Winter Tent Stoves

A blast of Antarctic air is coming through Victoria in the next week so that it might be time to consider how to warm your tent. This great company Titanium Goat have extremely lightweight titanium stove (heaters), stove pipes, stove accessories, and a tent boot you can sew into an existing tent to vent your stove pipe without burning/melting the tent. They do ship to Australia.

Their lightest and smallest cook-on-top stove weighs a mere 12 ounces (342 grams) for the original 12″ cylinder stove or 13 ounces for the original small wifi stove which transfers heat a little better to your cook pot – but may take longer to assemble. The stove pipe adds approx 1.5 oz per foot to the weight, so for example a 7′ stove pipe will add approx 10 oz to a carried weight (small cylinder) of 1lb 10 oz or 741 grams. The tent boot (or jack) will add approx 3.6 oz (103 grams) and US$40. You might also think about adding a spark arrester (.8 oz – 24grams and US$10)

So at total weight of 29.6 oz or 844 grams – but you may not need any other stove to cook on (so subtract that from your pack weight). Figure also that you will have a shirtsleeves warmth in your winter camping tent, and use much less wood than an open fire (just a small armful for a night’s warmth which it will be easy enough top carry in from further afield) – and that is is easy to have a fire and be toasty warm in the snow or rain! Note, they also have larger models for different purposes. You may be rushing out to buy one or more of these.

Cylinder: 12oz, Stove body and parts, 4oz pipe wrap, bag, platform, 10oz for 7′ Ti pipe, 1lbs 10oz total weight with 7′ Ti pipe. Capacity: ~485 cubic inches 7.5″ X 12″ Price: US$240 with 7ft titanium pipe)

Here is a useful video of the stove set-up:

Wifi: 13 oz. Construction: Titanium body, aluminum legs. Pipe: Titanium, 1.5oz per ft, 2-3/8 in diameter. Weight: 13 ounces with out pipe. Size: 11 in long, 5 in wide, 8 in tall. Overall Height: 12 inches. Packed Size: 13 in long, 8 in wide, 2.5 in tall. Damper: Yes, real stoves have dampers. Price: US$240 with 4 ft pipe.

Note: They also make Tipi style tents (with or without stove boots already fitted) to complete your set-up. Probably the most suitable of these for two-three hunters/hikers would be the Vertex 6.5 (ie feet in height) which will set you back US$ 525 (May 2019): ‘Weight: 4lbs 2oz Total weight, Tent and stuff sack 2lbs 6oz, Stakes 6oz, Aluminum pole 1lbs 6oz Length: 144″ (12′) Width: 132″ (11′) Height: 78″ (6.5′) Square footage: 102 sq/ft Stakes: 12 aluminum stakes Pole: Adjustable aluminum pole
Currently 2-3 weeks delivery … Grey, Tan, Forest Green.’

You could save quite a bit of weight (600 grams) by cutting your own pole using one of these.

I intend to make my own tipi style tent in Tyvek (coming soon). It will be approx 9′ wide, and should weigh about 25 oz (750 grams) (without floor, stakes, pole of stove boot). Adding a Tyvek floor will add approximately 13 oz (390 grams). My winter tent and stove will therefore weigh 844 grams (stove plus boot) plus 1140 tent plus floor), a total of 1984 grams. Not so bad for winter warmth and shelter for 2-3 people. The load can obviously shared out. I am really thinking of making my Ultimate Hunting Spot just perfect by taking these bits and pieces in there on successive trips and leaving them in canoe drums.

I may also have a go at making my own stove eg out of a used Helium cylinder. I have made a number of tipis in the past using poly tarps. One is (from memory) 12′ wide, and one 16′ wide. I heated them with a kerosene heater. They were magnificent when the frost and snow lay all about. We used to use the larger one to display stud sheep in at winter shows. We always attracted a crowd! I will feature them in a future post.

NB: Images ‘borrowed’ from Titanium Goat. Hope they don’t mind.

PS: Titanium hiking stoves (and bits and pieces) are available from a number of other retailers, eg Seek Outside. The pipes are easily made by simply rolling flat material and securing it with rings (eg egg rings). You might use 300 mm flashing to create a pipe a bit under 100 mm in diameter. It comes in 10 metre lengths so you could clearly make a 7′ stove pipe in one length using eg egg rings to hold it together. Available Bunnings: 300 mm Aluminium Flashing (10 metres): https://www.bunnings.com.au/consolidated-alloys-300-x-0-3mm-x-10m-weatherflash_p1100457 A$29 (May 2019)

Here is another fascinating website for DIY stovers: https://timtinker.com/ It is actually possible to make a stove and chimney bundle which is only 500 grams,

See this Youtube:

The $3 DIY Stove Pipe For Backpackers:

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ti2gVdFR6M

Other people are making DIY ‘Goat’ stoves, eg https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/33086/

Tip: Folk often use the Snowpeak plates as the ends: https://snowpeak.com/products/trek-titanium-plate-stw-002t 7.5″ 62.5 grams US$16.95 Jun 2019.