tent trailer warm?

[hoochie]

we are looking at campers, tent trailers and the regular trailer you pull behind. Looking at pros and cons, and it would be nice to have the bed of the truck free for game, firewood etc.
Does anyone know about these tent trailers? do they keep you warm in the winter or do they just eat up all your propane?

[Agent Orange]

I had one for 2 years and my parents had one when I was younger. Although I never did camp in the winter, I can say that the canvas offers little in the way of insulation. The biggest con was having to deal with wet canvas when we got home. You need to have a dry spot at home where you can open it up and air it out of you are forced to pack it up wet. Especially if you are winter/fall camping, as there will be plenty of condensation and rain

[Wentrot]

I have spent a few nights well below freezing in a tent trailer and have also had the unfortunate experience of running out of propane in these same conditions. If the heater is not on, its fookin cold. I would certainly go with enough propane if its going to be cold at night.

Any other time of the year its very comfortable.

[firstshot]

Had one and sold it a year later. On cold nights the furnace was always turning on. Woke me up lots... Would never buy another one. Always needs to be set up and taken down every time . Much easier to have a small trailer and everything is ready to go, plus even a little insulation in the cheap trailers helps.

[recoil]

I would think the weight difference between an average sized tent trailer and a clamshell boler style travel trailer would be little to none. The boler would have no mechanical parts to break or canvas to leak or rot and would hold heat in much better IMO.

I have had only one experience cold weather camping in a tent trailer and there wont be a second one.

[BCKID]

For the price of a good tent trailer you can buy a decent travel trailer, I have used both and my vote is the regular trailer. I would go for the northwest package if you can find one.

[hoochie]

thanks for the input guys. My thoughts before posting.. the "cons" are what you guys have experienced, and this I do not want.

Next question:
with the travel trailer, do you just park it somewhere low and set up a base camp and go from there? seems like they don't have the mobility of an "in the truck bed camper". I had an old camper a few years ago and it was great.. anywhere the truck would go my camper was with me. now with towing something behind, its gunna mean doing a different type camp.
issues? pro's cons?

[landphil]

A wall tent and wood stove leaves plenty of room for game in the truck, and makes a nice, dry, warm camp. Warm and dry don't work out so well in RV trailers in cold conditions. A bit less portable at the drop of a hat, yes, but a big fuel savings if you hunting journeys take you far from home too. It doesn't require insurance, and stores much easier with far less maintenance and upfront expense. My thoughts on the subject, I've done the RV trailer thing a couple times with my father-in-law's trailer, and far prefer a tent.

[shottyshooter]

Depends what you want in a trailer....

mine is 24' and I don't go anywhere not previously scouted. I've gone several Km's on skinny overgrown FSRs
's crapping my pants hoping for a clearing & I dead ended once where I had to jackknife the trailer with the ass end hanging over the edge and then squeeze by on the uphill side to reconnect. It's just not fun for me unless I know the roads and where The sites and turnarounds are.

Mine is a family rig so that's what I have. If I was to do a hunting setup I would probably build up my own enclosed trailer/toy hauler style like some guys have posted on here. Can't remember the threads but there were some really nice set ups that will go anywhere your truck can and should be easy enough to get turned around in places my 24'er can't.

The other good option is to do a camper and quad trailer for all the other stuff.

[tuner]

i have a 13 foot boler with a small lift. they come with a stock gravity furnace that heats the small space to infernal tempertures, in up to minus 25 with no battery drainage. the drawback it when it gets to that magic minus 25 temp it begins to form ice on the inside of the trailer from condensation, which is not a problem as there nothing to rot out.it's so light anything can tow it, and is quite comfy for a single person.if theres two of you, do all your cooking cleaning etc. outside and use it only for sleeping, in otherwise it will feel like you're stuck in a small closet with an elephant.another drawback is they also tend to somewhat expensive but will last u a lifetime.if the right deal comes along i plan on getting a 17 footer either boler or bigfoot.

[hoochie]

A wall tent and wood stove leaves plenty of room for game in the truck, and makes a nice, dry, warm camp. .

glad you mentioned this.
So when its snowing or pissing rain, you have to set up the tent again at home to dry it out correct?
This is one of the things I had also thought about. if its raining where I am, and its raining when I get home.. how the heck to I get it to dry out to pack it once hunting is over?

