Canvas Wall Tent Must Haves/Wants

[Rob.Melick]

I thought it might be nice to hear what folks love to add to their wall tent set up for accessories. A few other posts have mentions of floors, porches, etc. But as a brand new wall tent hunter I'd love to "steal" everyone's years of experience and learning and capture them all in one place. Can be anything from clothes lines to favorite cooking/lighting items etc. - pictures are always a bonus.

BigFin I know you love your floor, snap in I believe? My question there would be do you throw a waterproof barrier underneath or is the floor soaking up ground moisture not a problem? I know you've also talked about an "organizer"?

From using a wall tent a grand total of one year my small contributions are the following:

-Some cheapo plastic or metal S hooks from Home Depot/Lowes etc to hang on the frame for coats, axes, pans, etc. As well as carabiners to hang lanterns from the center roof pole.

-Spray Painting the stakes, your shins and brand new boots will love you for it, mine have reluctantly agreed to return to the woods again after a few mishaps last year.

-Multi pack of colored electrical tape used to match up joints and poles, front and back - green goes to green, red goes to red, etc. Do it the first set up and never worry about it again

 

[Eyeguy]

I thought it might be nice to hear what folks love to add to their wall tent set up for accessories. A few other posts have mentions of floors, porches, etc. But as a brand new wall tent hunter I'd love to "steal" everyone's years of experience and learning and capture them all in one place. Can be anything from clothes lines to favorite cooking/lighting items etc. - pictures are always a bonus.

BigFin I know you love your floor, snap in I believe? My question there would be do you throw a waterproof barrier underneath or is the floor soaking up ground moisture not a problem? I know you've also talked about an "organizer"?

From using a wall tent a grand total of one year my small contributions are the following:

-Some cheapo plastic or metal S hooks from Home Depot/Lowes etc to hang on the frame for coats, axes, pans, etc. As well as carabiners to hang lanterns from the center roof pole.

-Spray Painting the stakes, your shins and brand new boots will love you for it, mine have reluctantly agreed to return to the woods again after a few mishaps last year.

-Multi pack of colored electrical tape used to match up joints and poles, front and back - green goes to green, red goes to red, etc. Do it the first set up and never worry about it again

Good first post and welcome! Im sure you will get a lot of cool ideas. I almost bought a wall tent this year but chickened out and got a Cabelas Instinct 6 man instead. Next time! Good luck this season and with your new investment!

 

[Wuzworthit]

I am a new big tent owner, I wanted a barebones wall tent instead of a canvas wall tent. I ended up with cabelas alanak 12x12.

I just bought me a goal zero Sherpa 50 with a Led light. I am planning on getting the solar panel for it soon. So far it was been nice to have.

 

[Hem]

Floors are for the stocking foot crowd.Slippers w/out floor works fine.No constant clean-up.

 

[rfishbone]

We always throw down a cheap tarp underneath and put under the wall skirts then a canvas tarp on top of that which we place on top of the wall skirts. Have has torrential rains before and that cheap tarp allowed the water to rush under the tent and stay out. My uncle also throws a tarp over the top and it keeps the canvas from getting soaked and dripping or condensating if touched. May seem overkill but we never get wet.

 

[gregt9146]

I'm a new tent owner also this year, and have decked it out nicely I think. I bought new carpet for my house last winter so the old carpet is now my floor for my tent, 6' resin table and a 2 burner browning buck mark II stove with a grill top. Tarps over the roof is a great idea for snow/rain and helps protect the canvas. Other ideas would be a Honda 2000 generator to run lights/toaster

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

We have a mesh type floor in our tent that folds up when done, is easy to sweep, etc. Running into a stake is not fun and usually happens in the dark so we take a few pieces of firewood to stack next to each one since they're hard to miss or orange tape.
We use zip ties for hanging lanterns, etc.

 

[JMG]

I have two wall tents and a porch. I place them all end to end.

I went to Harbor Freight and purchased a large enough tarp to throw over the tents. This helps keep the sun off the canvas and helps keep the heat in the tent. I also purchased (Harbor Freight) a very long nylon rope. Once the tents are covered with the tarp, we throw the rope over (shoe lace pattern) tents/tarp. This keeps the tarp from blowing around in any wind. Some folks will just tie down the edges of a tarp and then when the wind blows, the tarp just flaps in the wind.

If it is cold out . . . . you can hang additional tarps inside alond the walls (llike hanging a bath towel) and this will help with warmth. Tarps are cheap at Harbor Freight.

I got a hold of some sugar beet belt/chain(s). These are made of strong steel, are about 3 feet in length. My nephew used a blow torch and cut them in half. I use these for stakes. They hold the tent and the rope covering the tents/tarp.

I put down a canvas tarp for flooring and then cover this with four "throw" rugs.

I took a "grease" pen and marked all my poles (legs - horizontal - rafter) for each tent. This way I can lay them out and I know where they go and which tent. A sharpie works well, also. When packing the tent poles I duct-tape each tents poles and then legs together. This keeps them from rolling around. Again, duct-tape is cheap.

Keep in mind . . . . the more "$hit" you have the more storeage space you need. But, it sure is nice once the tent is up.

 

[Kneetopia]

Use tape to color code the way the poles and angle kits go together.

Get a 4 way angle for the peak front and then get 2 couplers. That way you can have a quick and easy porch extenstion. Mine is about 8 feet longer than the 14' long wall tent. Bonus points for a 4 more legs off the porch (where I welded 1/2" rods onto the poles). That way you can tie your guylines around the rod top and keep the pole and tarp from taking off.

Cheap tarp for at least the rear half of the tent. Goes underneath and between where we usually set up the cots.

 

[JohnCushman]

I always suggest a gallon jug to pee in so you don't have to go outside 3 times a night after camp fire libations

 

[Kneetopia]

I always suggest a gallon jug to pee in so you don't have to go outside 3 times a night after camp fire libations

That's what that yellow "jug" is, it was a long night ;-)

 

[Festus]

We always cut a lodgepole just long enough to wedge under the center of the ridge to keep it from sagging under snow loads (had one collapse once). You can put horse shoe nails in it to hang things on and to snag your $300 Kuiu pants on in the dark.
Hint: Secure top of pole to ridge with rope. If not, after the snow melts off and about the middle of the night when the wind gets up and slightly lifts the tent said pole could randomly fall on someone possibly tearing their sleeping bag.
Also, we double a bungee over the ridge to hang lantern on. You can adjust height so that it doesn't melt top of tent and so that everyone bumps their head every single time they pass under.
Good times......