Any success with DIY hot tents? (Expensive stove and cheap tarp)

[Josh B]

Hey Guys. I recently purchased a Seek Outiside SXL titanium woodstove. Im looking for a cheap option to create the tipi including something like buying a simple cheap poly tarp and cutting it into a Tipi shape. Has anyone has success doing this with a cheap tarp or other budget materials? Eventually I would like to get a Seek Outside tipi but it will be a while before I have $1K to drop on one.

[Kattt]

Not what you asked but this guy sells cheap shelters that are set up for stoves

https://luxe-hiking-gear.com/collections/lightweight-camping-tents

[Josh B]

This is extremely helpful, thank you! I am looking for options like this. Luxe appears to be half the price of Seek Outside.

[Kattt]

I just ordered the Hexpeak XL yesterday. Yeah the price is not too painful. It shipped today. Maybe after I set it up I’ll take a few picture and post them.

[Chris R]

Luxe appears to be half the price of Seek Outside.

certainly in great part to cheaper fabric and lower quality of design and manufacturing from what I have seen. You could look out for a lightly used silnylon mid and add your own stove jack.

[Kattt]

^^ I have not even received mine yet so I have no idea other than I know it’s made in China, which explains the price to me.

Chris have you seen one in person?

OP asked for cheap.

[Chris R]

Just on video.

I could see a lack of reinforcement at the guy out points and the fabric is is cut to save money rather than to optimize strength and performance. It also looked that some of the panel seams were simple French seams and not felled. I’m also suspicious of the provenance of much of the fabric used, admittedly without any proof, but it’s an easy place to really cut costs without anyone knowing until it’s too late.

The web is full of these cheap pyramids, I’ve used one as a basis for a hot tent but I did put a fair amount of time up grading it to a standard I’d be happy to trust.

I saw that someone is selling a couple of Shangri_La tents on Gear Swap, these would be a better, if slightly more expensive option.

 

[Kattt]

Thanks for the heads up. I have a sewing machine again so I’ll make sure to get mine reinforced are properly sewn where needed.

[Josh B]

Good info, I’ll keep an eye out. This specific setup is mostly for fun, I want to be  able to sleep 4 with a stove which would be teh seek outside 8-man.

For serious missions I would get a smaller & lighter seek outside shelter like the redcliff or cimarron.

[Kattt]

I just walked up the hill and set  up the Hexpeak XL (on saturated ground).
It has a rather large footprint, which can obviously be an issue. All the stitching is flat felled. The 6 corner tie outs are reinforced but not the additional 6 between the corners ( will have to fix that). The fabric is ripstop… what I am familiar with but we’ll see if it does not hold up. The shelter took me between five and ten minutes to set up, with Baldy getting in my way and with the ground giving too much on the stakes. I bought the pole, which can be extended much longer than the 5.25 feet needed so that’s a waste of weight. For what I do this seems fine; Baldy didn’t mind getting in and laying down. I would not call it a 3 person though, unless it’s two ground ups and a child.

 

[Kattt]

It has a snow skirt, as you can see .

[Eli]

I had an 11×11 Oware pyramid tarp and had the liteoutdoors stove jack installed by my local repair shop. But I did shell out for the Seek Outside SXL stove, that seemed worth the money after doing a lot of research into Ti stoves. All in all a very nice setup and only a few hundred bucks put into the tarp.

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