Hot Tenting Guide | Everything You Need To Know

In winter, do you want to stay at home and wait for spring or pack up your equipment and go out bravely? If you can't wait for spring, this article may help you.

What Is A Hot Tent?

Hot Tent Stoves

The size of the stove that you use inside the tent varies with the size of the tent. A bigger tent needs a bigger stove whilst a smaller one provides portability. A titanium stove can be very light indeed and occupies little space in your pack. Our current titanium stove (including a 8.2ft chimney) from Lite Outdoors weighs just under 4.9 lb and is very compact to carry.

How to Get Set Up

Before you head off with your new stove and tent, you will have a couple of jobs to do at home first. The prime job is ‘the first burn’. This performs two tasks: first, you must burn off the poisonous gases in the zinc formed when lighting up a new stove. This is a simple task and gives you an opportunity to practise lighting and using your stove. Secondly, it gives you the occasion to shape your stovepipe.

The chimney pipe is typically made from a single sheet of very thin titanium that rolls lengthwise for compact storage and widthwise into a pipe. The first time you roll the pipe into shape can be tricky. However, after the first time you burn wood in the stove, the fire will heat-set the shape of the pipe into the titanium. On subsequent uses, the chimney will acquire memory of the shape and essentially roll itself neatly into the required form.  

“Do not allow yourself to fall asleep with the stove burning if you are on your own.”

Practising wood processing (cutting wood into suitably sized logs) is a must. You will need to do this safely and quickly when out on the trail. I generally reckon on around 30 minutes to cut and prepare enough for a few hours. Sawing small logs and also quartering by batoning means you can reach the driest wood for a hot blaze. 

In addition, when the stove is chugging away think about how you want to protect yourself and the ground. A fire resistant welder’s mat can protect the ground underneath the stove from scorching.  A set of leather gloves is useful to prevent burns when operating the hot stove. They can also protect against cuts when packing up your gear when all is finished.