Costco canopy -> wall tent?

[Rectifier]

Just got back from Costco... right now they have a 10x10 canopy with 3 walls and a center-zip door for under $200. Made in the USA too! Unfortunately none set up on display right now, just in boxes, so I couldn't see the fabric.

First thought, this would be nice to take to the archery range on a rainy day!

Second thought, isn't this a basically 10x10 wall tent, with a rapid set-up frame and a carrying bag, for $200? Just add a stove jack and a tarp for a porch? Anyone try to do this?

My only concern is it's not fire-******ant in any way. It's single-wall polyester and maybe the weave wouldn't be tight enough to hold in the heat? Maybe there is some fatal flaw that isn't apparent since it's not set up?

In any case, I don't have my own wall tent and this sucker is CHEAP so I am pretty tempted to give it a shot unless someone gives me a good reason not to!

[Rectifier]

Weird? Why am I not allowed to say res-ist-ant

[huntcoop]

re-tard-ed dosen't work either

[WesHarm]

for that cheap im sure theres some sort of fatal flaw.. but hell i'd still prolly give it a go.... :)

[One Shot]

Dunno why you can't say resistant. Maybe you failed phonics?

Last summer they had 20'x10' ers for $200.00. Like you said all you need is to put in a stove jack.....

[landphil]

We did that last year with one from cambodian tire - 10x10 was on sale for $150, it was great for 2 guys with tin aritight, just used a tarp for a floor. It was a little drafty around the edges in windy conditions, shortening the side poles would help a lot. As you say, it's probably not fire we-tar-dent material, we used a nice, tall stovepipe and keep the stove damped down for minimal sparks.

[wos]

I'd say save for a canvas tent so you don't end up shrink wrapped. Just my opinion.

[snareman1234]

My dad used the frame from the costco tend that used to be beside our house, but got shredded in the wind...and he adjusted the frame and fit it to our walltent that had an external frame, and now we have an internal frame. He welded up a few more more joint pieces and even added a porch, pretty slick

[Whonnock Boy]

About 10 years ago I purchased the 10X20 to use for a wall tent. I did a few mods and it has been great.

1) Asbestos stove jack
2) Cut legs down by about a foot to shorten the height
3) Got good old Mom to sew 2 inch Velcro on all of the seams
4) Made up strips of tarps for the corners with velcro

All materials and the tent itself cost about $750. That includes a big ass stove that keeps us plenty warm in -30, underwear and t-shirt warm. It buttons up great, and in fact with the velcro end peaks we can open it up to get some fresh air or clear the smoke if need be. It is nice and bright. On a full moon we can see what we are doing without using any lights. It has been used for at least 10 months since I have bought it. I have not had to worry about storing it wet. I have yet to burn myself up. Yes, there is a hole here and there, but nothing that a little piece of duct tape can't fix. I seriously think that I can get another 5 years out of her easy.

For the amount of money I invested, I have surely gotten my use out of it. The next time I set it up I will post pics on the "camp set up" thread. I have had plenty of people come in and were impressed with how well it worked. Oh, one more thing. By myself, including clearing snow if need be, I can have it set up in about two hours. I can go on, but I will get pics one day.

[Marc]

$5 will get you a try at the wall tent being given away come this August!

[Mr. Dean]

I'd say save for a canvas tent so you don't end up shrink wrapped. Just my opinion.

x2
If this thing decided to 'go', i'd be ugly.

[snareman1234]

x2
If this thing decided to 'go', i'd be ugly.

If you got out on time you might not be that ugly

[WesHarm]

Cant you buy a ton of spray on flame Ret--ar--dent? And cross your fingers?????? :D

[835]

We have been using the same one for years. We back the camper up to the open end and tarp the whole thing.
They are just as flamable as any wall tent out there. When you cut your chimney hole cut it big and get some tin to sandwitch the tent material. Their big down fall is they sweat, so keep stuff away from the edge of the wall.

It is cheap and has worked for us for years, if your worried about going up in flames or shrinkwrapped i have herd about a number of wall tents going up in flames too.

[fuzzy]

"It is cheap and has worked for us for years, if your worried about going up in flames or shrinkwrapped i have herd about a number of wall tents going up in flames too. "


I weld everyday and semi-regularly set my cotton clothing on fire with extremely little personal discomfort or injury. I used to where "fleece" ie plastic when i first started my profession and have scarred up forearms from the "flaming plastic goo". When i was a teenager i also had some burning plastic land on my hand, 17 years later the skin hurts from extended periods of sun exposure.

