Floorless Vs. Floor

Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
99
Location
From Wyoming
Me and 2 buddies are going up August 26-Sept 4. to the Brooks for caribou. Debating my tipi with stove or Cabelas West Wind for shelter. Give me feedback on personal experiences using either or both.
TIA
 

soggybtmboys

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 20, 2016
Messages
168
Location
Upper Midwest
Me and 2 buddies are going up August 26-Sept 4. to the Brooks for caribou. Debating my tipi with stove or Cabelas West Wind for shelter. Give me feedback on personal experiences using either or both.
TIA
We hunted the North side of the Brooks in 2018, roughly same time period. It rained everyday in some form, one day it rained 26 hours. Tundra is a spongy thing, try and get on some gravel or non tussock spot that's level. The day it hit 70 degrees, the skeeters were insane. Everyone in our group had floored tents, kept the bugs out, and kept water from run ing under the tent. However, you gotta keep diligent on popping your boots off or you'll have a mess in your tent.

If you are heading to the North side, burnable wood will be sparse and pretty much limited to scrubby willow in drainages and it will all be wet or damp.

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Joined
May 6, 2020
Messages
366
Location
Western PA
Floored tents are always better than floorless. The only advantage to floorless is you get to shame people who have tents with floors.

haha. This is so true and I run floorless in most cases. we do think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

but in a lot of cases a floored tent is a better option. This one seems like it. unless you want a stove, which isn’t necessary for the temp that time of the year. A floored tent is a good option. If it was me... I would run a floorless but have a nest in it if I wasn’t worried about weight which is essentially a floored tent. Nice thing about this option if you do take the stove is you can be in the tent and dry your gear out Incase of rain and have the nest which is basically a floored tent inside.
 

mooster

WKR
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
599
haha. This is so true and I run floorless in most cases. we do think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

but in a lot of cases a floored tent is a better option. This one seems like it. unless you want a stove, which isn’t necessary for the temp that time of the year. A floored tent is a good option. If it was me... I would run a floorless but have a nest in it if I wasn’t worried about weight which is essentially a floored tent. Nice thing about this option if you do take the stove is you can be in the tent and dry your gear out Incase of rain and have the nest which is basically a floored tent inside.
Agree with these points. Last year bou hunting we burned dead brush. For a tipi stove it was perfect size, just break w/hands vs sawing. A stove is the bomb for drying out and to knock off the chill. Also enjoy not taking boots off going in&out the tent. Irregular ground is also no problem for the tipi. Head height of tipi for standing, hanging wet socks etc.
 
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mcseal2

WKR
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
2,671
We are headed up caribou hunting if the virus does not stop us. We chose to take a Cabelas alaskan guide tent instead of our 8 man Seek tipi. I heard some horror stories about the wind and tipis in caribou country. I’d hate to have wind destroy our shelter. I love the tipi for most hunts but up there we will likely be dropped where we don’t have any windbreak to set the tipi behind.
 

soggybtmboys

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 20, 2016
Messages
168
Location
Upper Midwest
Take some 10" cyclone stakes with you. We got hit with 50 mph wind one night and glad we had them for the corners and rain flys.

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mooster

WKR
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
599
agree on the cyclone stakes, we needed them in Kotz last year, but were fine once we installed them (we didn't initially).

 

Ono

FNG
Joined
Sep 29, 2015
Messages
95
Location
Washington
We are headed up caribou hunting if the virus does not stop us. We chose to take a Cabelas alaskan guide tent instead of our 8 man Seek tipi. I heard some horror stories about the wind and tipis in caribou country. I’d hate to have wind destroy our shelter. I love the tipi for most hunts but up there we will likely be dropped where we don’t have any windbreak to set the tipi behind.
That is what I took up, ak guide. Worked great with cyclone stakes.

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shanny28757

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Messages
101
we took a 12 man tipi (no stove) last year to the brooks range. ground was extremely soft so sand/snow stakes or something bigger than the regular ones provided were a must. there is little to no wood around so i wouldn't bother with a stove - plus it wasn't cold enough when we were there to need it. bugs didn't really get into the tipi any worse than a floored tent.

Just be smart about where you pitch. If you put your tent in a hole, it will fill with water no matter if there's a floor or not.
 
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