Hot Hammock in the Dead of Winter: Warbonnet Tsunami Review

The mercury was racing toward double-digit negatives with the same frenetic pace as my frozen hands and feet, setting up the Tsunami Hot Hammock Tent. When it was finished, I walked inside only to find an explosion of down and smoke. My first thought: Good thing I have a backup sleeping bag. My second thought: Fortress, though it may be, would this behemoth be warm enough?

Over the last few years, hammock hot tents have become an exciting niche. Now, POMOLY, OneTigris, and OneWind all offer budget-friendly ways to get into the world of hot tenting. I spent most of last winter camping with OneTigris’ ROCDOMUS tent. It hit a sweet spot between budget and utility.

However, for a few years, I’ve been curious about the odd one out: Warbonnet’s Tsunami. This U.S.-made hammock hot tent has a high price tag, an apparent bad-weather bunker of a design, and enough space and utility to make a strong case for year-round use — especially for paddlers, bikepackers, car campers, and group backpackers. When the rubber hit the road, how would it hold up?

In short: The Warbonnet Tsunami makes a strong case for being the best hammock hot tent on the market. How justifiable its price tag is comes down to how important size, versatility, and robustness are to you. It comfortably swallows even the largest single or double hammock systems with room for another ground sleeper or up to three or four people if everyone goes to the ground. It’s well-built and can shrug off storms. However, much of its added utility boils down to its internal pole reinforcements, which are bound to be divisive.

Warbonnet Tsunami Hammock Hot Tent Review

Tarps are unrivaled in versatility. Cots, hammocks, tent bodies, bug bivvies — pretty much every sleep system will work with an aerial roof. If they have one major weakness, it’s wind, especially as the mercury drops.

Setting up a tarp system in high winds is painful enough. Fully enclosing yourself can place a lot of stress on pullouts and stakes. That’s assuming you have enough trees or trekking poles to fully buttress tarp tents against the wind. In warmer weather, you can get away with leaving a tarp in open configurations, but it’ll make for a noisy night’s sleep.

The Warbonnet Tsunami Hot Hammock Tent offers a solution set that’s simple in premise, complex in practice, and capable all around. It uses thick poles, robust construction, and a stove jack — or jacks, in my case.

Size, Weight, Design

Without its poles, the Tsunami is a giant tarp tent. It has a generous 13-foot-long and 7-8-foot-wide footprint. Even pitched fully enclosed, it’s tall enough for a 6-foot person to stand upright near the ends.

Unlike most hammock tarp tents, it can also fit the split suspensions of spreader bar hammocks. That’s an issue I ran into testing the One Tigris ROCDOMMUS last winter.

Size alone is a hard sell. Thankfully, the Tsunami also offers overbuilt construction. It has heavily reinforced pullouts, solid stitching, tough hardware, and a reinforced seam down its midline to better handle stretching.

At 3.25 pounds (not including the extra stakes or cordage you’d carry for the larger shelter), it’s not compact or ultralight. It takes up around 8 L, by my estimate. For bikepackers, tourers, car campers, and paddlers, this may not be too much of a problem. For solo campers or backpackers, it’s a much harder sell.

Useful Features

The scales shift when we weigh added features. Take the poles. In porch mode, they make the tarp stiffer, less noisy in high winds, and easier to secure with fewer and less ideal tie-outs. Pitched fully enclosed, the robust 12mm poles seemingly offered the option of turning the Tsunami into a spacious fortress that would shrug off stiff winds.

Combine that with an added wind skirt to limit drafts, multiple jack positions for hot tent stoves (two offered on the site, and a third recommended by the manufacturer when I reach out with a few questions). You also get a choice between numerous fabric prints in both 30D silnylon or silpoly.

In Testing: Warbonnet Tsunami Hot Hammock Tent

For around 3 weeks, I kept the Tsunami set up nearly constantly in different configurations. I’ve used it to keep the rain off of me as a vehicle awning rigged off my roof rack. I’ve lounged beneath it in multiple hammocks of various builds and sizes in porch mode. But mostly, I’ve huddled within it, fully battened down, as a hot tent for Midwest camping and backpacking trips.