If you are still on the fence there is a fun little home "science project/experiment" that may help you decide.

1) find a Safeway plastic bag(these ones are "safer"...duh) and a scrap piece of denim about the same size
2)place both outside in a well ventilated area away from any dwellings or outbuildings -Safety first folks!
3)set up video camera for U-tube video
4) set both peices on fire
5) Once nicely burning, proceed to "pat" them both out with bare hands, one hand for each item obviously for a truly isolated scientific result.
6) scream like a girl cause you have melted plastic that has made itself one with you skin on one of your hands, then smile becuase your other hand only has a heat blister and looks a little "sooty"
7) post a link to your u-tube video and tell everyone how stupid it is to wrap yourself in plastice

Fuzzy;)

[835]

Fuzzy,

Obviously fleece and plastic bags will melt you. And why the hell would you weld in fleece?
Obviously a wall tent is a better gig, if you have 2000$ to spare. Obviously if you take up welding beside both or set both on fire the wall tent would fair better. I never said Cost co is better then Wall tent.

What i did say is we have used ours for years never melted a hole in it yet, spent 300$ on it and stay warm in it.
If your an idiot you can light both on fire just fine and if you are stupider yet stay in the thing while it is on fire the outcome will be worse in the costco shelter. If you got 2g's go wall tent if you dont go Costco.

[Mr. Dean]

Sleeping sound w/ a couple whisky's under the belt, dreaming of the hottest hotty on the tube, making your own tent in a sleeping bag,,,,, then the next thing you know, you're in a dream of being bombarded by rain on fire as the goo drips-n-sizzles all around ya, igniting everything it lands on... You have come full circle from spending a moment in heaven, to living a real moment in hell.

But odds are, the smoke will get ya 1st - Take comfort in that and sleep well. :smile:

[835]

Ok save for a canvas tent. You'll be way better off.
I'll keep staying in the cosco shelter making a "tent in a tent"

[buck nash]

they're not very water resistant in a heavy rain either. At least the one I used wasn't.

[835]

You need to run a big tarp over it to seal the wind and heavy rain out.

[wos]

I think if you shop around you can get a good size wall tent for about $800 or $900 dollars not $2000 like mentioned in previous posts. If properly cared for you probably wont ever need to replace it. Ive had mine for over 15 years and its still going strong.

[MuleyMadness]

Here you go...this is a KILLER deal:

* 12' x 20' custom Deluxe wall tent with 2 windows, inc. heavy duty tarp, lightly used, excellent condition $1050.00, 5 truss frame available $650.00. Located in Victoria, B.C

http://www.deluxewalltents.com/used_tents.htm

If you want to do the garage tent thing, you might want to ask Canuck Shooter about it...If memory serves he had one up til a while ago.

[Barracuda]

that is alot of money for someone to spend.

Im actually on the lookout for a mil surplus tent i found plenty but they are all back east

[Fixit]

I had a costco tent this last season, i was dry when it rained, it didnt catch fire and horribly burn and scar me, and it kept us warm with our wood stove.

i do however second the desire to shorten the legs, as there is a gap at the floor, plus it is too high IMO. as for a stove jack, we used a sheet of plywood on the end of a wall with a hole cut in it, with metal tabs locating it in the hole.

they do go on sale sometimes for 129.99 and its a hell of a great tent at that price, or 200$

[Rectifier]

Never knew I would stir up such a rat's nest with a simple question! I guess if we all agree on politics we have to find something to disagree about right?

Glad to hear stories from costco tent users as well as cautionary advice.

Both sides make lots of valid points, unfortunately when it comes down to wallet contents the "killer deal" on a used tent plus the frame is still $1700... the costco tent comes with a frame included, and it's not the garage frame (takes awhile to set up all right!) but a square 'pop-up' frame that deploys in under 10min.

The other issue of the "killer tent" is a complex one... was talking to my buddy who spends every summer in wall tents in camp up north... and he said that if a canvas tent goes up it is still a massive inferno and gone to ash in a minute or two. I noticed Cabelas makes most of their tents out of synthetics and nobody seems to have a problem with them. I have cooked many a meal under my crampy little Tarn 3 vestibule and survived. My personal experience with polyester fleece has been that sparks penetrate it and make clean melted holes rather than catch it on fire - as a kid I had many a fleece jacket die a death of a thousand spark holes and the wind blowing right through it - and I never caught on fire and ran around like a torch.

