How to keep warm on cold nights?

[Klown]

Ok first off I'm new here, and I'm actually new to camping in general as an adult. I use to do it once and awhile as a kid, but not for at least 10 years. My girlfriend and I are going camping at Lake Roosevelt in Arizona the 2nd week of November. It will be Me, Her, and 3 dogs (1 Great Dane, 1 American Bulldog, and 1 Queensland Heeler... so all pretty big). Because one of the dogs will have to be in a kennel, and planning for the future when my 2 daughters go camping with us, we bought a big 10 person tent, thinking it would be better. We have the Coleman Canyon Breeze 19x12. My concern is keeping us warm at night? I need all the tips and help you can give me. We will be using an air mattress to keep us off the ground, but I need to know what else to do. Nights get to be in the 30's this time of year and up in the mid 70's during the day. Any help would be great. I know a smaller tent would have helped keep us warmer, but unfortunately I didn't purchase it, someone else did. And like I said we were planning for the future with 4 humans and 3 dogs.

[MarkN]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

Warm sleeping bags? They all have temperatures for comfort using on them.

[Happy Joe]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

I haven't used air mattresses for a long time;
...bring a powered inflator; and a patch kit; dog claws and very young kids are really hard on air mattresses, IMO.
Throw something down to keep an air mattress off the ground and help resist punctures.
Insulate the sleeping bags from the mattress (well washed, fluffy, moving pads/blankets worked well for me) old blankets etc work. Toward the end of my air mattress period I was using a Ridgerest and a foam pad to let me sleep through a loss of air.
Wear a stocking cap to bed, especially if your feet get cold. From the days before central heat; "I in my kerchief and ma in her cap, had just settled down for a long winter's...)
Consider the tent vents (many tents have excessive wind catching vents that essentially negate the wind blocking features of tents (I increased the usability of my Eureka dome from essentially a screen room to a 4 season shelter by using clear vinyl to cover the wind scoop vents. Always allow adequate venting for a healthy atmosphere, especially if using oxygen consuming devices inside
Bring an adequate bag per person.
Bring some fluffy blankets or secondary light weight but fluffy/fleece sleepover bags to layer your main bag in case of very cold temps/coldsnap. If the bag is cold insulate underneath first. A liner can help keep the bag cleaner inside too.
Avoid storing sleeping bags tightly rolled it tends to decrease their "loft"/insulation abilities.
I found tent heaters mostly worked best for warming the tent to enter or leave the bag (I don't run one all the time, even if camping in the snow).


Recently after looking at some historical (from the 1700's up) camping beds/cots and their mosquito bars I have been thinking of using a similar idea for a tent within a tent to reduce the bulk of the bag.... the human body puts out about a hundred watts of heat, retaining the heat (insulation) in colder climates/altitudes is the answer, IMO.


Enjoy!

[tplife]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

Happy Joe learned by experience that a good night's sleep is dependent on slowing heat loss above using your insulating materials, and below by pads that utilize a million tiny cells to slow heat transfer from a warm body to the cold outside air. A big old air mattress to keep you off the ground with its gigantic heat sink cells is a sure recipe for lousy night's sleep: You'll need to double or triple your insulation (or maybe bring a few more canine companions?) to overcome its natural effect to suck the warmth right out of you. :tuxout:

[Mike]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

I do a lot of backcountry wilderness camping. I also do a lot of backcountry wilderness camping in the winter time in Wisconsin when temperatures can get below minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit. I do not used tent heaters or anything like that.

In fact, you said you were bringing three dogs with you. Coincidentally, that is what I use to keep warm in the in the night. No joke. I train my dogs so that they will sleep around me and keep me warm on the coldest nights. Some sleep on top of my legs, some will curl up by my lower back by my kidneys or curl up by my torso.

Since you will have dogs and human companions, pile up together and sleep cozy.

[toedtoes]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

I'll add one idea. I find that for me, unless I have a nice solid weight above me, I "feel" cold. So, I have several of those nice faux fur throws from Costco - they're doubled in thickness to the other throws and provide a nice solid weight on top of my regular bedding.

[MacGyver]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

In fact, you said you were bringing three dogs with you.

Hence the name of the band Three Dog Night.

[MountainMama]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

If you have electric at your site, buy one of these. It keeps our 11" x 18" tent downright toasty.

Be careful with those air mattresses in cold weather. They will suck the body heat straight out of you. If have have to have them for comfort, I would top them with foam to help. And, if you do have electricity, and electric blanket. :-)

[Irate Mormon]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

Since you will have dogs and human companions, pile up together and sleep cozy.

