Kodiak Canvas 6-Person Flex-Bow Review

Overview

For being the most durable and well-made tent we tested, we chose to give a Top Pick award to the Kodiak Canvas 6p Flex-Bow Canvas Tent. It's also a really comfortable tent and with all that comfort comes the weight. It weighs in at a whopping 68 pounds, which may seem ridiculous, but when you see this tent set up you'll want to live in it. The duck canvas is treated with Hydra-ShieldTM, which is a waterproof coating that's both waterproof and breathable. This is our go-to tent for base camp style camping, where comfort and durability are key.

Comfort

We loved sleeping in this tent. The canvas acts as a noise canceler, which allows you to sleep wonderfully even though your neighbor might be snoring his brains out. The floor of this tent is also pretty thick, which makes it nicer to walk around barefoot in – a nice upgrade from a thin nylon tent floor. The downside to the floor being so awesome is that it smells like plastic the first few times you use it, and it's pretty hard to get that smell out.

We took points off of this tent's comfort score because it didn't have a vestibule. Instead of a vestibule it has an awning, which we like for the sunny days but in windy conditions is unstable. When it rains water pools on the awning no matter how hard we tightened. This tent can also get a little hot in the summer since the canvas doesn't breathe as well as the fabric on nylon tents.

Storm Resistance

This and the Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 are the only tents we tested that the manufacturers called "4 season tents." However, the roof does not have much pitch so snow will accumulate. If you are in a severe winter storm, you have to constantly push off the snow. This was one of the few tents that failed the water hose test. When we sprayed water directly at the material, water passed through. However, in all our testing and in reading a huge number of user reviews, we have not found leaking to be an issue. So in real world situations, the tent keeps you dry. This tent is a tank in the wind. We set it up in 40+mph winds and it had a slight bulge in the fabric but the structure was stable and strong.