In Central Illinois, I used it for multiple hike-in overnighters and weekend camping sessions in conditions ranging from sunny 40-Fahrenheit days to 10-degree nights with 30 mph wind gusts. In Wisconsin, while section hiking the Ice Age Trail, I used the Tsunami as a hot tent base camp for a weekend trip that saw the mercury dip to -15 degrees.

I ran the Warbonnet Tsunami Hot Hammock Tent both with and without poles in all configurations. My only regret, other than having a friend set my sleeping bag on fire inside of it, is not having had a chance to see how it handles 45-50 mph winds … yet.

Poles Make a Difference

Normally, when you secure a tarp tent, you stake it down and out against the upward and inward pulls of the tarp’s ridgeline and fabric. When you drive a stake at a correct angle, this force pulls perpendicular to the stake.

But adding poles to the equation changes things. Internal poles help turn a tarp into a rigid structure. They produce a force pushing outward and pulling up on the stakes. That means you have to stake it from the inside instead of the outside.

Even in conditions stormy enough that you still feel the need to use all the available pullouts, poles help distribute the force of the wind across the fabric instead of just the pullouts.

The poles, springing the Tsunami down and out from the ridgeline, also caused the midsection to sag significantly. I’m just shy of 6 feet, and I could stand tall at the ends. But the midsection sagged to around 5-5.5 feet high, depending on how wide I staked down to pole sections. A third loop along the spine could clip into a ridgeline to help reduce that sag.

Overall, this is the tradeoff of internal poles: A rock-solid, significantly wider, and somewhat shorter shelter, with a slightly weaker base — at least in theory. In practice, I found a few workarounds that allowed me to pitch the Tsunami rock solid without ever having a stake pull out or the shelter shift an inch, even in nearly 30 mph gusts.

Setup: Prep & Practice

Even as someone with ample hammocking experience, the Warbonnet Tsunami came with a learning curve. When you’re working with a massive 13 x 14.75-foot tarp, keeping it in a sleeve of some sort saves a lot of time. A large mesh sleeve would’ve made packing up the Tsunami much easier. Nevertheless, some repurposed Hennesy Hammock Tarp Sleeves made a world of difference.

Clipping the ends of the sleeve to a ridgeline and unfurling the behemoth shelter only took a few minutes. The massive tent boasts no hardware for tying out — a good thing for the corners. Staking the four corners’ loop directly into the ground made it easier to get the height and placement of the Tsunami correct. That is, taut and tall enough to stand comfortably while still keeping drafts out.

The three tie-outs in the middle section of the tent were a different story. Through trial and error, I’d found them to perform best staked to the inside of the shelter, with the stakes angled so that the tension of the poles pulled away perpendicularly.

Strange? Yes, but it anchored the tarp while keeping tension as a tent floor would. Say a wind hit the left side of the tent. On that side, the outside corner stakes would resist the tent being pushed away to the right. On the opposite, rightward side, the inside stakes would resist the tent being pulled away.

With this setup, despite the Tsunami’s truck-sized surface area, I never needed anything longer than regular 6-inch aluminum stakes. Likewise, while the winds I tested it in never got above 30 mph, I also never felt the need to use the pullouts with the 12mm poles.

Having someone to hold and help arch the pole while I slipped the pole tips into the grommets and staked that side was the easiest way to set up. However, the small grommets and wide pole tips did take some finagling to insert correctly with cold fingers.

Setting up solo, I took to clipping together the opposing guylines I’d attached to the three middle tie-outs on either side and tensioning them — to dial in the Tsunami’s height and width before staking down the middle. This was particularly useful for hot tenting. A slightly taller 7-foot-wide shelter tends to warm up more quickly than a shorter, 8-foot-wide one.

Customization & Configurations

Arguably one of the biggest values of this hot tent is the degree to which you can dial it in.

The debate over silpoly versus silnylon tarps is a never-ending one. The former (my favorite) stretches less and is more UV-resistant but easier to puncture. The latter is tougher but stretches, absorbs water, and is damaged by UV rays more easily. Having poles that reinforce and keep it taut ameliorates some of each fabric’s weaknesses

Those same poles open up options for pitching the Tsunami in alternate configurations in less-than-ideal situations.

