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Arctic Oven Tent

Stove

Selection

Pros

Cons

Resources

Field Notes

Back to 2002 Gear Page

Back to 2005 Gear Page

I purchased the 10 Foot Arctic Oven, which weights approx. 40lbs and sells for $1175.00.   (Pictured above)

Since I plan to use the tent for years to come, I also wanted to insure that it would be big enough for at least two people to spend long cold nights in comfort, with room to dry out gear and move around.  Since winter nights are long, I want to be able to lounge in the tent in comfort instead of cramped and in a sleeping bag.   I decided  the 10 foot Arctic Oven should  allow plenty of room for everything plus the heat stove.    

Risk of suffocation: This is a very well sealed tent.  You must insure that the air vents are not blocked.

Pole Condensation:  The poles are inside the outer tent where moisture collects.  The joints of the poles are nice and snug, however moisture does collect between the joint and will freeze, making separation of the poles difficult.  I found heating the joints with the wood stove (removed from the tent), made separation easier. 

Spark Arrestor will Clog:  After 4-6 hours you may start getting smoke backing up into the tent.  If so, you need to go outside and knock the build up off the spark arrestor.  

Picking up my Arctic Oven Tent I found it nicely rolled up in a very large heavy duty stuff type page. The bag is about chest high on me, more then enough room to pack 2 plus 10 foot Arctic Ovens in.   The poles and stakes come in smaller separate bags.  A bottle of Seam Sealant was included, and it is suggested that you seal any floor seams prior to use, which is a simple process.

The stove is small, light and simple, yet sturdy.  The stove pipes nest for transport, but they do not fit inside of the stove.  Include is a damper section of stove pipe and spark arrestor.  

The tent and stove together make a fairly large and heavy bundle.  However it can be packed separately, the inner tent, outer tent, and stove, making no one package to large or heavy.  

Click on the images for larger view

This is (Top to bottom), the inner tent, outer tent, poles, then stakes, with a 12" ruler in for scale.

After sealing the floor seams, I attempted my first set up of the tent.  With the temperature hovering at about +5 F, it was a simple process, and was up and ready for the stove in less 20 minutes, while wearing heavy gloves.  That includes taking a few digital photos along the way.  This was a  one person set it up.

I could see where one person might have difficulty in high winds, but I think two people could set it up even faster, even in windy conditions.  

The poles are a nice sturdy aluminum that are shock corded,  making assembly quick and easy.

The Inner Tent

A canvas cloth was included for laying under the stove to avoid damage from ash or sparks.  Installing the stove was just a matter of setting it inside, pushing the stove pipe through the provided stove jack, and slipping on the spark arrestor.  (It is best to burn a fire in the stove outside before using the stove to burn off the production oils that remain. Which I did.) 

Later that night, armed with a small cardboard box and some news paper, I zipped myself in the tent with the temperature at about -2 F.  I burned a few pages of newspaper and through the small box in (a video shipping box), and was able to dampen down the air intake and stove pipe to adjust the burning as desired.  Within minutes it was warm enough to be comfortable without a jacket.  

The white interior of the tent make it much easier to see and illuminate.  With the air intake on the stove open you can see well enough to move around the tent and find shoes or gloves  just from the light of the flame in the stove.  

Strong Connections

The Arctic Oven was wonderful on the 2002 Serum Run!  Our first night of camping it was at least -20F.  My musher, Dave Talbert, and I lounged comfortable in our polypro underwear before we crawled into  the sleeping bags.  We let the fire in the heat stove die at night, so it did get cold in the tent.  Upon waking up, I slipped an arm out of the sleeping bag to light the stove.  Ten minutes later we were up, out of our sleeping bags, (still in our polypro underwear), and stuffing our sleeping bags into their stuff sacks.  Dave and I both had to chuckle at the idea of putting sleeping bags away as our first task. Normally when winter camping the last thing you want to pack up is your sleeping bag, as you tend to lounge in the bag while eating and then dress as you crawl out of the bag.  There was not a drop of moisture on the interior tent walls.  The outer tent had a layer of frost on it which simply fell off with a tap or shake of the tent.  Remarkable how well the moisture escapes the inner tent!!

Alaska Tent & Tarp makes and sells the Arctic Oven Tents.  They are located in Anchorage and Fairbanks. 

100 E. International Airport Road

Anchorage, AK 99518

Ph: 907-562-2293

Click to link  to:   Alaska Tent & Tarp

The 10 foot Arctic Oven sells for $1175.00. The small stove and hardware for it totals about $135.  You can also get a floor protector, ground cloth, and an add on that transforms the outer door flap into a vestibule.  

The Arctic Oven comes in a smaller 'Pup' tent design (which they say can be heated with a candle lantern) up to a 10ft x 20 ft size.