Best way to heat a tent in 40* /20mph wind weather?

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  • molonlabe

    Ultimate Member
    May 7, 2005
    2,760
    Mountaineer Country, WV
    I've used catalytic heaters which produce heat by a catalytic action with a platinum element. It is considered mostly frameless and are often used to heat RV's. I personally would not use them without CO detector. They are available on line. I use a hand held one used by HVAC installers to confirm the gas or oil flame is adjusted properly. I have a ventless heater as a back up in case I lose electric. Last year I used it for 4 hours during an outage and the CO never went above 2ppm. Do not use a CO alarm because they will not sound until you get to 35ppm. I want a warning long before that. That being said oxygen depletion becomes a issue in a confined space so there needs to be adequate ventilation. So all those issues leads one to balance the safety with all the information above. Personally if it was just me I could handle it. Add several more people further depletes the Oxygen. I would go with good sleeping bags and undergarments. If you get up in the morning the cold will be like a fresh cup of coffee. In my younger days I've backpacked and was caught in blizzards and survived quite well because I had good gear.
    My 2 cents hope this helps.
     

    City Rat

    Member
    Aug 12, 2015
    40
    MD
    Great advice so far. I winter camp and camp at altitudes where there are no trees and the wind just swirls and blows. I am going to make an overall and very important assumption here about your trip. You guys are car camping, i.e. backing the vehicle up to a spot and unloading vice packing gear into the site. My sdvice would be completely different if you guys were planning to put on packs and hike in.
    TENT:
    Of course you could buy a 4 season tent from a quality place, e.g. REI, or as othrs have suggested. Winterize your 3 season one. Sounds like you have the tarp under rainfly down. You might consider a moving blanket under the tarp and under the ranfly. Again water/ condensation is not your friend here so keep an eye out for that. I just don't know how much body heat your crew kicks out while sleeping.

    INSULATION: Great suggestions. Of the carpet, sleeping pad and air mattress options for a family camping adventure where part of the goal is to build excitement for the next trip, air mattress all the way. Kids should think its fun, wife and kids should be comfy. Smoother glide path to a repeat trip.
    BAG PREP: Again assuming that this isn't a mummy bag, poly pro next to skin layer for herwith warm socks. Again if back home she is one who has cold feet at night the hand warmer packs are ok just tough to regulate in terms of heat so again gotta balance really thick high woll xontent socks vice thinner socks and handwarmers. The goal is not to get her feet sweaty. Two points not raised specifically, bag liners, basically a bag within a bag. Aome have talked about putting two bags together one inside of the other. While that is the concept the problem is sweat and wicking it away from her while she sleeps so she doesn't wake up in a puddle.If younare gonna do two sleeping bags, both haveto wick away sweat, one through the other. If not, cold and clammy.in the morning. I suggest REI and grab a poly pro or Thermasilk set of bag liners. This actually might delicately get around your next to skin layer sizing issue. If she won't go out and buy or can't find comfortable fitting polypro underoos, all she has to do is wear some next to skin layer that wicks and zip her up in a polypro bag liner or two. Now every layer wicks and breaths, underoos, polypro bag liner and her current bag. Result dry and warm. The second point not mentioned but I have been using since Boy Scouts. Pull the next days, underwear, pants, shirt and pullover out of the pack and inside the sleeping bag at night. Adds a little insulation and you put on warm clothes in the morning. Enjoy.
     

    redeemed.man

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 29, 2013
    17,444
    HoCo
    01f4c19f954f69ea85571e77ef9802e1.jpg
    IBTL
     

    Boom Boom

    Hold my beer. Watch this.
    Jul 16, 2010
    16,834
    Carroll
    I camp in all weather. My keys to being comfortable in the tent at night:

    Keep a completely separate set of long underwear, wool socks and wool hat for sleeping. This is the most important factor and you will be cold if you don't do it. It sucks for 30 seconds when you change into the cold long underwear, but you're warm for the rest of the night.

    Then comes having a quality sleeping bag and ground pad.

    I strongly agree with above. Thermal long underwear, socks, and hat are key, especially the hat.
     

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