First Impressions: Springbar Classic Jack 140 Hot Tent Package

The following details my first impressions regarding Springbar’s hot tent package which combines their Classic Jack 140 canvas tent with a Winnerwell wood stove. Firstly, know that backpacking is my primary outdoors experience. Backpacking is a world of intense emphasis on weight and “packability”. It’s sort of an exercise in minimalism, or essentialism. What am I trying to accomplish?

Basically, I wanted to have a supremely sturdy, comfortable, and versatile shelter that I can take car camping during any season. In the past I had either slept in the back of my Land Cruiser or made do with the low ceiling and tight quarters of my backpacking tents. These options aren’t necessarily bad, but they do honestly take away from the main focus of setting up a vehicle-served camp: relaxation.

There are plenty of car camping tents available, but they are generally made for the Wal-Mart/REI/Amazon markets. As a result, their construction is relatively inexpensive nylon/polyester held up by some precarious aluminum (or fiberglass) poles and thin tie-outs. If there is a rain fly it usually only covers the top half of the shelter. And there is definitely no heat source.

These shelters have their place in the market, and I don’t knock them or anyone that uses them. I just know that in my case, I like to be able to go out in all seasons. That means I need to be able to handle not only fair weather but also everything else the US can conjure.

I have to admit, I really did not understand that canvas could meet these needs. My knowledge is based squarely in the capabilities of Dyneema Composite Fabric and the like. But if weight is no longer a factor, then there is a lovely alternative to the nylon/polyester saunas in the big box stores.

To be sure, Springbar is not the only manufacturer of canvas tents. Moreover, their main lane doesn’t even seem to be hot tents. Nevertheless, I think they’ve got the best thing going for an all-in-one four-season kit.

Here I won’t relist the technical specifications, as the reader can see all of those on their website. What I mostly want to share are the highlights of my first time setting up everything.

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The ground tarp is heavy and sturdy, high denier, and coated. It’s a very solid shield against moisture, puncture, and abrasion. It is also appropriately sized, just slightly smaller than the footprint of the actual tent to prevent water collecting underneath. Unfurling the main tent body over the tarp is quite simple, and so is the process to stake out the perimeter.

I want to be clear that I have never seen or used such sturdy tent stakes. They are steel, a foot long, and probably 1/4″ thick. They are going nowhere. I also call particular attention to the steel loops that the stakes go through. The tent has a sort of skirt around the perimeter where the wall and floor meet.

Approximately one inch of extra material folds over and contains a rope at the crease. Then, the steel loops pierce the skirt and crimp the rope. As a result, the stress concentrations are greatly reduced at the stakeout points. Users should still keep an eye on the lay of the land, as it is possible to artificially stress things on uneven ground. However, the design itself has done just about everything to relieve the floor-wall seam of stress. This is critical for long term durability!

Like the technical specifications, I will leave setup instructions as an exercise for the reader. But to summarize, after you have hammered sixteen steel flagpoles into the ground, you can carry on with the structural poles. The function of a Springbar tent structure is very clever, and best understood by one of the videos available on their YouTube channel.

What I will say is that the process is exactly as advertised. It is simple and absolutely manageable for one person.

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Here is where the Springbar tent truly shines. It is spacious, inviting, airy. I am a tall individual and I can fully stand up inside. There are large, triangular windows at each end. The entry door is vented as well as the window next to it. The “back” side has a massive window. Each one is sewn with high quality “no-see-um” type mesh and backed up by zippered canvas. The Zippers are beefy. This is to say that the tent can be completely sealed up in a wintry bluster, or made breezy in a swampy summer haze.

I want to emphasize my satisfaction with the construction of this tent. This is not a simple rectangle/prism shape, but instead a clever structure that utilizes tension for its shape. There are curves and tapers that rely on smooth transitions that can only be achieved by high quality, tight tolerance patterns and stitching.

Now, during the setup of this tent I was allowing the accompanying Winnerwell stove to have its initial burn. I assembled it on a concrete pad and let any manufacturing residue burn off.

One of the features that clinched my selection of a Springbar tent was the “package” developed for the Classic Jack 140. Based on my research, most canvas tent offerings were directed at the consumer interested in a base camp shelter for northern climates. That is, they generally lacked floors and mesh windows necessary for warmer/wetter months. They also did not seem to offer purpose-built accommodations for stoves. This left the user to their own devices.

Instead, the Springbar hot tent package is a carefully-considered system. A designated window at the end near the door can unzip from the main body. In its place goes a heat-resistant fiberglass insert. The insert has a very long bib of the same material that ties in with the tent near the floor. There is also an included fiberglass, heat-resistant mat.

Users need to cut their own hole in the window insert, but Springbar includes a full size paper template for this. This is a small side effort, but quite reasonable considering there are four different stove options. After this task, a silicone sleeve can be installed along with a double-walled pipe section.

The end result is a very, very well designed system that effectively protects the tent from heat and embers. I had not seen any other system like this during my pre-purchase research.

The external portion is carefully-considered as well. The chimney stack departs from the tent body at a 45-degree angle and then transitions upright. Springbar provides a steel cable to support the stack via the tent pole structure. But beyond that, the spark arrestor at the top has three tie-out points that can be used to stabilize the whole stack to the ground.

After the initial setup, burn-in, and “seasoning” (spraying the canvas with water so that it firms up) I took the Springbar system on a weekend trip. By day, I enjoyed sunshine and breeziness, and at night I kept perfectly warm by the stove in below-freezing temperatures. I can say with confidence that although it is the “medium” sized stove, it was fully capable to heat the tent to 70+ degrees.

I intend, of course, to take the system to many places and climates over its lifespan, but the initial setup and outing went perfectly. Even with the stove taking up space, I was able to enjoy plenty of room around two wide and extra-long cots.

What I most appreciate is that the tent feels like an actual home. The cream-colored fabric is warm and bright. The awning, door, and windows give a presence and formality to the space. The hardware gives it confidence. The Springbar is a place to spend time when the weather is unpleasant, or the adventures of the day are over.