Wall tent or Tipi with Liners????

Superdoo

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Has anybody used a wall tent and a tipi with liners to help weigh in on this decision?
I'm wrestling with these two options.
-A wall tent would be awesome. It has way more space and the canvas will be more quiet in the ND winds. But it's going to be heavy and require transporting a lot of pieces and assembling them. It will also hold heat better considering rifle season is freaking cold here.

- A tipi is light and fast. It takes up no room when compared to a wall tent. But it doesn't have as much usable space and won't hold heat. It will also flap in the wind more.

If I go the wall tent route it will be a 14 x 16. If I go the tipi route it will be a 12 or 16 man. These are obviously not for back packing.

Will the liners on the tipi help make it feel warmer or are they only going to help with condensation?

I lean toward the tipi as my hunts are usually for 3 nights, so I feel like a wall tent is a lot of extra work for a short time.

Have I over-analyzed this to the point where I've lost the ability to see a clear winner?
 

sneaky

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Your useable space in a wall tent is going to be much greater than in any tipi setup. Yes, they're heavier, but they're warmer and last forever when taken care of. You're suffering from analysis paralysis.

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sasquatch

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How many people you’d normally be with?

If 2-3, take the middle route and go Kodiak canvas tent.


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Wall tent is much nicer and much more space. But it is also MUCH heavier.

If you are always going to drive to camp, get the wall tent.

If you have to hike in, get the tipi.

I have a Kifaru 8 man tipi. My brother and I lived in it for 10 days in Alaska while moose hunting. It was an awesome amount of space and it was super nice to have the wood stove.

I also take the tipi to Kansas for deer camp. I drive to that camp. The tipi is a castle for 1 or 2 people. But there is a lot of wasted space and I keep thinking a wall tent would be better.

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Wrench

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Do you have a place to dry out a wall tent? If not it's a hard pass. A wall tent eats up a lot of space...but you can dry clothes and wiggle is great....but so is shaking out camp in 10 minutes.
 
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For 3 nights, a wall tent sounds like overkill. They are crazy heavy and will require a fair bit of storage space for the other 362 days each year.

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sneaky

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10x14 Kodiak Canvas or Springbar if you want the original US made tent that Kodiak copied. You can put a stove jack in either of those as well and you can set them up in about 10min by yourself, and that's with taking your time.

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I have both, and rarely use my tipi anymore except some pack trips.

Wall tents are heavy, but man are they warm in the cold, and like others have mentioned, the space is so much better than a tipi. If weight isn’t an issue, I’d go wall tent!
 
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I've used a kifaru tut, sawtooth, seek 8 man, 10x12 davis wall tent, 12x14 davis wall tent, and 14x16 wall tent. Im in south dakota and hunt through winter. I drive to camp. What I've found to be a perfect setup for my style is as follows..

Bite the bullet and take the weight penalty of the wall tent, with snow fly. Knico sheet metal stove. Lighter weight and more compact than comparable cylinder stoves or 4dog.
Dont fall into the trap of rigging your tent up with every gizmo, gadget, creature comfort. This is where weight, space, setup time gets reeeally out of hand really quick.
In short, take the benefit of the space and comfort of the wall tent, and use the same gear/sleep setup as you would with a smaller, lighter, less roomy tent.
Here is my opinion on sizes for my idea of comfort.
-Tut size...no
-Sawtooth 1 guy
-8 man. 2 guys cramped. 1 guy, pretty nice setup with condensation issues and a boatload of wasted space.
-10x12 awesome one man comfort shelter. Great for two organized guys with compact gear.
-12x14 the perfect 2 man shelter room to spare for gear, weapons, food, and sleep without always tripping over stuff and rearranging gear.
14x16 = circus tent.

My wall tents are all traditional poles. I can set up the 12x14, my favorite, in a half hour alone, including fly. About 10 minutes longer than it takes to setup my 8 man.

If I can drive to camp, hands down, no doubt about it, all things considered.....
Wall tent w/ knico wood stove.
 