So I find it a bit odd that people on this site discourage use of flammable tents but have no problem with 10 yard bow shots on a bear... each to their own ideas of danger I suppose! I do agree that if I use the costco tent it will get sprayed down or soaked in fire re-tar-dant because it would be re-tar-ded not to be as safe as reasonably possible.

So well when it comes down to it I am more of the build it than buy it kind of guy, work is slow at the shop and we are on work share (gives me a day off a week to build things :) ) so leaning towards the $200 instead of $2000 option, if nothing else I can use it down at the range and when I go out to chuck some skeet without it having to be a perfect beautiful day!

[Mr. Dean]

Hey, I'm not telling you what to do; It's your choice.
I'm just trying to help ya make an informed oppinion.

[RayHill]

Dunno why you can't say resistant. Maybe you failed phonics?

Last summer they had 20'x10' ers for $200.00. Like you said all you need is to put in a stove jack.....

I bought one last year 20'x10' and they are well made. Heavy material sides and roof heavy steel frame and well designed for setup one real good buy. I would buy a second one if they were to sell them again.

[ElectricDyck]

I have a 10 X 10 costco tent, they are ok, but very weak, i've used it for a kitchen on hunts a few times. The plastic pieces at the joints will start to break, the pot metal arms will bend or break in a good wind, the zippers will rip and the roof will wear through at the friction points. Depends what you want, personally I wish I would have saved for something better quality.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/ElectricDyck/DSC00882.jpg

[Ruger4]

I use a 10x10 Costco pop-up for a mud room/kitchen in front of my wall tent , works perfect !

[tomahawk]

I bought one last year 20'x10' and they are well made. Heavy material sides and roof heavy steel frame and well designed for setup one real good buy. I would buy a second one if they were to sell them again.

Selling today at Costco, 10X20 with all the goodies, reduced to $150.00 in Nanaimo!!

[KevinB]

Those little 10X10 pop-ups are a completely different animal than the more widely used 10x20 "garages". I wouldn't expect the little pop-up to survive much of a beating, the frames look a bit weak to me. The bigger garage shaped tents have very heavy duty frames and heavy duty tarp material. My dad has couple that have been going strong for at least 10 years and they appear pretty much as good as new. Someone mentioned putting a couple of big tarps over the shole thing, that's what we do and it makes the tent way, way warmer as it plugs all the drafty seams. Also I've never noticed much or any condensation at all, even in really wet weather.

That being said, you can't get a much easier set-up than the 10X10 pop-up, and if you're careful with it and tie it down well you should be able to get decent life out of it.

[landphil]

Those little 10X10 pop-ups are a completely different animal than the more widely used 10x20 "garages".


Also I've never noticed much or any condensation at all, even in really wet weather.

I'm seeing that - the one we used was a 10x10 ATV garage. I hadn't looked at the costco ones, but look to be nowhere near as heavy duty. A little easier to set up though, I'm thinking.

Ageed that moisture wasn't an issue even with -12 at night, and we didn't tarp over the whole thing either - just a porch off the front. I was thinking that a 10X20 would be great - if you put the door end wall on the center frame it would give a 10x10 tent with a 10x10 porch

[fuzzy]

I cant help but chuckle at myself! Dont alot of us with wall tents throw a tarp over it anyway? i know i do.....:)

feeling a little sheepish
fuzzy

[wos]

Nope. Why would you need to?

[MidnightRun]

... - if you put the door end wall on the center frame it would give a 10x10 tent with a 10x10 porch

If you put the door wall there, without making modifications, it will be very breezy inside the tent. Since there isn't a means to seal out the wind, the side walls will billow out if there is even the slightest breeze. I tried that set up for one night and then moved it back where it belongs, at the end of the frame where the side walls and end wall overlap.

[landphil]

If you put the door wall there, without making modifications, it will be very breezy inside the tent. Since there isn't a means to seal out the wind, the side walls will billow out if there is even the slightest breeze. I tried that set up for one night and then moved it back where it belongs, at the end of the frame where the side walls and end wall overlap.

