Family tents that can handle some weather

[ResearchinStuff]

Just spent a miserable night with the family praying that the 25 knt winds wouldn't break the tent poles and using my shoulder to help support the sidewall on my family sized mountainsmith. Obviously way more than that tent was designed for, so now I'm looking for recommendations on a 6+ person tent that can handle 40+ mph winds (as forecast for tonight). Bonus points if they offer a good veteran's discount. Thanks

 

[svivian]

Just spent a miserable night with the family praying that the 25 knt winds wouldn't break the tent poles and using my shoulder to help support the sidewall on my family sized mountainsmith. Obviously way more than that tent was designed for, so now I'm looking for recommendations on a 6+ person tent that can handle 40+ mph winds (as forecast for tonight). Bonus points if they offer a good veteran's discount. Thanks

Budget?

 

[ResearchinStuff]

We family camp ~3 nights per year. Willing to spend what I need to not have a terrible night send us home early again, but probably not willing to spend 12 man tipi money. If it gets over $600 or so the economics tip in favor of vrbo

 

[eddielasvegas]

Kodiak Canvas 10x14 Flex Bow. Had it in some wind, rain, snow, you name it and it held up perfectly.

Not unheard of to see them listed for sale used to maybe save yourself a couple BFs.

I bought mine used in 2019 that way.


Eddie

 

[Cyril]

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-instinct-8-person-outfitter-tent

 

[ResearchinStuff]

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-instinct-8-person-outfitter-tent

Do you have hands on experience with this tent? Half of the 5 start reviews mention that they broke a pole and couldn't get a replacement...

 

[svivian]

For the wind speeds you are quoting than the kodiak canvas is hard to beat. You'll need to buy gently used to get in that price range however.

Edit another reason to go canvas is less noise in high winds as well. Just something to consider for a good night sleep.

 

[Cyril]

Do you have hands on experience with this tent? Half of the 5 start reviews mention that they broke a pole and couldn't get a replacement...

I personally do not but it is largely considered one of the best value tents for extreme weather conditions. Many Alaskan guides use them and have seen them in literally hundreds of videos. Not sure if the reviews are model specific or not but most people prefer the poles of the instinct version(they are aluminum) versus the new standard cabelas version which is fiberglass(use to be aluminum). Biggest draw back to the tents is weight. I will be buying the 6 person version for a 2026 moose hunt.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

We've had an 8 person Alaskan Guide and two 6 person AG's, We duck hunt on an island at the coast and when the Northerns come in they're worse than I've seen anywhere in the country, they come straight across the bay with nothing to slow them down and they're wet with swirling winds. This is a place there's usually 5 other camps give or take. When I got the first AG tent we had a big one, there were 9 tents total including us and in the morning only 2 were standing, the other one was all busted up but it was up. Our's was fine. This is a place where there's very familiar faces year after year, the next year there were 4 of the Alaskan Guide tents the first weekend of the season, put a little smile on my face. The 6 man we still have is pushing 10 years old and I'd take it anywhere without blinking an eye, it's a good tent than can handle some serious wind and rain. I prefer fiberglass to aluminum poles because at this level weight isn't a concern and when an aluminum pole goes it's dead and usually cuts your tent up too.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-alaskan-guide-model-geodesic-6-person-tent

edit: I'm hoping (pretty sure) my wife got me a 10x14 Flexbow for my birthday coming up. I wouldn't take the Flexbow out to duck camp without checking the weather first. I have a little 2 man Flexbow and it was a little rough one night with some blowing winds, just too much flat-ish surface area for the wind to grab onto. It held up but it also wasn't anywhere near what I'd call a bad storm.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

yeah the spot we do most of our camping is assateague island, and we have an uncanny knack for arriving right at the start of a nor'easter. i dunno how many thousands of miles open fetch there is before the wind smacks the island, but it's basically a straight shot to Norway from the beach - so a long freaking ways.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

yeah the spot we do most of our camping is assateague island, and we have an uncanny knack for arriving right at the start of a nor'easter. i dunno how many thousands of miles open fetch there is before the wind smacks the island, but it's basically a straight shot to Norway from the beach - so a long freaking ways.

Yep sounds like a wind monster. Once my boys got older we did a few seasons in smaller 4 season tents with real low profiles and it worked pretty good, especially because they had to pack their own stuff and I had a tiny tent to pack and it's easier to stuff all the smaller tents in the boat compartments than larger gear. Wife and I went back to the Alaskan Guide out there because we like sleeping on cots and having extra space for the dogs and such. With good stakes and all the guy lines out and properly placed I don't have any worries about wind and weather with it.

 

[douglasfir]

I’m not the biggest Kodiak Canvas fan but they can handle wind better than most family tents, that’s for sure.