Winter Camping Prep: Pomoly Stove Test Night in Luxe Megahorn Hot Tent II Snow Camping with kids

[@marsa74]

For cleaning the glass you can use a wet dishcloth dipped into some ash. Works better than any glass cleaner.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

I used to do that with our older fireplace glass. You’re right it actually works really well.

[@mcjoe2635]

Its a little late but, I take my entire family including wife and four kids hot-tenting. We've found when it comes to stove, volume > any other feature... a simply cyilinder stove fully stoked and dampered down is about the only thing that keeps us comfortable through the night. We use a similar volume stainless stove (1500 CI) and it will keep us warm (with wool blankets and cots) in similar weather for maybe four hours fully stoked and dampered down with a heat-powered fan. Wife and I take it in shifts to reload the wood through the night. Presently fabricating my own stove for improving our burn time, taking what I know of stove dynamics and the materials at my disposal (welder, 304 stainless) and shooting for the 2000 CI volume mark. Our tent is a 9 man canvas Tentipi, running a Winnerwell Woodlander Large... by no means a lightweight setup but... if Pomoly came out with something like the T-Brick Max in a larger version, say 2000-2200 ci, I'd gladly spend my hard earned money on it as I'm certain, with proper dampening features, it could heat us through the night in our stove. Anyway, presently searching for that 6-8 hour burn time in a one-person portable stove. Almost bought this stove, after seeing your experience I'm glad I waited. If we ever had to 'survive' in our tipi, we would just build an open fire on the ground. Like most models it just seems a bit small for OUR usage, but, maybe someday Pomoly (or someone other than the less-than-reliable Four Dog Stove Co) will come out with a packable, large size, baffled, secondary burn lightweight titanium stove. Thanks for the vid!

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Holy smokes, thanks for sharing that. I’d be interested in seeing how your stove turns out. Yeah, after our experience, I wish they had something even larger. For us, we can carry a little extra size and weight, but still like how it packs down. We’re definitely still experimenting with the winter camping. We’ve done some ice fishing trips now too with insulated hub shelters and propane… but there are some downsides to that too - they’re not really waterproof and you have to haul a huge propane tank. Being able to gather wood on arrival is obviously a huge plus. Anyways thanks for sharing. Great info and good luck with your stove build!

[@mainepioneer8899]

Thanks for the review! Just ordered the same hot tent.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Cool! Let us know how it goes after you have a night or two in it!

[@mainepioneer8899]

I sure will!

[@joeski10]

I just bought the same stove I don't even do the burn in yet but I am looking forward to using it this coming winter camping season

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Awesome! Big thing is use dry wood… ours has worked well!

[@donolinger6904]

You can load the bottom section before you add the top section. Load them from above but don't drop the wood. You can start the fire near the top in an upside down fire as they want to call it. With round unsplit pieces of wood used as much as possible, you'll get longer burns. Find a way to shut off the side vents and add a really big baffle at the top and burn times will increase significantly. With everything damped down after you get it really hot, secondary combustion should really increase without adding too much extra oxygen from uncontrollable side vents. Start those fires near the top of the upper burn chamber with the top and homemade baffle off of the stove, get the fire caught properly and put it all together. Baffles should cover the top of the burn chamber except for some space away from the chimney. Baffles can be made from titanium chimneys that roll up. They cut with scissors and you can fold them with your hands. They will cut you badly if you let them.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Some really good ideas. The top down fire makes sense, I’ve done that with outdoor fires before, didn’t occur to me to do it with the stove. We just got out with it this weekend. Had terrible wood and not a lot of time to gather it so we struggled a bit - needed all the air we could get in there but definitely was a learning experience. Will definitely give your ideas a go next time out when we can find some decent wood!

[@donolinger6904]

@@TheNorthwoodsFamily I've got one coming. How long after you ordered it, did delivery take? I need to get my hands on that. I want to order an extra burn chamber and make my double stacked stove into a triple stacked stove. It will hold pieces of wood bigger than a T Brick Ultra if it was 3 chambers high and you put the wood in standing vertically instead of laying it down.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

@@donolinger6904 that would be awesome. Please let us know how it works out, would love to see it when it’s done. It took us about a month to get it which is what their website said. It shipped FedEx from China. Write down your order number when you put it in because we didn’t get any email confirmations, or any notice or even order confirmation until a random FedEx tracking number showed up in my email three weeks later. They have a way to check order status online so that was the only thing that assured us it was ok.

