Tents Source for Military Surplus?

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
Okay, I'm still looking at tents. There are several decent-looking 'dome' tents that I could afford, but they all have one problem - they aren't set up to use a wood stove inside them, and it wouldn't be safe to use a wood stove inside a nylon tent anyway. I looked at a couple of mil-surplus websites, and I think a good tent for us would be the 13' diameter five-man tent, in canvas (they also come in nylon, evidently) with a liner. They are made with a stove jack, and, while heavy, that size isn't too heavy for me to manage by myself (the 17' diameter one is too heavy). I don't like the amount of territory needed for guy lines, but don't know if there are any good alternatives. So, does anyone have any recommendations for a good, reliable supplier of military surplus tents? I don't know anything about the companies I looked at.

Kathleen
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
You can give this a try; http://armytents.com



Forewarn most of these tents are heavy to move, also most of these tents are not good for over night use, unless you have a crew to help set it up and take it back down.
 

Hfcomms

EN66iq
A GP small or Arctic tent can be put up by one person in good shape but it's a real chore. I've done it myself but that was many moons ago. Heavy canvas with wood poles and both have a cutout for the stove and roof flap. And the the Arctic tent can also be bought with a interior liner and when you go to bed you drop the liner down to just over the cots in order to reduce the space that has to be heated. Will last for years but definitely not a backpack tent. OTOH Cabela's has some great outfitter tents with aluminum frames and lighter weight canvas but of course they are not cheap.
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
A GP small or Arctic tent can be put up by one person in good shape but it's a real chore. I've done it myself but that was many moons ago. Heavy canvas with wood poles and both have a cutout for the stove and roof flap. And the the Arctic tent can also be bought with a interior liner and when you go to bed you drop the liner down to just over the cots in order to reduce the space that has to be heated. Will last for years but definitely not a backpack tent. OTOH Cabela's has some great outfitter tents with aluminum frames and lighter weight canvas but of course they are not cheap.

Backpacking isn't an issue -- the tent will be for emergency use (heavier is better) and maybe once in a while car camping or set up in the yard for visiting children to sleep in (though too many children nowadays aren't brave enough to sleep outside in a tent!).

Kathleen

ETA: When I was a kid, we had (or borrowed from my grandparents) two of the ten-man army tents. Mom and Dad put those up together -- we lived in them (with five children) for two or three months one summer at Homer, Alaska, while Dad was working on a fishing boat. My ex and I had one of the 10' X 20' command post tents for a while, and the two of us put that up. So I do know how heavy these tents are. They also stink, and the used ones can have holes in them.
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
why not use google to look for surplus in your area? its not that hard to find things

Genevieve, I have noticed that you like to make snarky remarks, but I'm going to answer your question anyway. I did search on-line and found a number of companies that sell surplus. None of them are in my area -- the closest one I found is in Portland which is six or seven hours drive away depending on traffic and weather. What I need to figure out is which of the companies I found on-line are reputable.

Thank you.

Kathleen

ETA: If you would like to know why we don't have any surplus stores in our area, take a look at the picture at the top of this post. That picture was taken from the road to my house, about six miles from the house. Other than dropping back down closer to the river, the scenery doesn't change much. We are pretty much far away from anything, which is nice, but not always convenient. On-line shopping is nice, but you can't physically examine the products before you buy.
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
You can give this a try; http://armytents.com



Forewarn most of these tents are heavy to move, also most of these tents are not good for over night use, unless you have a crew to help set it up and take it back down.

I know they are heavy -- we've had army tents before (bigger than the one I'm looking at). I know I couldn't put up one of the bigger ones by myself, but I think I can manage the smaller one I'm looking at. Don't intend to use it for camping or overnight use -- it's for emergency housing if we have to evacuate. I plan to store it in the old fifth-wheel. Yes, we can use the fifth-wheel, but I have to ask someone else to tow the thing for me whenever we move it, and that might not always be possible. The tent could be removed and taken with us. (I have a pickup and the top part of the hitch for the fifth-wheel, but not the plate that goes under the pickup bed.)

Kathleen
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
Whatever tent you decide on, best to take it out back and roll it out and inspect it, that way even if it was sold as new unissued, to see if there is anything wrong with it and fix it! The military does release stuff that has factory flaws like missing a number of loups for tie downs or guy lines.
Not a bad idea to set it up to so you have some idea how it go's up and not be in some rush to learn it.


HFcomms notice the artic tents on that website I posted a link to and I was looking them too. Not too big (10 man) and comes with a stove jack and the price looks to be good or doable.
 
Top