warm weather use of cots

[Shadow]

Re: warm weather use of cots

There is nothing wrong with cots or hammocks. I've slept in them with no problems. As long as you are properly insulated against heat loss you are ok.

[MH_Hawker]

Re: warm weather use of cots

Well right now this is the tent i have in mind.

[Nickadeamus]

Re: warm weather use of cots

I don’t know why people are telling you cots are not good for cold weather. I have a Cabela’s Outfitter XL Cot with the 3 inch foam pad for it and used it in temps down in the teens (F) and was sweating in my sleeping bag. My bag is a 0 degree sleeping bag and I used an old 20 degree sleeping bag as a cover for my foam pad. I to have medical problems and can’t sleep on the ground. So I picked up a few different cots. All are XL size but the Cabela’s XL Cot was the one I like the most. It is just the right height off the ground for me to get in and out of it easily. Cabela’s XL Cot is large enough for tall and heave people. I am 6 feet and 250 lbs. But fair warning it is a big cot. If you put 2 of the Cabela’s XL cots in an 8ft X 8ft tent there might not be much room left in your tent. My tent is 12ft X 20ft wall tent. Whatever you do if your tent is not cotton canvas don’t use propane heaters in it unless it is well ventilated. Propane will create moister in your tent and droplets might rain down on you from inside said tent.

[mikeball]

Re: warm weather use of cots

I just got an inflatable too, it's easy to store/inflate, I bought a Royal Power inverter 2000 watts and it is enough power to inflate. I don't even have the engine on when I do it. But it's definitely worth it in terms of being able to store and use it plus I like the comfort.

[MH_Hawker]

Re: warm weather use of cots

Heaters are one of the things I am really not sure about, back in the old days you never ever slept with any sort of a heater on and I haven't read enough about the new ones to know any thing yet. Don't know if any one remembers the old primus heaters. I don't think I would be able sleep knowing one was on, but I may try one to knock off the evening or morning chills. Right now I have been looking at two of them the Mr. Heater and the Colman sport cat the mister heater looks like its very stable but takes up more room and the sport cat looks to be a compact size but looks like it can tip over easy but it would be simple to make a more stable based. And that is several months away.

[Internetpilot]

Re: warm weather use of cots

I've slept with a Mr. Heater Big Buddy heater several times now, but I admit that I don't actually sleep all that much when we go camping. I mostly doze for like an hour or maybe two at a time throughout the night. Then I'm not only awake for a while, but I'm usually up and checking on my two boys, better situating them in their sleeping bags, making sure they're not too hot/cold, etc. My getting up and down like that throughout the night is one of the main reasons why I moved from an inflatable bed to a double-high inflatable and then finally on to a cot.

My tent is well ventilated out of the box, but I make it less so across the roof with king-size bed sheets over the top (under the fly) to cover the mesh and keep more of the heat in. The cotton sheets are breathable, so I've never had a problem with condensation, but that also makes them far from a 100% insulation solution. Still, they work well enough to hold in more heat and significantly reduce breezes/drafts. I have windows on three sides of my tent (and a double door on the remaining side). All of these windows close with zippers on the sides of the windows, but not across the top, so any wind blowing through the top of the windows is where we get most of our ventilation.

All that being said, one of the most prevalent problems with the Mr. Buddy heaters seems to be (1) An overactive low Oxygen sensor and (2) an overly sensitive tipping shut-off. I haven't had this happen to me (yet), but if you go to the usual camping store websites and look at the Mr. Heater reviews, there are a lot who complain about those two safety features working a little too well. I've tested my tip-over feature and it immediately shuts off as soon as I just slightly tilt it. I can touch any part of the heater except the front grill while it's on the hottest setting. The front grill can be touched very soon after you turn off the heater, so even that doesn't get outrageously hot. My reason for going with the Mr. Heater namebrand/design (and I'm quite a fan of Coleman) is because Coleman has recalled/discontinued that model of heater a couple of times now, and other manufacturers using very similar designs have completely and permanently taken it off the market. A couple of friends had them and were annoyed by a couple recalls during ownership. They seem to work well, but I just didn't like that the manufacturers seemed to have so many problems with them. I bought the Mr. Heater Big Buddy model because I have a big tent so there's room, but also because it's a two propane canister model so it can actually run for up to 12 hours on the lowest heat setting (easily through the night). Most of the other propane heaters can only run for a few hours.

To be honest, the Big Buddy model is so big you'll want to bring Christmas stockings to hang on it....it's big.

[MH_Hawker]

Re: warm weather use of cots

snickers, and yes I was reading up on several brands , and so far the Mr heater is the only one I have ran across with a oxy sensor and I was looking at the little buddy and I believe its rated at 3800 BTU or the portable buddy at 4000 to 9000 and I would have to look one over before I buy. In my case it will be more used on waking up and warming up the tent than over night and right now the plans are to start camping around the first of June and maybe through September. I did the cold weather thing a lot of years ago and had enough of that I spent 8 weeks up in the high rockies at ft Carson one winter and found that to be more than enough. And I will see how much room and so on after I start buying gear. I appreciate the input.