Different Configurations

As a bikepacker, I often pitch tarps in porch mode so my bike can fit under the awning. With its poles, the Tsunami was rock solid in porch mode. In a pinch, I could also pitch it in porch mode, even with only one side secured. Whether I tied up the awning end or staked the downsloping side, I had a stiff shelter.

Even without trekking poles or well-placed trees to tether the awning, or with bad soil for staking, I had a rock-solid porch with fewer points of contact

If I wanted to set up the Tsunami as an overhead A-frame, I could do so sans poles. The wind skirt, hanging down a few inches, even added a bit more protection from the rain. If I did use any of the poles, they’d pull up on the stakes.

However, with longer stakes (usually MSR Groundhogs) or a tree tether, the Tsunami was quiet and stiff. As someone who has been kept awake by a loud tarp on many a stormy night, I appreciated the quiet.

Capacity

In just about any configuration, I could easily fit my spreader bar hammock or a 2-person tent body and my bike. With more open configurations, I would even consider the Tsunami’s footprints large enough for two bikepackers, rides included.

In its most enclosed configuration, the Tsunami could easily fit four ground sleepers — if you’re not running a hot tent stove. With a stove, for safety’s sake, I’d cap it at two or three people.

Stove Situation

Near Zero makes a variety of incredibly engineered sleeping bags that do not skimp on high quality down. I know this because I cleaned bucket loads of it out of the camp we’d set up inside the Tsunami.

Hammock hot tents tend to be spacious — the Tsunami especially so. However, a hammock, running down the middle of a tent, takes up a space. A spreader bar hammock (such as GearJunkie’s reigning champ of camping hammocks, the Warbonnet Ridgerunner) takes up even more.

Combine space-hogging, tippiness, and a spread-flat design, and it’s pretty easy for a passing buddy to knock your all-time favorite sleeping bag (the NZ 20) onto the stove.

Stacking hammocks is doable in the Tsunami, as is running a hammock with a cot or two. In fact, the Tsunami is arguably the only hot hammock tent on the market that comfortably swallows spreader bar hammocks. For groups, I’d stick to gathered-end hammocks. If everyone is on the ground or cots, three can fit comfortably with ample clearance around the stove.

Here, again, customizability rears its head. Warbonnet offers two standard stovejack positions. One, 10 inches below the Tsunami’s centerline allows for more central heating, but not enough stovepipe clearance for a hammock. The second, lower position provides plenty of clearance for hammocks, but requires an “elbow” for your stove pipe to feed through at a 45-degree angle.

However, after a few emails back and forth with Warbonnet’s product team, they offered to put a stove jack 24 inches off the centerline, where it offered clearance for both a hammock and a vertical stovepipe.

Moreover, they were willing to install another stove jack in the lower position. That way, I could test the Tsunami with stoves in two positions — and potentially run larger stoves with the backup jack. And a larger stovepipe indeed did shoot right up to number one on my wishlist when we hit our lowest temperature.

Frigid Findings

The Tsunami’s 30D fabrics are comparable to the build designs of beloved hot tents like Seek Outside’s Redcliffe. The combination of lightweight fabric, fabric-stretching poles, and massive size allowed more heat to escape.

However, this was offset by the reinforcement against heavy snow and wind offered by poles nearly a third thicker than most expedition tents’. Likewise, between its 10-inch wind skirt and internal volume, the Tsunami was miles less drafty than most hammock hot tents.

On a 30-degree night, when inside a 65-degree Tsunami, I felt right at home. On a -15-degree night, home was back wherever a larger stove was.

Types of Stoves

Every hot tent has the same disclaimer. They’re comfy when you’re awake — but they get cold if you let the fire die while sleeping. Arguably, their biggest advantage is being able to quickly warm and dry things. When a burst bladder soaks your puffer, condensation wets your sleeping bag, your socks get sweated out, or your water freezes — this is when a hot tent is worth its weight in gold.

My go-to tent stove is Seek Outside’s Large 15.6L titanium stove. The titanium isn’t as radiative as steel. But with a glass door to bump up radiative heating, it’s a lightweight workhorse. However, in extreme cold, with such a large shelter, it was more than a bit small.

