5 Ways on How to Insulate a Tent for Winter Camping
In a perfect world, every tent would come with the right amount of insulation already installed and ready for camping. Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world, and insulating a tent yourself can save you a lot of money!
Some tents already come with some insulation, but it will depend on what kind you purchase. The point of this article is to help with options to insulate your own tent without having to purchase another one. That being said, you may still have to get a new tent if you plan on camping somewhere with a very intense climate. As the climate gets colder, you start to approach the need to just get a better tent instead of spending 2 hours trying to insulate an alright one.
The theory is the same as insulating your house, you want to reduce the amount of heat that can be transferred from one material to another, eventually escaping to the outside. This can be achieved in a few ways from ensuring greater light absorption from the sun to reducing heat already in the tent from leaving. You could also bring a small heater, but the large struggle here is making sure as little heat leaves the tent as possible. Not many people realize it, but the human body produces a sizeable amount of heat, so just doing as much to keep that heat in can keep you warm through the night if you have a small enough tent. That being said, if you’re camping in the extreme cold, you may want to look for tents specifically built for harsh winter climates. The hot air in your tent will rise and try to escape the tent. Putting an extra barrier between you and the outside world will help keep the heat in, especially when that barrier is a large enveloping insulator! A thermal blanket is a perfect solution to this as it will help trap heat. A nice plus to having a thermal blanket is that it will also act as a wind barrier and help stop the wind from wicking away the hot air your tent is absorbing. If you have a 4 seasons tent, you probably won’t need this for most cold weather camping, but this is nice to have if the temperature dips low enough where the tent can’t handle it anymore. This is the same thing as insulating the outside but from the inside. You can use a thermal blanket here as well, but the reason it wasn’t mentioned first is that it can be a little annoying to do depending on the tent size. Trying to secure the material to the inside becomes tedious, but does help keep heat in a little more than putting it on the exterior. Some additional materials you can use are what would usually be seen in a thermal sweater. A smooth layer covering the wall or roof will help keep more heat in! While heat may rise, you can lose a lot of heat just from contact with the floor. The ground isn’t exactly the most comforting and is far from warm when camping in the cold. A simple solution here is to add insulation to the ground! There are blankets made just for camping in tents, but even some rugs or other materials will work better than nothing if you’re trying to save some money. The thermal blanket that was mentioned above for covering the outside of the tent will also work well here as a floor mat. Get a smaller tent! This one may seem obvious to some, but it’s not the first thing campers think of when looking for tent insulation options. The whole point of insulating is to reduce the amount of heat that can leave your tent. If your body heat is only producing so much comfort, then a smaller tent will reduce the amount of space you need to keep warm. Is it nice having a larger tent to move around in and use for storage? Of course, it is, but warmth is the real comfort you’ll want when sleeping outside, not extra room. A somewhat more obvious solution is to just create more heat! Insulating a tent is still important to stay warm while camping, but producing more heat is another option that can work just as well. I’m sure some people may ask, “isn’t that a fire hazard”? The answer would be yes if you just buy a normal heater and stick it in a tight space. However, there are specially made heaters for portability and use in tents. Mind you, you’re still personally responsible for how you use these heaters. It doesn’t matter how “safe” a heater is if you set it right in front of a pile of clothes or other flammable materials. Are there any options I missed here that you want to add? Please comment below and let me know! If not, I hope this list helps keep you warm when camping! Also, check out our captions and quotes page for some nature Instagram captions!How does tent insulation work?
5 Tent Insulation Options
1. Cover the tent with a Thermal Blanket
2. Line the roof and walls using insulating fabric
3. Tent flooring material
4. Opt for a smaller tent
5. Buy a Tent Heater
Other insulating options?
