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The short of it: Awful
The long of it: As a kid, I tent camped for over a decade w/ the Scouts in all kinds of weather and terrain. I've been in torrential downpours in the summer and woken up to 2 feet of snow. I've camped predominantly in Eureka Timberline series tents most of my life. I suppose I took for granted how bulletproof those things were (maybe still are).
I order a 10x10 Flex Bow VX (the one with the windows on the sides). Got a good price for it in January. About a month ago when the weather warmed sufficiently I pitched it in the back yard and spritzed the tent down with water all over for a good 1/2 hour. **note I'm way outside the return period on this thing now** I read this was required so that the seams and stitching and materials would shrink upon drying and essentially season the tent. At the time I noticed one spot on the roof of my new tent was lighter in color than the others. I figured maybe this spot was missed in the waterproofing process at the factory so I got my can of Kiwi Canvas spray and proceeded to spray this section.
Waited a good 6 hours while the wind was blowing and the sun was shining so as not to repack the tent wet and invite mold.
Fast forward to last weekend - my first camping trip w/ my wife and 2 girls !!! Very exciting !!! Pulled up to the campsite, pitched the tent, things are going well. Everyone is having fun, being outside is nice, looks like I didn't forget anything; we're on a roll. I'm feeling pretty good about myself - the first camping trip being the do/die w/ selling the whole idea to my family.
Than, after dinner it starts to rain.
Okay, that's a real downer but hey it is what it is so we make the best of it. Its not constant, so the girls are able to get out and explore/play/imagine things every now and than, so we make do. I unroll the sleeping pad mats and get them inflated, roll out the bags so they can breath a bit before we get into them, etc.
Time to put the girls to sleep - so we head back into the Kodiak to get them changed and what do we notice? The sleeping bag pads have a couple of drip marks on them. Each of them. I'm thinking to myself 'There was only one section where the color was different, so I sprayed it. How can I have multiple drips in here?'. Its bothering me a lot, but I pray that the heavens don't open this evening. We tuck the kids in, my wife and I resume our spots by the fire, and tip a few back and relax.
Later, we head in to go to sleep, and as luck would have it the heavens open up just enough to provide for a steady rain. Not a soaker or a downpour, but a steady rain. That's when life in the Kodiak took a complete dump.
Firstly, rain of any drop size larger than mist hitting the top of that flex bow roof is the loudest and most irritating sound I could imagine. It sorta smacks the roof and the roof reverberates a little bit like a drum because its so tight and relatively flat. LOUD. I'm not sure how anybody gets to sleep in a Kodiak during the rain unless they are drunk or exhausted. My experience with the Timberlines is completly contrary to this. The rain sounds like a large umbrella getting hit, and the drops sorta graze and roll off.
Secondly, and the most damning thing; the tent leaked from multiple spots like a sieve. The following morning we had 2 wet bags, 3 wet camp mats, and one half soaked pillow. This was not coming up from the floor (the floor still has no cuts or abrasions; in fact the floor is as advertised - bombproof). The tent itself? I can't even begin to share with you my immense dissatisfaction with its performance. Maybe that one light colored spot in the roof was the only part that actually got water proofed from the factory, because the tent as a whole was a complete waste of money. Non-wicking? Hogwash. I could touch the wall and pull my finger away all wet. There were a few random puddles inside my tent.
I believe I would have gotten better performance from a $79 tent from Wally World.
Now lets head outside the tent. Since it was a decent rain the dirt around the tent got muddy which I suppose lent itself to splashing. My tent had a ring around the bottom of splashed up mud/dirt. So not only did it leak, but it would look like crap unless I took it home and cleaned it. Of course, than I'd have to leave it out for more days waiting for it to dry.
Praise the Good Lord above that we didn't need to squirrel away a year's worth of savings to pay for this thing.
I rolled it up and discovered my last negative discovery; this wet Canvas tent was now easily 2x the weight. So now I have to bear hug it to move it into the back of the truck (lets face it, when its raining you're not on your hands and knees rolling ANY tent tight in order to bring it home). As I was waddling w/ my incredibly heavy, leaky, filthy new Kodiak Canvas I decided right there that it was never coming home with us.
We threw it in the campsite dumpster, poles and all. Went home and ordered a Big Agnes on a Memorial Day sale from Backcountry.com. I'm willing to bet a great deal that my next experience out, regardless of how heavy it rains, will be better than the one I just had.
I'm sure my Kodiak experience is contrary to what the majority have, however you will never find me camping in a canvas or Kodiak product again.
There was some positive that came out of all this though. 1. My girls still want to go camping again (THANK YOU !!!). 2. At least the site I chose was only 1/2 hour from where I live. First rule of Scouting: "Be Prepared". I wasn't taking my family far away for the maiden camping trip. At least I discovered the tent was garbage on a one night outing close to home.
Could have been worse.