In temps ranging from 8-15 below, with the stove running full blast, we could reliably get the middle of the Tsunami 30-40 degrees above the outside temperature. The furthest and lowest sections of the tent were reliably colder. Once flames turned to embers in our sleep, the large shelter dropped to between 8-18 degrees — kicking back up into the 20s (in the middle) once the fire was fed and stoked.

Throughout the entire night, we likely averaged 20-30 degrees above the outside temperature. Granted, hot tents are never meant to substitute for proper-rated sleep gear. Nevertheless, the Tsunami is a far better fit for hot tent stoves in the 20-30L volume range, especially if they’re made of less radiative titanium.

Stoves Cost Extra

There are precious few conditions I wouldn’t take the Tsunami into. However, for those looking to leverage the Tsunami’s capability in truly cold conditions, opting for a larger stove, or perhaps getting a second one altogether, might be a cost you have to swallow.

Hell, the way my Tsunami was configured, with two stove jacks, three internal poles, and a wind skirt, would cost a little over $700. Now, I’m considering buying a second, larger stove too.

Warbonnet Tsunami Hot Hammock Tent: Who Is It For?

Solo backpackers, this one’s not for you. Bikepackers and paddlers, you’re up.

Paddling can mean setting up camp in strange places, especially with public waters hemmed in by private land. You might need to stick close to the water to avoid trespassing. This can mean setting up camp around unruly vegetation, waterlogged soil, or rocky ground.

Even with a partner and no hang-worthy trees, a pair of paddles or trekking poles can allow you to prop the Tsunami into a much roomier shelter. Being able to partially break down my craft and stow it beneath the awning of my shelter also offers some peace of mind.

Space is at a premium when bikepacking. Even so, for partnered trips or longer rides that already require larger panniers, I can use the Tsunami as the bulwark of any camp. That’s especially true when cycling through areas with high winds or where things that get wet tend to stay wet.

With my Ridgerunner, I’d sleep like a baby. If hang-appropriate trees might not be consistent, the mosquitos are bad enough, or I feel like sharing a tent with a partner, I could use the Tsunami to shield my go-to NEMO Hornet or Mayfly tent bodies. Either way, I’d have a far more protected and breathable camp. It would also be capable of shielding our bikes, all for around 10 pounds.

As wildland firefighters, we often have to break camp within 5-10 minutes, which is why cowboy camping is often the norm. However, in more inclement conditions, provided I can get two or three other people who want to share both the comfort and the breakdown of a rigid roof, the Tsunami would be a relatively efficient shelter at fire camps.

For car and motorcycle campers, bushcraft-oriented weekend backpackers, and winter campers, the Tsunami would also be a good fit. For backpackers — or hunters needing a base camp — it all comes down to group size. Solo, a nearly 7-pound shelter, is a hard sell. But split between two or three people, the Tsunami makes a decent case for itself.

Warbonnet Tsunami Hot Hammock Tent: Conclusions

Warbonnet Tsunami Hammock Hot Tent isn’t a master of anything, but, as the bastard child of an expedition tunnel tent and lightweight hammock tarp, it is a jack-of-all-trades

Put it up against an expedition-grade tent, especially a tunnel tent, and it’d likely lose out on wind resistance.

Compared apples to apples (without poles) against traditional hammock tarps, it sacrifices spacial efficiency and weight savings. Although, at 3.25 pounds, it’s not that heavy for a multiperson shelter. In that regard, toss in the poles and hold it up against a dedicated base camp tent, and it could win major points on time and weight savings, However, it would likely lose points on comfort.

It’s far from the quickest or easiest shelter to set up. Additionally, running it in truly frigid temps comes with the asterisk of likely needing a larger stove and more firewood.

And yet, as someone with a variety of outdoor hobbies (touring, bikepacking, paddling, backpacking, car camping, etc.), if I could only have just one do-it-all shelter, the Tsunami would be a top contender.

Tent body, hammock, cowboy, bug bivy, or cot, however you sleep beneath it, the Tsunami offers a choice between a spacious and midweight shelter without its poles — or an absolute fortress with them, for 3 pounds more.

The Warbonnet Tsunami Hot Hammock Tent is a versatile tank that can handle whatever you throw at it. And the fact that it plays well with any sleep system has an appeal all its own — one that makes it one of the best shelters I’ve ever used.