JohnCushman
Well-known member
Randy's tent is sold 
Tents
- Thread starter Ben Lamb
- Start date
BrentD
Well-known member
I think this tent
www.rei.com
has been strongly updated with better poles and thus better performance in high winds. The previous version I shied away from after reading many complaints of collapsing in high wind. That problem seems to be solved (the poles now cross and attach overhead).
It won't do what Ben's new tent will do, but it's an alternative. I am very reluctant to go to a singlewall tent and my needs may be a bit different than some of the rest of you.
This year, I will be using my same old North Face which has been so dependable. I obtained a new fly for it from the manufacturer, although the tent is out of production. So, I'm good for another year or two.
REI Co-op Kingdom 6 Tent | REI Co-op
With a roomy interior that divides to create 2 private rooms, the REI Co-op Kingdom 6 tent provides comfortable 3-season protection for you, your family and your gear.
It won't do what Ben's new tent will do, but it's an alternative. I am very reluctant to go to a singlewall tent and my needs may be a bit different than some of the rest of you.
This year, I will be using my same old North Face which has been so dependable. I obtained a new fly for it from the manufacturer, although the tent is out of production. So, I'm good for another year or two.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
So while this thread was about Ben's tent. I will just add that after several trips with a new-ish Cabelas Alaskan guide 6-man tent, with a small Mr Buddy heater, in some of the heaviest rain/ thunder and lightning and the highest winds I've ever camped in, I highly recommend it. That dang thing felt bomb proof and was extremely water tight and warm.
MThuntr
Well-known member
Did you find yourself wishing that you would had more room? Randy11 and I were talking about that tent earlier this month and kept coming to the conclusion that the 12x16 was worth looking into for a base camp for a handful of people that enjoy some sitting room if the weather turns south.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
It was as small as I would go with two people. There's not enough space to "sit" anywhere other than the cots on either side, but there's plenty of space to sit on a cot and play cards on a tote. If I had to actually buy one (as opposed to inherit one from my parents when they finally bought a trailer) I would go with the 8 man.
MThuntr
Well-known member
thanks...Cabelas has them with 20% points back until 10/31 for those who have their credit card.
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BrentD
Well-known member
I love those tents for bombproofness. I didn't see any in Cabelas last week and was wondering if they went the way of the dodo and the original Cabelas.
WyoDoug
Well-known member
Denver Tents are pricey but really durable. Once you buy one, it will likely last you a lifetime. My dad bought one when he was young and limber and we had it up until my brother got rid of it while I was in the service. Pissed me off too because that was still a good tent.
Colorado Tent - Outdoor Tents and Gear
Colorado Tent - Trusted name. Trusted gear. Camping, Hunting, Glamping Tents, Sporting Goods and Gear. High-quality Tents, Custom Fabric & Outdoor Products. Luxury Canvas Tents, Safari Tents, Canvas Tents, Wall Tents, Tipis, Lodging Tents, Tension Tents, Pole Tents, Party Canopy, and more...
denvertent.com
WyoDoug
Well-known member
Also, me myself, I like to use a cheaper cabin tent to put the coolers in to keep them out of the sun and a wall tent for everything else
I was looking at all of the Cabela's outfitter tents. It was a toss up between the Bighorn II or the Alaknak, really. But the Alaskan Guide was a really close third.
6 days till wheels up for the Breaks. Should be a pretty comfy camp we've got. All of my grandiose bird hunting plans for Sept & Oct were blown apart due to work commitments (and making sure I've got next week off for Elk, and mid-Nov for Mexico) so this will be the initial breaking in of the tent. I hope it handles the gas well.
As requested:
Overall, I'd rate the 12x12 Alaknak tent w/the vestibule as a 8 out of 10. We spent 5 nights in it, and had to come out early due to weather. There were two hunters with way too much food and gear. We had weather conditions that ranged from 8 degrees overnight to 45 degrees during the day, with a mix of light & variable winds, 15 - 30 mph sustained winds and up to 40 mph gusts.
The Gear:
1.) 12x12 Cabela's Alaknak Tent with floor liner
2.) Alaknak Vestibule
3.) Camp Chef Alpine Wood Stove
4.) Camp Chef 2 burner 14" Pioneer stove/ grill box & various cast iron/iron pots and pans
5.) Camp Chef chuck box
6.) Alps Mountaineering Aluminum table, folding chair & deluxe airpad
7.) Slumberjack XL cot & 0 degree flannel bag
8.) Luggabale Loo Groover
9.) 3 2.5 Gallon Smart bottle water bottles w/ a Sawyer mini inline filter.
