It would help to know what kind of winter you are facing. And how long is "long term". If your winters are severe, you need to spend the money for success. You won't be comfortable, but you will survive. Being cold gets old. Fast. Now in the Bahamas. Piece of cake.

 

Well....try....Canvas.

Nothing is "like" canvas. That's why they still make those types of tents out of canvas.

You can find surplus tents in the sub $500 range. That's no more expensive than high end modern 4 season nylon tents.

 

ARCTIC OVEN TENT Co...........Best tent for cold. Located and Made in Anchorage, Alaska

They Ain't cheap........but you asked for the "BEST".

 

 

Panther Primitives makes most excellent canvas tents and will sew a tent stove attachment panel in it for you at a reasonable cost. They go from smallish tents for basically one Spartan to big wall tents and marquis versions for a squad.

 

Colorado yurt Co makes excellent canvas wall tents w/ chimney inserts. Just remember that tents and yurts do not have any thermal mass to keep the heat like houses do so you will need to keep the fire going.

 

OOORRR:

You can do as I did and insulate the tent with hard board styrofoam with reflective shield. You still need to keep the stove going but you reduce your wood consumption by about 2/3ds, and I live in NORTHERN NH. I also insulated the floor of the tent platform which is very important...[/U] and have carpet on the floor, we also have inserts to cover the windows. We have stayed there as low as -28-F this winter and the daytime temps not going over 0-F. It was a little cool on the floor at night but definitely livable. We bought our tent new and had it custom made to my design. You do GET what you pay for most of the time. Buy used and you usually get someone else's problems, not always but often.

The first year it was uninsulated but that was enough to convince us that it needed to be insulated on our 70ac.

 

You could look into a large ice fishing hut.

 

I did the better parts of two German winters in a Army GP Small or the even smaller Hex tent. Canvas, with a liner and a diesel burning 1950 stove just like MASH, (No HotLips). Invest in a battery powered carbon monoxide detector. Have liner go down to at least just below your cot's height.

A Teepee is nice with the ozan . Full length poles can be an issue to haul. I have the racks for my Ford F-150 and Land Cruiser FJ-40. A buddy has the Teepee, I have his racks and the 22' poles.

I just finished making a sheath for my new china drawknife. 2 hours to clean and sharpen the new knife. I plan to use it to process new lodge poles for the teepee and to do white locust hiking staffs.

added link to Amazon for draw knife $33 Amazon.com : Timber Tuff TMB-10S 10-Inch Straight Draw Shave : Power Log Splitter Accessories : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

Ten years ago I purchased a winter tent for late season hunting in the high Sierra. It is a Cabelas big horn and I use a wood stove in the corner. I have used the same tent every year since.

This combination is comfortable and can to pitched by one person in 10 minutes, but it is neither cheap or light wt.

 

I really like my GP (small) surplus tent for the $300 I paid. Has the arctic liner for extra insulation qualities. Fitted for a tent stove of course. Has valves up above for venting out Co2. Room for a large family.

 

Long term winter camping doesn't work very well in extreme cold unless you are talking about something permanent that you are going to insulate and for all intents and purposes turn into a temporary cabin. If you are in a wall tent, the second that the fire goes out in the wood stove is the second that it becomes almost as cold inside the tent as it is outside.

For a semi permanent tent type dwelling, I would recommend a teepee with an open fire right on the ground. That way you heat up the ground and you stay warm even if the fire goes out for a while. You have to make the fire in a cone shape, just like the teepee, otherwise the smoke will be unbearable inside.

Whether it is a wall tent with a wood stove or a teepee or a million dollar log cabin, you will be cold no matter what in 40 below zero if your structure isn't insulated really well. I would call winter tent camping "surviving", it isn't fun at all. You will be suffering in extreme cold unless you know what you are doing. And unless you really know how to suffer and endure, you will be absolutely miserable.

 

How long term? How many people? How cold is "winter"?

There are already some very good suggestions in this thread, but if wall tents are too expensive, I'm not sure what options are on the table, really. You'd be doing well to find a surplus military tent that will take a stove for less than wall tent money, tipis and lavvus are similar or maybe a bit cheaper for just the canvas, etc. Tents you can stove are just move expensive.

 

Well thanks for all the help and I live in northern New England so my winters are pretty cold, My "long term" is about 2-3 weeks, and it will only be for one person.

 

If you go canvas, you'll need a liner. Even with a stove, they get cold. Also, you'll need one specific to extreme weather. A standard old canvas tent will not work...

 

I would recommend a larger than you think you need Teepee. Winter camping requires a higher liner, ozan, as mentioned above. If you do some research and you will be surprised how well they shelter you.