[@donolinger6904]

@@TheNorthwoodsFamily My order had all kinds of different times listed. Under the stove it said delivery time or something but it said 3 days and it was definitely a delivery time. Everything else said different times but they were package preparation times. I didn't believe I'd get my stove in 3 days, looks like I'm right. I know I am because it was ordered Monday before last.

[@nicholasmagolan9561]

Hello from across lake Michigan! I love the content keep it coming. You guys should do affiliate marketing for all these products you use

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Hey! Thanks a bunch! We may look into that some time - lot of great products we use that definitely help us on our adventures.

[@johncolacchio231]

Nice stove I hate the flimsy roll up pipe, I love the old metal stove pipe safer.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Yeah it’s been the worst part of setting up this stove by far. We’re tempted to buy a pipe in sections since we aren’t backpacking with this.

[@cfeller2]

Great video and really cool stove. I own a couple of Pomoly stoves and think they are the best titanium stoves out there. I see you have the pipe going into the manifold. The stove pipe goes outside of the damper manifold and wraps around it. Good luck! I look forward to seeing more videos.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

I appreciate that! I couldn’t get the darn thing to fit that way at first but got it figured out now. Makes a lot more sense with it the way you described. So far we’re impressed by the stove. The quality seems top notch, it cranks out a lot of heat and it packs down so small and light. We looked at a bunch of different options and it was the clear winner. Thanks again! 🙏🏼

[@RobertKimble]

Glad to see a successful first night even if in the yard. What made you decide on the Luxe Megahorn XL? I'm currently shopping and looking at the Megahorn XL, Pomoloy Hex Plus and the OneTigris Rock Fortress.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

We are actually packing it up right now for the first real camp tomorrow night! We chose the Megahorn XL because it had the largest footprint with lots of headspace (we are quite tall). We had to fit our three camping cots plus the stove so it had to be pretty big :) All the tents you mentioned are great tents, just get what makes sense for you guys!

[@hyunyi6294]

멋진 정원에서의 하룻밤, 아주 좋네요 👍 from Korea

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Thanks!!!

[@blackopsrocks]

So I want to ask, thinking about buying this for ice fishing and winter camping, anything I need to know? Issues with warping, repacking it, how much heat can it actually put out, can you boil water for tea and coffee? (Titanium is not normally a good conductor of heat, which is likely the reason for those windows). Also, how much wood does it use in a night?

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Sorry for the slow reply! No issues at all with warping. I believe we boiled some water on top of it to make some rice but I don’t remember - it’s been a while since we used it. We’re actually going to head out shortly with it again here. If you see the wood I stacked in the video I used most of it. It can burn through a lot of wood if you keep it going. I’d say a firebox keeps burning 2 hours when open. Dampen it down and it will go longer. Depends on the wood of course. I had hoped it would burn a little longer - you’re definitely going to need to wake up a couple times at night to refill it if it’s cold. We haven’t used it a ton yet so take our advice with a grain of salt. The guy who really knows these things in @lonewolf902 - check out his channel if you haven’t yet he’s got some awesome camping context and a lot on these stoves.

[@blackopsrocks]

@@TheNorthwoodsFamily thank you, appreciate the response. I've always just used propane and my eskimo insulated tent. It's been enough, but the propane is getting expensive. We did solve that problem by getting a 33lb forklift tank. Its as cheap to fill it as exchange the smaller tanks.

[@ciccioriccio99]

Ciao. Ma il vetro superiore ,al minuto 12.35 ,è già completamente nero alla prima accensione?! Perché dallo sportello superiore inserisci legna, ma dal vetro nero nulla si vede.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

Hello! I apologize for my slow reply. I believe you are asking about the top doors becoming black so quickly on the first burn? I’m not completely sure why. I started the fire with pine, then used walnut. The walnut may have been a little damp still which could have contributed. Also, I set up the vents all on one side of the fireplace. I’m not sure this is the way for the most efficient burn. Obviously it wasn’t burning at maximum efficiency. I think the key to keeping the glass clean is really dry wood, and good airflow so the fire stays hot. Once the fire slows down, the glass tends to blacken. I haven’t spent enough time with the stove yet to get it dialed in just right. I hope that answers your question. Sorry I don’t speak Italian! Ciao! 🇮🇹

[@frankhoward4459]

Watch lone Wolf he brings his young kids all the time.

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

We do! That’s where we got the Pomoly recommendation from!

[@kenginter6112]

Did you leave the draft open and the damper open all night?

[@TheNorthwoodsFamily]

I actually choked it down at first because it wasn’t so cold. Later on in the night I opened it up all the way to stoke the fire and keep it burning hotter as the temps dropped