10.) Crocs
The Pros:
1.) The Tent:
A.) Plenty of room for 2 hunters. I had a cot, @Schaaf had a pad. We could have shoehorned one more person in there, but it would have been awfully tight. Enough room for sitting around the stove comfortably for evening relaxation.
B.) Easy to set up with two people. It took us about 2 hours to fully set up camp and get everything squared away for the week.
C.) Tent material is stout and in a day of driving rain, we never had a leak inside the tent. I'd heard some people complain about how the stove jack flap was engineered poorly and collected water, but I didn't find this to be the case. Both the tent & the vestibule withstood the winds easily without too much need to tighten guy lines.
D.) Weight savings: Overall, this is a much lighter option than a wall tent. It comes in around 75 pounds for the tent, floor liner & vestibule - including poles. That makes it easier to load up and to move from the boat/truck to the camp spot. We were about 75 yards off the lake, and getting from the boat to camp was easy with that tent.
E.) The tent bags are big enough! This is the quintessential conundrum of all tents and tent bags. We were able to load up the tent, floor liner, 12x12 ground tarp & a cheap 4x6 welding blanker as a floor liner for the wood stove. The vesitbule fits in the tent bag easily as well.
2.) Vestibule: The vestibule was a critical addition. Because of the wind & cold, it served as our cook tent and in an emergency, it became the shitstibule when the wind or cold proved to be too much for our grit. Cook stove, chuck box, cooler & even firewood & gear fit in there easily, and it's nice to have a spot to take your muddy boots off before going into the tent
3.) Camp chef makes quality gear. The cook stove & chuck box were great adds to camp and made cooking a simple & enjoyable task. The stove is a quality piece of kit where you can adjust the flame as well as the usual warm, high, med, low adjustments. I did add a gasket around the wood stove door to help get a better burn, which seemed to help keep the tent warm an extra 90 to 120 minutes with a full load.
4.) Alps Mountaineering gear continues to impress for the value. The airpad is big & bulky, but it held my weight (300 lbs) easily. The chair has lasted me 3-4 years and the aluminum table was great for having someplace to put your crap inside the tent and keep it off of the cot.
5.) The Groover was a great addition. Much nicer than having to find a log to hang ass off of, and still get you the same great views of the outdoors as you take your morning constitutional.
6.) I don't care if your dignity leaks out of the holes, crocs are the best thing to slip on after hunting. You can feel your feet say "ahhhhh."
7.) OnX Maps app: It's a great tool and helps ensure you know what you're doing and where. Easy to share info between users and it's pretty dead nuts accurate in regards to most information.
The Cons:
1.) The Vestibule: The material used for the vestibule is not the same as the tent. It's much lighter and it tore on a seam when setting it up. It will be going back to Cabela's for a replacement. The directions are also not very good. You have to fumble around with it to figure out how to set it up correctly, whereas the tent is pretty intuitive.
2.) The Tent: Don't cook in it. The condensation especially when it's cold out is not worth the effort. We did Fajitas and a soup packet. It rained the next morning inside the tent. That was totally on us though. Use all the vents as often as possible. It dried out after 1 day of being open, but the initial rain shower was unappreciated. Also, don't put the grill on the fire blanket unless you're sure the fire blanket is off the floor and just on the ground. You'll be putting your repair kit to use otherwise. The awning frame is not set up for tall people or wide people either, so you're going to be ducking or smacking into it regularly. Not a big deal, but a hassle at times, especially when you're tired.
3.) Camp Chef Alpine Wood Stove: It's no Colorado Cylinder stove, but it is an inexpensive stove that does the job in a passable fashion. You do need to put a stove gasket on the door in order to slow the burn, but even then, you should consider adding some firebrick or rocks to help hold the heat. We would consistently get a 4-5 hour burn time, but in order to keep the tent an even heat, you'd need to stoke it at least twice a night. Not a big deal, but worth noting. I did get some downdrafts on super windy days, but part of that was likely tent position with the chimney on the windward side of the tent. Still, puffs of smoke coming into the tent can be disconcerting.
4.) Luggable Loo: It's still an overall plus on the groover, but the lid is cheap and broke easily and the proprietary bags are expensive, albeit very convenient and clean. You only get 6 bags per box, so plan accordingly. We could have used 2 more boxes to be safe. In a pinch, a 4 gallon trash bag can work, but you will know what your dealing with in the opaque light of the bag.