[landphil]

glad you mentioned this.
So when its snowing or pissing rain, you have to set up the tent again at home to dry it out correct?
This is one of the things I had also thought about. if its raining where I am, and its raining when I get home.. how the heck to I get it to dry out to pack it once hunting is over?

Yup, that could be a challenge if you don't have a garage or similar space to be able to dry it when the weather isn't on your side.

[walkerbc]

The propane furnace in most campers/trailers etc is the biggest consumer of propane. You can run all summer with one tank for stove/fridge and hot water. Two days in cold weather you can be out of battery power and propane. Cold weather camping requires extra propane and power ie. Generator or running your tow vehicle each day to charge up the batteries. Lots of regular style travel trailer owners (hunters) flip the axles to give a little more clearance in the rough country. The positive side of a travel trailer is you can set up camp, leave the trailer while you use the truck for hunting/transportation and you still have the use of the truck box. As for tent trailers, when they get wet you need to dry them out as others have said. Put away wet and you can look for "mould" very soon. Regards. Walker

[hunter fisher]

i've owned 2 campers, 2 trailers, and I've been on a few hunts with my friends family and his wall tent. they all have their pros and cons

wall tents biggest plus is its mobility. you can go anywhere you can take your truck, but you usually end up pulling a small utility trailer because of so much stuff, i.e. stove, tables, quad. if you have a group of people to hep set up, its not bad, but doing it on your own or with one other guy feels like a bit more work. also the weather has to be nice when putting it away, so unless you've got a lot of room, it can be a pain in the ass

campers are great for short trips, they are more mobile than travel trailers, have most of the same features, but are a little small and mine were always a pain in the ass to take off the truck.

now I'm on my second trailer and for me at least, trailering is the cats ass. an older trailer with no leaks and everything working isn't very hard to come by, and they are very affordable. super quick and easy to hook up/disconnect. you still have your truck bed for gear. the only downside is the mobility. obviously being bigger, a trailer can't go as many places as a truck. that being said, they are golden down any maintained fsr around here I've ever been to. I've never noticed propane to be an issue. most trailers have dual 30 pound tanks and thats a pretty decent amount. did a 7 day late sept hunt last year, temp was around 0 at night and went through less than one tank, including usage for the fridge and cooking and coffee and hot water. get yourself a little honda generator, they run forever on a gallon of gas. i let my run over night, charges the trolling motor battery, the trailer battery, and runs whatever else you got going on inside.

good luck with your choice!

[Sunzuki]

What's not to like about a camper?
Go further in the bush.
Unloading it takes about the same time or less than setting up a tent.
Pull a utility trailer for your fur.
And there is one big Citation here that could be for sale.
Basement model heated.
No insurance necessary.

[GotaGun]

Camped in tents then a tent trailer then a 24 foot trailer now on my second camper (its a artic fox.)
for hunting i like the campers cause i can tow my tracker/suzuki behind me an use it like a trailer.

Everything has a pro/con nothing is perfect.especially when mixing hunting rig with something to use rest of year with family.
Camper works for me cause leaves trailer hitch open for utility trailer. or my tracker. or my jetboat.

[Grizzlydick]

"warm in the winter" WOODSTOVE, nothing else touches it. as mentioned there are pros/cons, with any unit.
or have one of each like i. good luck...................

[Hunterguy]

Campers for late fall hunting when you have a snowfall or rain, good luck with drying out your gear. Your shower, sink, water will freeze so you won't be using those features and propane heat has to much moisture and will not dry out your gear. I remember the bottom two feet of the camper freezing and the top two feet super hot, would stove is the only answer, trailer or wall tent. Wall tent deeper into the bush, car hauler trailer set up fsr. Or something not to crazy, that's why you have a quad or truck.

[M.Dean]

Jeez, speaking of warm tent trailers, I remember a moose hunting trip about 25 or 30 years ago, took a old tent trailer up towards Tum Tum Lake, it was nice at my place when we left for 4 days, but after the first night up there in came 2 good feet of snow, and a 25 below Arctic front with it!!! We found out the heater didn't work, at all, so the only heat we had was my Coleman lantern and Coleman stove, both running full tilt and I doubt that it warmed up two degree's in there, day or night! Even the Whiskey poured like tar out of a bucket it was so cold in there! Go for a Toy Hauler, way nicer than that old tent trailer was!!!