I think I'll be using it more this winter.

 

[bilmo-p5]

A flysheet will benefit any single skin tent, year-round.

 

[petrochemicals]

Trouble with many tents is that you either get a gale or suffocate. The vango helium 2012 had a huge vent foot end, when the wind blew your feet froze even 10 degreed above the sleeping bag temprature. Fly tents also have thr wind chill factor. A bivvy in anything obviously increases the temperature a great deal. Basically its the same principle. On another note condensation only happens when the fly sheet is exposed to cold (especially rain) and the hot air has nowhere to go, anyother time and no condensation as the dewpoint I believe is altered.

 

[forestwalker]

Anyone tried a tent within a tent when it's perishing cold out ?

How cold is "perishing cold"? I have slept in canvas tents down to about -45 C, in trench style shelters down to -50 (some) C, and modern Hilleberg tents down to -35 C. The -50 C nights could be argued as perishing, even if I rather refer to it as "on the chilly side".

The canvas tents had a woodstove (and a camo net a few dm away from the tent wall, this being the army), which was kept at a nice ned color for the duration and thus more or less a shirtsleeve environent, the -50 C night (thermometer only went that far down...) was perhaps on the chilly side (but the northern lights and milky way compensated adequately), the Hilleberg Akto had quite a bit of frost on the inside in the morning.

As others have said, double wall designs generally means that most (some?) of the condensation/frost will be somewhere else than right next to you and your kit. Some insulation as well (a few degres C). In winter it might also mean that the snow will not melt on the outside of the tent, which is a good thing. The inner tent should be made from a fabric that allows water vapour to pass as freely as possible.

 

[bilmo-p5]

OT slightly; someone posted a vid on these pages some time ago. It was a bloke in a winter landscape setting up a small modern tent and then firing-up an Omnifuel (or some such) to warm it up. IIRC it was Scandinavian or N. European; the dialogue was not in English. Tried searching to no avail.

Does this ring bells with anyone?