5.) Harbor Freight Orange Mallet: Broke into pieces within a few strikes setting the spike for the boat. Cheap crap. Never, ever buy one.
6.) Harbor Frieght batteries: Cheap Crap. 4 D batteries would last about 1 night in the Coleman LED lantern I have. Sad. Low energy. Not very good!!!
7.) Me: I'm not an athlete but can hike ok. Still, I wasn't as well prepared as I should have been regarding being in elk shape. I had a bout of pancreatitis at the beginning of August, and while I've dropped 40 pounds since then, I wasn't able to run up the ridges like I should have, and after 4 days of solid hunting, I was wiped out. 2 days later, I'm still sore.
8.) OnX Maps app: It still has some quirks. I couldn't use the shared waypoint at one time and it's been acting up on me, and I have to restart my phone sometimes to get the fix on my location. I don't have a bunch of maps downloaded, and generally just keep the area I'm hunting in as the downloaded maps in order to keep the app working well. I still give the app 7.5 out of 10 stars though and won't hunt without it.
Overall, I'd rate the 12x12 Alaknak tent w/the vestibule as a 8 out of 10. We spent 5 nights in it, and had to come out early due to weather. There were two hunters with way too much food and gear. We had weather conditions that ranged from 8 degrees overnight to 45 degrees during the day, with a mix of light & variable winds, 15 - 30 mph sustained winds and up to 40 mph gusts.
The Gear:
1.) 12x12 Cabela's Alaknak Tent with floor liner
2.) Alaknak Vestibule
3.) Camp Chef Alpine Wood Stove
4.) Camp Chef 2 burner 14" Pioneer stove/ grill box & various cast iron/iron pots and pans
5.) Camp Chef chuck box
6.) Alps Mountaineering Aluminum table, folding chair & deluxe airpad
7.) Slumberjack XL cot & 0 degree flannel bag
8.) Luggabale Loo Groover
9.) 3 2.5 Gallon Smart bottle water bottles w/ a Sawyer mini inline filter.
10.) Crocs
The Pros:
1.) The Tent:
A.) Plenty of room for 2 hunters. I had a cot, @Schaaf had a pad. We could have shoehorned one more person in there, but it would have been awfully tight. Enough room for sitting around the stove comfortably for evening relaxation.
B.) Easy to set up with two people. It took us about 2 hours to fully set up camp and get everything squared away for the week.
C.) Tent material is stout and in a day of driving rain, we never had a leak inside the tent. I'd heard some people complain about how the stove jack flap was engineered poorly and collected water, but I didn't find this to be the case. Both the tent & the vestibule withstood the winds easily without too much need to tighten guy lines.
D.) Weight savings: Overall, this is a much lighter option than a wall tent. It comes in around 75 pounds for the tent, floor liner & vestibule - including poles. That makes it easier to load up and to move from the boat/truck to the camp spot. We were about 75 yards off the lake, and getting from the boat to camp was easy with that tent.
E.) The tent bags are big enough! This is the quintessential conundrum of all tents and tent bags. We were able to load up the tent, floor liner, 12x12 ground tarp & a cheap 4x6 welding blanker as a floor liner for the wood stove. The vesitbule fits in the tent bag easily as well.
2.) Vestibule: The vestibule was a critical addition. Because of the wind & cold, it served as our cook tent and in an emergency, it became the shitstibule when the wind or cold proved to be too much for our grit. Cook stove, chuck box, cooler & even firewood & gear fit in there easily, and it's nice to have a spot to take your muddy boots off before going into the tent
3.) Camp chef makes quality gear. The cook stove & chuck box were great adds to camp and made cooking a simple & enjoyable task. The stove is a quality piece of kit where you can adjust the flame as well as the usual warm, high, med, low adjustments. I did add a gasket around the wood stove door to help get a better burn, which seemed to help keep the tent warm an extra 90 to 120 minutes with a full load.
4.) Alps Mountaineering gear continues to impress for the value. The airpad is big & bulky, but it held my weight (300 lbs) easily. The chair has lasted me 3-4 years and the aluminum table was great for having someplace to put your crap inside the tent and keep it off of the cot.
5.) The Groover was a great addition. Much nicer than having to find a log to hang ass off of, and still get you the same great views of the outdoors as you take your morning constitutional.
