Wood stove

[Robin]

I’m getting my outfit ready for an ice out trip to northern Maine later this month, coming up on 100 nights in this tent.



This little wood stove started as a 12/12/24”, with a 5” pipe. It’s now 12/8/16” with a 4” pipe. I don’t winter camp, just shoulder seasons so I sleep with a cold stove. It’s great for early mornings, rainy days and cooking meals.







All the pipe fits inside for transport, and the stove, wall tent, angle kit and tarp fit in a woods pack. The tent was wet when I put it away in this picture so it’s much more bulky than normal.



It all packs into my Chestnut Cruiser (thank you Sweeper)

 

[lowangle al]

Before Memorial Day and after Labor day was my rule of thumb for taking the wood stove. Being warm and comfortable is easily achievable with the hot tent, no matter what mother nature throws at you.

 

[snapper]

Robin - Always admired your videos of deer hunting at Lows Lake. Loved watching your stove & tent "in action" while you were out on those trips. Glad to see you still enjoying your set-up while out paddling.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[coldfeet]

Enjoy your upcoming trip. Maybe one day you can share how you made that stove smaller. I have 2 stoves and would like to make that kni co Trekker smaller.

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Enjoy your upcoming trip. Maybe one day you can share how you made that stove smaller. I have 2 stoves and would like to make that kni co Trekker smaller.

Just buy a small 12” stove from Snowtrekker. I believe you can also buy it directly from Kni-co thought they don’t list it on their site. I use mine with a titanium roll up pipe to fit everything inside. Haven’t been brave enough to cut a pot hole though!

 

[Penns Woods]

Robin
What made you move your stove from the front of the tent, near the door, to the back ?
Also, when you cut down your stove did you apply any gasket cement to the seams ? Did you bolt the seams together or pop rivet ?

 

[Robin]

Enjoy your upcoming trip. Maybe one day you can share how you made that stove smaller. I have 2 stoves and would like to make that kni co Trekker smaller.

Let's plan a trip here in Maine, leave the stove, I cut it down and ship it back to you.

Robin
What made you move your stove from the front of the tent, near the door, to the back ?
Also, when you cut down your stove did you apply any gasket cement to the seams ? Did you bolt the seams together or pop rivet ?

Ed,
I had a screen made for the front of the tent, so I made the back window dual purpose, in hot weather, a screen window is velcroed into the hole, in cold weather when I need the stove a stove jack is velcroed in.
My son expressed interest (before covid) in joining me on a deer hunt, so with the stove centered in the back tent wall, I can fit two cots in the tent. When hanging out, the cots can be broken down for more room. I sleep with a cold stove so no worry about the cots being close to the stove.
Finally, I was finding it hard to enter the tent without making the stove pipe lose or move when it's upfront. I'm a big fan of having the stovepipe out the wall vs. out the roof so the back wall exit works well for me.

No gasket cement, I just used SS pop rivets to put the stove back together when I cut it down. It throws plenty of heat, just needs more attention due to the size of the wood that fits in it.

 

[lowangle al]

My stove pipe holes are in the roof and it is preventing me from throwing a tarp over the tent to make it more weather tight, something I didn't worry about until they started leaking.

 

[coldfeet]

Cool, I actually spoke to Jim yesterday and mentioned about me trying to get out there mid to late August like I planned last year.

 

[ppine]

Packing mules in the Rockies, we always brought a wall tent and a wood stove even in summer. There can be cold and wet days, hail and snow in any month up high. During late fall camps at 10,000 feet it can be below zero. The wall tents with stoves going under those conditions are hard to describe. It is the difference between being comfortable and being miserable. I still like to have winter tent parties, because the first time visitors can't believe how warm a tent is with a the stove going.

 

[Alasgun]

We’re fond of wood stoves as well, however it would take a big Mule to pack this one anywhere!
(i built this back in 2000)

 

[ppine]

For packing sheet metal stoves are used. Some of them are collapsable.
For 200 years wood stoves showed up in remote places after being carried on the backs of horses and mules.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I still like to have winter tent parties, because the first time visitors can't believe how warm a tent is with a the stove going.

We often have people over to enjoy winter warmth in our hot tent. It’s very easy to get the temperature up to 35 degrees C (95 F).

Kathleen and I often go out to the tent for Happy Hour before supper.


The fire is going.


Tent entrance.


Cheers!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Cheers!