I hadn't though of that, but now that you mention it, that would be an issue - a BIG issue! I guess a tarp porch is a better option after all. Thanks for the heads up.

[sarg]

here's are 10x10 ez up wall tent we had 4 of us in there, would have being better with 2 or made 3 of us in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVbVEvH14GI

[Whonnock Boy]

here's are 10x10 ez up wall tent we had 4 of us in there, would have being better with 2 or made 3 of us in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVbVEvH14GI

I don't know if you can call that a wall "tent". Maybe a wall "shanty". :-D

[sarg]

lol. ya but it did the job, i would like to go bigger but it still bets hauling around my camper.

I don't know if you can call that a wall "tent". Maybe a wall "shanty". :-D

[Rectifier]

Right on Sarg that was what I was thinking of to house 2 instead of 4, looks like plenty of space for 2. Did you have a stove in that bad boy? What happened to the zippered door?

[.330 Dakota]

I think the material is a fabrene type so the stove is out as a spark would obliterate it

[sarg]

we had no woodstove just a pie plate propane heater, it did the job, i have a good sleeping bag so i was fine fo me but one guy had a shit sleeping bag and he was a little cold. A zippered door? we didnt have one, just 4 traps for the wall and one big one that when over top. i think 2 guys is the ticket for a 10x10, this year we will have a wood stove, i just finished building one for it.
good luck :)

[sarg]

it is fabrene type. we just put a tarp over are but we had no woodstove.

I think the material is a fabrene type so the stove is out as a spark would obliterate it

[Rectifier]

yeah, the 10x10 popups this year are coming with 3 walls and a zippered door in the box. Basically a tent ready to go, just need one big tarp to throw over it.
How did you do the stove jack that you just finished, side wall or roof?

[sarg]

it going to be a side wall, i cut a hole in the trap and have 2 aluminum plate about 14"x14" and bolted them together as a heat shield so the trap won't melt. it seems to work with my dads set up he has 12x20.

[Fixit]

i just picked up a new costco 10x20 as i borrowed one last year.
im working on cutting the legs down 1 ft
its now fire ******ant, has 2 screened /velcro'd windows per side and has flaps over the seams

[BillBraskii]

i just picked up a new costco 10x20 as i borrowed one last year.
im working on cutting the legs down 1 ft
its now fire ******ant, has 2 screened /velcro'd windows per side and has flaps over the seams
lets see some pics

[Fixit]

its still in the box, im at home sick and dont feel like doing anything right now.

but ill get picts when i do the test set up

[f350ps]

I just helped my neighbour set up his 10 x 20 from Costco. Nice unit but man it's heavy! K

[bc mike]

http://midlandcanopies.com/canopies/10x10.html These look similar. You can add to them or buy parts.

[Crimson Viking]

I have used the costco garage 10x20 for years as a wall tent , works well. i use a piece of concrete board as a heat shield between the wood stove and wall. Also set the front door 1 post back so u have a covered outdoor cooking / storage area. Need to sew in some Velcro ties for the new wall position so it doesn't flap in the wind. All in all a cost effective, comfortable and durable way to go.

[longstonec]

I found and promptly bought a 14'x16' wall tent with frame and stove for $300 from craigslist 5 years ago. older tent but hardly ever used as its in great shape. I had been watching for acouple years.

[XPEIer]

We have used one now a few times, the guy that owns it put plywood sections in both end walls that are bolted together with wing nuts, has a window in one end, a door and window in the other, stove pipe goes out the end wall and he used an old baking sheet as a guard around the stove pipe. I just found a used one to match, so we can put them end to end and have a fully covered kitchen attached. I have no idea how to post photos, so will put it in my avatar.

xpeier

[Fixit]

just thought id add some FYI to this post.
as it comes from costco:
-sides are 6'8"
-peak is 9'3"

i just spend the last hour cutting the legs down a foot and redrilling the legs for the pins that hold the feet on.
that way theres no 4" gap at the bottom and its not waaay high.

[sarg]

thats what we did to (a foot off the bottom) works great,

just thought id add some FYI to this post.
as it comes from costco:
-sides are 6'8"
-peak is 9'3"

i just spend the last hour cutting the legs down a foot and redrilling the legs for the pins that hold the feet on.
that way theres no 4" gap at the bottom and its not waaay high.

[ROEBUCK]

and the beauty of costco is there no quibble money back guarantee if you have any problems