baker tent, light weight materials

another option
I have a small canvas wedge tent with doors on both ends. I sometimes lift one side on up poles to create a wheland type tent. If it’s really owly weather,you can close it up snug.

Turtle

Differences
Having made many true Whelens,Buckley style dryflys Leans and one Campfire tent all of nylon. A huge difference between the Baker and Campfire tent shapes and all the other mentioned ones is the sewn in vertical back wall. All of the others can be set and used as a flat albeit unique edge shaped tarp.

The Whelen and Lean sides can be set vertical or splayed out. The screen on the lean is two feet wider than the ridgeline’ and that makes the floor two feet wider under the ridgeline.

Light weight isn’t necessarily modern

– Last Updated: Feb-03-14 3:40 PM EST –

I just learned something interesting. Last night I was paging through one of the ancient books about outdoor activities that I used to read when I was a kid. In a section about tents, the author stated that his favorite tent for canoeing was the baker style, with his favorite size being big enough to accommodate three people yet weighing just 6.5 pounds. He was talking about a canvas tent (!), but did imply that it was a special lightweight model. I think I read somewhere else in the book that the groundcloth he used in that tent weighed 2.5 pounds, but I couldn't find that again during a quick re-check just now, so I'm not sure. A modern canvas tent of this kind, with no floor and rated for two people, is likely to weigh about 35 pounds, and I'm sure the same was true for a standard-weight tent of this variety "back in the day".

I wonder what sort of canvas was used to make lightweight tents in the old days.

Anyway, I found it interesting that even back in the 1930s, savvy paddlers DID have the option of bringing tents that were every bit as light as the ones we use today (of course, they cut their own poles and stakes each time they set up camp, rather than having permanent poles and stakes as part of the kit).

Oh, the author also mentioned how nice it is to have the fire right in front of the tent, so apparently even this super-light, waterproofed canvas was immune to sparks (that part didn't surprise me, but I thought I'd mention it anyway).

Not lightweight.

– Last Updated: Feb-03-14 8:28 AM EST –

I know you are looking at lightweight versions, but thought this may still be of interest.

I have a canvas 4 person Duluth Campfire tent that I really enjoy. I searched for years for one of the original style campfire tents. I finally found a used one a good many years ago. It was only used like once or twice and came with the optional stove pipe end wall/cover.

This is a heavy tent but the quality is incredible. I believe this tent goes under the company name of Frost River now. Here is the link;

https://www.frostriver.com/shop/campfire-tent/