So, it's white wine in northern tents but red wine in southern tents. Or is it a seasonal difference for Grass Man and Spider Woman? I hope Shadow got some Tim Horton doughnuts today.

 

[lowangle al]

the old timers told me that sparkling wine goes best with canvas

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I hope Shadow got some Tim Horton doughnuts today.

That would have been appropriate, as this is Tim Horton’s birthday, but the nearest Tim Horton’s is 100 km (60 miles) away.

While we were enjoying happy hour in the tent, Shadow was chowing down on a white-tailed deer leg bone. Even better than a doughnut!

 

[PaddlingPitt]

So, it's white wine in northern tents but red wine in southern tents. Or is it a seasonal difference for Grass Man and Spider Woman?

Glenn,

Not many people are going to get this reference. Even we didn’t at first. But once we clued in, we laughed heartily. Thanks for genuinely reading and absorbing our trip reports!!

 

[ppine]

What kind of wine goes with winter camping? Every kind.
Last winter was milder and I left the wall tent up from fall to spring. It is relaxing to just go out there with a nice woman and some dogs and build a fire. Sometimes I cook dinner on the stove. Sometimes I cook outside on a fire with Dutch Oven.

Last fall I invited 3 couples over and made lasagna in the DO and served it in the tent. Lots of wine and good cheer. Eight in a large wall tent is an intimate setting. It is a great way to get to know people. The wood stove is what makes it.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Last fall I invited 3 couples over and made lasagna in the DO and served it in the tent. Lots of wine and good cheer. Eight in a large wall tent is an intimate setting. It is a great way to get to know people. The wood stove is what makes it.

Just wondering what size tent you have that can accommodate 8 people. Our 10 x 12 can squeeze in only about 4 people comfortably. The stove and wood take up nearly one full side of the tent.

 

[Bob B.]

Last winter was milder and I left the wall tent up from fall to spring. It is relaxing to just go out there with a nice woman and some dogs and build a fire.

I am like ppine, only Jake and I are the only ones in the tent ... my wife is not a winter person and will not entertain this idea.

I keep my Snowtrekker 8x10 Basecamp up from early January until around April. Jake and I hike in the timber and mess about like 5 - 7 days a week. After a good long hike, we visit the tent for a rest, warm up with a fire, make a hot drink ... maybe I read my book and he takes a snooze. I process firewood, then we continue to hike home. I posted pics of this on a thread called hot tents ( Tents, Tarps and Hammocks forum ).

My Kni-co tent stove is called the Trekker and is great, but I think could be a bit larger when it gets cold for real. I have struggled with using a damper as it is such a tight fit in the stove when traveling and even when dealing with well seasoned wood it would leave my fire box smoldering. It would smoke in the tent, not put out a lot of heat ... it just does not work well. Burning without the damper and the stove has excellent draw, but on really cold days, the heat went up the pipes and the stove ate wood really fast - getting maybe 30 - 45 minute burn and the heat seems to be all or noting, to hard to regulate, tent would be a sauna or cold.

This year I am trying a slide in type damper I that made. It packs well, much easier to transport than the old butterfly cast iron damper, and does allow my stove to breathe better as well as hold back heat in the fire box. It is 22 gauge steel, 2 1/2 inches wide and 5 inches long. This is for a 4 inch stove pipe. The gasses/fire still have room to be drawn up the pipe, but is greatly restricted. I get good heat hold back, but no smothering of my fire or coals. So far I get about an hour to an hour and a half burn time, but have not packed it full as it just gets too hot with these moderate temps we have had lately, ( I suspect in colder weather I will burn hotter so more wood may not mean a longer burn). However, with the slide damper I made, I can back the stove air intake down to get a longer burn and more heat. That said, I have not used it in real cold weather yet ... as we have not had a lot of cold weather since the tent has been up. So far it works great but will reserve judgement until we get serious winter weather to evaluate it by.

Pics of the crude damper and stove pipe slit I am trying.




Pics of the damper holding back a smaller fire ...



Pics of damper in action on a cool - not cold day ...




Will my new damper work well or not - well if it does not I will figure something out. The point is when not canoeing, Jake and I love to still get out and walk around. Having a comfy place to rest and warm up ... even on a wet rainy day like this one, is really nice. My tent really is a base camp and having a warm stove to relax in is a blessing, especially when it is out in the timber and no one else is around.

Bob.