OP
Superdoo

Superdoo

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This is all great fodder! Keep it coming.
What is the consensus on liners for tipis???
Do they hold heat anywhere near canvas?
Is the setup/ breakdown time of a 14x12 not that big of a deal?
I have a heated 3 stall garage to dry canvas in.
What about wall tent set up in frozen ground? Wouldn’t a tipi and a 1/2” drill bit be easier?
 

mmac

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I agree with Sneak, either of those options sounds like what you would want. I have a springbar and can't say enough great things about it. Set's up faster than at dome and most of the benefits of the wall tent.
 

5MilesBack

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Unless I'm packing in on foot, I always do my 14x16 wall tent.......even solo. Even traveling with the family we'll set it up for one night then take it down in the morning and set it up again at our next stop. It's not that big of deal. One year I packed out my bull and planned on leaving the next morning. Woke up at 0430 with pouring rain.....went back to sleep. Woke again around 0700 and still pouring. Had my coffee while I broke down everything inside waiting for a break. At 0900 it was still pouring and said "to heck with it", and backed the truck up as close as I could get it to the tent door and threw everything in. Then in the downpour, I broke down the tent and threw it and my tarps in, and finally left.......soaked to the bone. Still not a big deal.
 

TX_Diver

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For 3 nights, a wall tent sounds like overkill. They are crazy heavy and will require a fair bit of storage space for the other 362 days each year.

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This. My buddy has a 12x16 wall tent and it takes up space in his garage for the majority of the year.

If you hunt more than once a year or don't have storage considerations at home then a wall tent is great.

Personally I won't buy one but am extremely happy when we hunt together and he bring the tent.
 

NDGuy

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This. My buddy has a 12x16 wall tent and it takes up space in his garage for the majority of the year.

If you hunt more than once a year or don't have storage considerations at home then a wall tent is great.

Personally I won't buy one but am extremely happy when we hunt together and he bring the tent.
How much space do they take up?
 

sneaky

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How much space do they take up?
My 16x20 fits in a large rubbermaid tote. Bucket for stakes and angles, then the poles stay outside. It's not like they take up half a room or anything. Just heavy.

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Artanis95

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If You aren't packing in a canvas tent is the way to go warm dry and roomy.
 

TX_Diver

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How much space do they take up?

he has his in 2 large trash cans. One for the floor and the connection hardware, stakes, accessories, etc. Then the other one contains the tent itself. Then there are 3 sets of poles which are in canvas bags (long, skinny, heavy). Then the stove is standalone (24x18x18ish). It takes up a lot of the truck bed when you’re driving across the country and is awkward to tie down.

I think the guy above who uses totes probably has a better method?
 

Rwatwood

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Has anybody used a wall tent and a tipi with liners to help weigh in on this decision?
I'm wrestling with these two options.
-A wall tent would be awesome. It has way more space and the canvas will be more quiet in the ND winds. But it's going to be heavy and require transporting a lot of pieces and assembling them. It will also hold heat better considering rifle season is freaking cold here.

- A tipi is light and fast. It takes up no room when compared to a wall tent. But it doesn't have as much usable space and won't hold heat. It will also flap in the wind more.

If I go the wall tent route it will be a 14 x 16. If I go the tipi route it will be a 12 or 16 man. These are obviously not for back packing.

Will the liners on the tipi help make it feel warmer or are they only going to help with condensation?

I lean toward the tipi as my hunts are usually for 3 nights, so I feel like a wall tent is a lot of extra work for a short time.

Have I over-analyzed this to the point where I've lost the ability to see a clear winner?
In my personal opinion a wall tent is my favorite by far. I’ve slept in wall tents anywhere from just typical family camping to packing tents into the frank church on pack trains. They do hold warmth better, the can hold a bit of condensation but once you’ve got the stove going you can fix a bit of that.
Now that I have a couple different ultralight tipi set ups with stoves I lean toward those for only backpacking or packing in general just for the weight saved and packability.
The rest of the time I will set up a wall tent. If you’re in the market for a good canvas tent that is easy to set up look up Kodiak Canvas Tents.
 

NDGuy

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I have a Redcliff, a 14x16, a 12x14, and now I will be adding a Courthouse in order to hopefully downsize the herd by getting rid of the 12x14 and trading the Redcliff for a more appropriate backpacking weight.
How packed down do these go Kyle? I was looking to get a wall tent and was curious how much space they take up.
 
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