Took the words out of my mouth. A girlfriend and three dogs, and you don't know how to keep warm? We need to talk, son.

[Klown]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

Well all 3 of my dogs are short hair so they get cold really easily, im sure we will all be cuddled up next to one another just fine. Maybe im more worried than i should be as it sounds like we are doing things right. We will have an air mattress because of comfort due to some back problems but we will line it pretty good with blankets and padding. Ill throw up some pictures and a report when the trip is completed.

[Element 79]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

I too prefer the comfort of a big inflated air mattress. Unfortunately the regular ones from Wal-Mart, etc. costing $40 or less do not have the insulating compartments and air will circulate inside, effectively transferring heat away from you. Get an inexpensive foam pad and keep it on top of the air mattress and it makes a HUGE difference. I camp in the winter and it often gets below freezing. A couple of the Hot Hands brand hand warmers in the sleeping bag work excellent. One at my feet and one up near chest. They produce heat by internal oxidation of iron powder so no harmful fumes. A fluffy throw blanket in a wad over and around your head also help provide a good nights sleep even when your water jugs are freezing solid.

[ChadVKealey]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

I've been a tent camper my entire life and other than a thin foam (may 1/4"?) roll-up, never used a sleeping pad. Granted, I rarely camped below about 40 degrees, but when it got chilly, I'd usually set up my tent on a pile of fallen leaves to provide some cushioning and insulation.

Fast forward to a couple years ago when my son started Cub Scouts. One tent trip with him and both of us cramming into a single-person sleeping bag to stay warm convinced me we needed decent sleeping pads and warmer bags. I got a fairly cheap pair (~$30 each) of Trailside brand from Amazon. They're self-inflating foam and work great as long as you give them a good two hours to fully inflate. I also bought new 30 degree bags. That combo worked well, but I've taken to adding a flannel/fleece blanket between the pads and the bags. The primary driver was a means of keeping the bags from sliding off the pads (my son wriggles around like crazy in his sleep), but I found that it kept the vinyl pad from sucking heat out of the bag.

As others have said, make sure to store your bags unstuffed so you don't lose loft. Also, if you go with a self-inflating pad, store it inflated and deflate/roll it up just before you leave home. It inflates a bit quicker and won't ruin (dry rot) the foam inside.

[Johnny Test]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

I agree with all of the above post about air mattresses. I personally don't like them. A cot with foam is much more comfortable.
-socks gloves and a hat while sleeping
–I use large Hand-warmers inside the sleeping bag....they last all night.
– A big meal before you go to sleep
– Lots of blankets
-I have tried to warm the inside of the tent with various heaters. It never works. You're just trying to heat the atmosphere of the campsite.
- a 12v electric blanket works if you have the electricity. But even a good size battery cannot keep up all night

[tplife]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

A mat or pad over a cot or big-tube air mattress won't correct much for the heat loss effects, but it will make you feel less foolish for letting someone sell you such junk. Cots and those big old air mattresses are great at home for when you have house guests, or should you go camping in Saigon, or say a summer in SW Florida...when you NEED that rapid heat exchange!!! If you don't like wearing a hat while sleeping, don't let it bother you, very little heat is lost through your head. That old myth came out of a poorly-designed interpretation of a '50s experiment. The myth was that you lost 45-50% of your body heat through your head (the old debunked 1970 US Army manual). You don't lose any more than 10% of your body heat through your head, regardless of what part of your body is or is not covered, it makes no difference. Thanks to the British Medical Journal for the debunking.

[Element 79]

Re: How to keep warm on cold nights?

I've experimented with transferring heat from a campfire. In one experiment when it got below freezing we had my McGyvered hot tub set up on the riverbank. This is basically a hole in the sand lined with a tarp filled with 100+ degree water circulating through a copper heat exchanger in the campfire using a 12 volt water pump. I used 3/8" high temp tubing and ran it to the tent coiled under the air mattress and back to the hot tub. It works great but is a pain to set all this up and prevent leaks and overheating and keeping the fire at a low level. By morning the 400+ gallons of water had cooled to about 80 even with a tarp over the tub and was no longer effective. Also have a 12V electric blanket. It draws 3.5-4.0 amps and the main solar is a 100ah battery. With an air mattress it works best to have an insulating foam pad on the mattress, then the electric blanket, sleeping bag on top and another thick blanket over all to insulate.