When winter camping bring the outside shell all the way to the ground and pile up a little snow around the base to keep out any drafts. Then just as Native Americans did stuff straw into the area between the liner and outside wall to about 6 ft above the ground. Makes for a very warm shelter with just a tiny fire inside.

Use fire retardant canvas if you build your own. Keep in mind Native Americans used Buffalo leather which was in itself is not very flammable. Later after the government contracted the decimation of the Buffalo herds, they resisted but had no choice but to use the cheap, inferior canvas the government provided while on the reservations.

Its easy to incorporate a small fire with an underground outside draft tunnel precisely how it used to be done. No other tent is as strong and as efficient. They literally will withstand gale force plains winds. You could use rocks around the small fire pit to store heat and radiate all night long! Plus, Teepees draft very well and if you wanted to use a very small wood stove with a pipe chimney you could easily get an all night burn! :thumb:

 

Yurts

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/build-a-yurt-zmaz76ndztak.aspx

http://www.yurtforum.com/forums/

 

I been thinking of getting a cold weather tent myself I'm wanting at least a two man military any one know of any good sites

 

Geoshelters look nice but are very expensive. http://geoshelters.com. For army tents check out http://www.armytents.com/index.html or https://www.rddusa.com/.

 

Bud gave me a 12' circular heavy canvas milsup wall tent. Thing weighs 250+ #s but is substantial and set up for a stove. Will set it up next fall over on our farm for a "guest cabin"--lol.

 

Sportsmans Guide has two man canvas tents surplus from French army. They even have a floor in them I'm getting one just for myself. Plan to coat the outside with a good layer of paraffin or bees wax. Says they are used but in good to very good condition. Less than a Hundred bucks too.

 

Tent

Try looking at Colorado Yurt.

http://www.coloradoyurt.com/

 

Winter tent(ing)...eh?

Lots of good info in this thread.

One issue, WINDS/DRAFTS, needs a little more, I think.

The Inuit of the Arctic Circle areas use igloo and tents, down to -70 f. in the past decades. They always cut snow/ice blocks and build an L-shaped wall on the upwind corner, with the opening away from that corner. This usually was built as high as the "eve" of whatever tent they had.
They also ALWAYS rigged some form of an "air-lock" at the entrance, where all the heat inside was not flushed when someone entered or left. Winds up there could sit on 65+ mph for days on end...and, the snow moved every time, in great quantities... Drifts could easily DOUBLE the height of any obstacle found out there on the flat tundra (no trees in this neighborhood!).
There is no wood..hence, no fire...sometimes they would use a whale oil stove to cook something, usually not. Same type of lamp... (these were the old days, just after WW-II and into the 60's)...today, it's led lights, snow machines in place of dogs and a sled, and propane cyc everything.. They slept in their parkas and mukluks, sometimes they would let a dog come inside with them, if it was really cold. Chill factors were constant -80 or lower.. yet, no one froze. Biggest problem was getting drifted in solid...no air circulation at all, and suffocate.

I have seen wall tents, used for crews in the bush for months on end, "walled in" with straw bales on 3 sides...with some sort of "second roof" across those bales that can shed snow load. I have also seen small wood-burners used in such tents with proper pentrations and exhaust stack height...(minimum of 2ft ABOVE the peak of the roof.). The real key to usability appeared to be the wood pallets under the sleeping floors...with straw stuffed up in there too.. This was in the land of permafrost... IF you got a spot warm with your body heat overnight, you might wake up in a mini-lake, eh?...very wet and cold!..

There is a Montana Tent and Canvas company over by Belgrade/Bozeman, MT which appears to be substantial... Nothing that "works" will be cheap!...Don't be fooled and left with a very cold camp the first time out!.. Making mistakes at -25f. and colder will result in the loss of body parts...painfully. Check-6

 

I spend weeks in the winter months camping for business, I have a military 5 man tanker crew tent .it has a place for the military stove and an isolation wall and has the built in trenching system. I do find it a bit hot in the summer time tho, it has screen doors and top ventilation. It is too heavy to carry I put it inside a canapé for more room and to use as a kitchen and just sleep in the tent .using generation 3 sleeping bags and cots I got mine drect for $50, but most times they run in the $ 200 range. Wight is the main problem if you got to carry it then that's going to be another ballgame.

 

I know your posting about this is over three years old, but I am having a hard time finding answers to a question about the tent you have. I also have the soldier crew tent and am interested in using it in the winter, but I have concerns on how to place the military Hunter Space Heater Arctic (SHA) stove inside? Is the floor of the tent able to withstand the heat or do I need to put some type of base plate or sand bed in there? Hopefully, you get this, and I thank you in advance for any information you can offer.

 

The arctic oven is best imho. If you have a wood burning stove. It is expensive but work great.

 

Best Winter Camping Tent

Cabela's Ultimate Alaknak Tent and buy the vestibule to go with it. Stove attachments