6.) I don't care if your dignity leaks out of the holes, crocs are the best thing to slip on after hunting. You can feel your feet say "ahhhhh."
7.) OnX Maps app: It's a great tool and helps ensure you know what you're doing and where. Easy to share info between users and it's pretty dead nuts accurate in regards to most information.
The Cons:
1.) The Vestibule: The material used for the vestibule is not the same as the tent. It's much lighter and it tore on a seam when setting it up. It will be going back to Cabela's for a replacement. The directions are also not very good. You have to fumble around with it to figure out how to set it up correctly, whereas the tent is pretty intuitive.
2.) The Tent: Don't cook in it. The condensation especially when it's cold out is not worth the effort. We did Fajitas and a soup packet. It rained the next morning inside the tent. That was totally on us though. Use all the vents as often as possible. It dried out after 1 day of being open, but the initial rain shower was unappreciated. Also, don't put the grill on the fire blanket unless you're sure the fire blanket is off the floor and just on the ground. You'll be putting your repair kit to use otherwise. The awning frame is not set up for tall people or wide people either, so you're going to be ducking or smacking into it regularly. Not a big deal, but a hassle at times, especially when you're tired.
3.) Camp Chef Alpine Wood Stove: It's no Colorado Cylinder stove, but it is an inexpensive stove that does the job in a passable fashion. You do need to put a stove gasket on the door in order to slow the burn, but even then, you should consider adding some firebrick or rocks to help hold the heat. We would consistently get a 4-5 hour burn time, but in order to keep the tent an even heat, you'd need to stoke it at least twice a night. Not a big deal, but worth noting. I did get some downdrafts on super windy days, but part of that was likely tent position with the chimney on the windward side of the tent. Still, puffs of smoke coming into the tent can be disconcerting.
4.) Luggable Loo: It's still an overall plus on the groover, but the lid is cheap and broke easily and the proprietary bags are expensive, albeit very convenient and clean. You only get 6 bags per box, so plan accordingly. We could have used 2 more boxes to be safe. In a pinch, a 4 gallon trash bag can work, but you will know what your dealing with in the opaque light of the bag.
5.) Harbor Freight Orange Mallet: Broke into pieces within a few strikes setting the spike for the boat. Cheap crap. Never, ever buy one.
6.) Harbor Frieght batteries: Cheap Crap. 4 D batteries would last about 1 night in the Coleman LED lantern I have. Sad. Low energy. Not very good!!!
7.) Me: I'm not an athlete but can hike ok. Still, I wasn't as well prepared as I should have been regarding being in elk shape. I had a bout of pancreatitis at the beginning of August, and while I've dropped 40 pounds since then, I wasn't able to run up the ridges like I should have, and after 4 days of solid hunting, I was wiped out. 2 days later, I'm still sore.
8.) OnX Maps app: It still has some quirks. I couldn't use the shared waypoint at one time and it's been acting up on me, and I have to restart my phone sometimes to get the fix on my location. I don't have a bunch of maps downloaded, and generally just keep the area I'm hunting in as the downloaded maps in order to keep the app working well. I still give the app 7.5 out of 10 stars though and won't hunt without it.
Last edited:
Big Slick
Well-known member
I’m buying another 12x14 tent from a friend. It’s a Colorado Tent with floor, wood stove, floor, propane heater, staked, hammers and a three burner cook stove for $600.
Tradewind
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2015
- Messages
- 5,151
nice recap
You mentioned Alps gear. I agree. I was hesitant due to the price difference between high end and Alps though having used Alps for a couple items, chair and cot, that remain two favored items.
I'm not a fan of floored tents though I've not used one except on rare occasions. Maybe I'm a messy eater! Haha!
Nice review Ben. Thanks for sharing.
I'm not a fan of floored tents though I've not used one except on rare occasions. Maybe I'm a messy eater! Haha!
Nice review Ben. Thanks for sharing.
338 win mag
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2009
- Messages
- 498
I was about to make a post about tents when I came across your post. I'd been debating between a wall tent and the Alaknak. I think I'm leaning towards the Alaknak for a several reasons; weight/size and easy of setup. Coming all the way from NC space is always an issue in the truck especially with 3 guys so the Alaknak makes more sense I think for me than a wall tent. I'm thinking for 3-4 people I'd be better off with the 12x20 over the 12x12. Seems like for 2 hunters and gear the 12x12 is ideal but 3-4 would be tight. Nice write up.