The long of it: As a kid, I tent camped for over a decade w/ the Scouts in all kinds of weather and terrain. I've been in torrential downpours in the summer and woken up to 2 feet of snow. I've camped predominantly in Eureka Timberline series tents most of my life. I suppose I took for granted how bulletproof those things were (maybe still are).
I order a 10x10 Flex Bow VX (the one with the windows on the sides). Got a good price for it in January. About a month ago when the weather warmed sufficiently I pitched it in the back yard and spritzed the tent down with water all over for a good 1/2 hour. **note I'm way outside the return period on this thing now** I read this was required so that the seams and stitching and materials would shrink upon drying and essentially season the tent. At the time I noticed one spot on the roof of my new tent was lighter in color than the others. I figured maybe this spot was missed in the waterproofing process at the factory so I got my can of Kiwi Canvas spray and proceeded to spray this section.
Waited a good 6 hours while the wind was blowing and the sun was shining so as not to repack the tent wet and invite mold.
Fast forward to last weekend - my first camping trip w/ my wife and 2 girls !!! Very exciting !!! Pulled up to the campsite, pitched the tent, things are going well. Everyone is having fun, being outside is nice, looks like I didn't forget anything; we're on a roll. I'm feeling pretty good about myself - the first camping trip being the do/die w/ selling the whole idea to my family.
Than, after dinner it starts to rain.
Okay, that's a real downer but hey it is what it is so we make the best of it. Its not constant, so the girls are able to get out and explore/play/imagine things every now and than, so we make do. I unroll the sleeping pad mats and get them inflated, roll out the bags so they can breath a bit before we get into them, etc.
Time to put the girls to sleep - so we head back into the Kodiak to get them changed and what do we notice? The sleeping bag pads have a couple of drip marks on them. Each of them. I'm thinking to myself 'There was only one section where the color was different, so I sprayed it. How can I have multiple drips in here?'. Its bothering me a lot, but I pray that the heavens don't open this evening. We tuck the kids in, my wife and I resume our spots by the fire, and tip a few back and relax.
Later, we head in to go to sleep, and as luck would have it the heavens open up just enough to provide for a steady rain. Not a soaker or a downpour, but a steady rain. That's when life in the Kodiak took a complete dump.
Firstly, rain of any drop size larger than mist hitting the top of that flex bow roof is the loudest and most irritating sound I could imagine. It sorta smacks the roof and the roof reverberates a little bit like a drum because its so tight and relatively flat. LOUD. I'm not sure how anybody gets to sleep in a Kodiak during the rain unless they are drunk or exhausted. My experience with the Timberlines is completly contrary to this. The rain sounds like a large umbrella getting hit, and the drops sorta graze and roll off.
Secondly, and the most damning thing; the tent leaked from multiple spots like a sieve. The following morning we had 2 wet bags, 3 wet camp mats, and one half soaked pillow. This was not coming up from the floor (the floor still has no cuts or abrasions; in fact the floor is as advertised - bombproof). The tent itself? I can't even begin to share with you my immense dissatisfaction with its performance. Maybe that one light colored spot in the roof was the only part that actually got water proofed from the factory, because the tent as a whole was a complete waste of money. Non-wicking? Hogwash. I could touch the wall and pull my finger away all wet. There were a few random puddles inside my tent.
I believe I would have gotten better performance from a $79 tent from Wally World.
Now lets head outside the tent. Since it was a decent rain the dirt around the tent got muddy which I suppose lent itself to splashing. My tent had a ring around the bottom of splashed up mud/dirt. So not only did it leak, but it would look like crap unless I took it home and cleaned it. Of course, than I'd have to leave it out for more days waiting for it to dry.
Praise the Good Lord above that we didn't need to squirrel away a year's worth of savings to pay for this thing.
I rolled it up and discovered my last negative discovery; this wet Canvas tent was now easily 2x the weight. So now I have to bear hug it to move it into the back of the truck (lets face it, when its raining you're not on your hands and knees rolling ANY tent tight in order to bring it home). As I was waddling w/ my incredibly heavy, leaky, filthy new Kodiak Canvas I decided right there that it was never coming home with us.
We threw it in the campsite dumpster, poles and all. Went home and ordered a Big Agnes on a Memorial Day sale from Backcountry.com. I'm willing to bet a great deal that my next experience out, regardless of how heavy it rains, will be better than the one I just had.
I'm sure my Kodiak experience is contrary to what the majority have, however you will never find me camping in a canvas or Kodiak product again.
There was some positive that came out of all this though. 1. My girls still want to go camping again (THANK YOU !!!). 2. At least the site I chose was only 1/2 hour from where I live. First rule of Scouting: "Be Prepared". I wasn't taking my family far away for the maiden camping trip. At least I discovered the tent was garbage on a one night outing close to home.
Could have been worse.
. 
A canvas campateer
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