Coleman 6-Person Cabin Tent with Screened Porch is a 3-season tent that includes a screened porch for enjoying the outdoors without worrying about insects.
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch is a 11’ X 12’ cabin style tent with a full mesh stargazing ceiling, portable rainfly and a spacious screened front porch.
While its hefty weight of 46 lbs (20.8kg) may leave you staggering towards your campsite, the extremely affordable price point will leave you cheering with happiness.
Contents
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Comfort and Space
Floor Area
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screened Porch measures 11’ x 12’ (305 x 366 cm) equating to 132 square feet (12.3sqm) of floor space. The total floor space is calculated based on the total area of the tent, but the tent is actually partitioned into a Living Area and Screened Porch zones.
Living Area
The Living Area floor space measures approximately 11’ x 9’ (305 x 274 cm) equating to 99 square feet (9.2 sqm) of available floor space with a bathtub tent floor.
Screen Porch
The Screen Porch floor space measures approximately 11’ x 3’ (305 x 100 cm) equating to 33 square feet (3.1 sqm) of available ground space.
Four adults can fit comfortably into the Living Area sleeping space. Two additional children, should they be willing to cowboy camp on the dirt, can easily fit into the Screened Porch area.
Head Room
With an Interior Peak Height of 7’2″ (189 cm) the Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screened Porch tent provides plenty of vertical space for comfort.
The tent is a cabin style tent. Cabin style tents maximize vertical usable space and have nearly vertical exterior walls to allow campers to sit, eat and sleep in close proximity to a tent wall. You can walk around or bring outdoor furniture into a cabin style tent. Other tent configurations, such as the dome, A-frame, or pyramid tents don’t provide this kind of usable space.
A cabin tent is a commitment to relaxation in close proximity to your automobile, not a commitment to hike deep into the backcountry and set up a campsite.
Doors and Vestibules
Doors
After passing through the exterior screened porch doors there is a doorway into the interior of the tent. The screened porch entryway is a double sash arch with no-see-um mesh. The mesh runs nearly the full height and width of the entryway.
The interior tent entry way is a D style door and is approximately 4’ x 5.5’ (122 x 168cm).
Vestibules
This is a single room tent with one vestibule. The vestibule is large enough to be used as an additional sleeping zone, mud room, or gear room.
Both the vestibule and the tent have a mesh ceiling. If you’re seeking protection from the elements, you’ll need to install the rainfly.
The vestibule is large enough to allow for several folding chairs and a table. This is glamping! Be civilized! Be aware that the vestibule doesn’t have a floor. You’ll want to store away any food that’s left in the vestibule at night.
Gear Storage
There is one hanging triangular-shaped storage corner with four mesh pouches inside the tent. The storage corner is a great location to store food, sunscreen, electronics, or clothing.
There are two additional hanging mesh pouches for personal items, cell phones, prescription glasses, or small electronics.
The vestibule is a great gear storage location. If you’re camping in wet weather, you’ll want to either place a tarp underneath the screened porch or put your personal items into your vehicle. The porch doors, the side porch panels and ceiling are screened and offer minimal rain protection. The vestibule floor is missing, so any water running underneath your tent may soak into personal items laying on the ground in the Screened Porch area.
There is enough room in the Living Area for four adults to place their personal items at the head and feet of their sleeping bags. If you’ve added additional campers into the Living Area, you’ll definitely want to store your larger personal items either in the screened porch or in your vehicle.
An E-Port provides easy access to a remote generator or battery bank to charge your electronics.
Breathability and Ventilation
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch provides a jaw-dropping amount of ventilation through a mesh ceiling and windows. How many times have you laid in your tent wishing you could see the night sky? The full coverage mesh ceiling makes it possible. Talk about an open floor plan!
Ventilation Features
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch has a zippered no-see-um mesh window on the left and right side of the tent, each approximately 3’ x 2.5’ (91 x 76cm). The front of the tent has the primary entrance and an approximately 3’ x 3’ (91 x 91cm) zippered no-see-um mesh window.
The front door to the Living Area may be completely or partially opened to maximize either privacy or ventilation.
Weather Resistance
Wind Resistance
A cabin tent is all about a luxurious glamping experience, not a foul weather experience. While cabin tents provide a great deal of interior space, they also provide a fair amount of surface area for the wind to capture.
Affordable cabin tents with entry-level price points are manufactured for fair-weather, summertime camping. Yes, you can use the Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch in windy weather, but we think you’ll enjoy your glamping experience a whole lot more in calm weather.
If you do plan to camp in windy conditions, you should consider replacing the tent OEM stakes with something a bit heartier, like these Orange Screw stakes.
Rain Resistance
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch is all about maximizing ventilation and enjoying the night sky with a meshed ceiling. This is great for stargazing, but not so great for rainy weather.
Plan to install the rainfly if rain, heavy dew, or frost is in the weather forecast. The gabled roof will allow water to run off either side of the tent’s rainfly. Multiple user reviews mention that rain collects into a trough at the edge of the horizontal support beams. You may need to periodically lift the rainfly to allow the water pockets to drain from the roofline of the rainfly.
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch is made from lightweight, untreated, water-resistant nylon. Untreated nylon isn’t necessarily your best camping friend in terms of moisture retention and stretching. Dyneema tent fabric will absolutely repel water, polyester tent fabrics will slightly repel water, but untreated Nylon tents tend to absorb water and stretch out. Water retention in the nylon fabric will cause material sagging, which may cause additional water retention. Treat the nylon with a water repellent before you head out camping each year.
The Living Area bathtub floor raises the stitched seams approximately 4” (10cm) above the ground and prevents water seepage through the doorway entrance. The Screened Porch lacks flooring material.
Durability
Bathtub floor
The bathtub floor of the Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch is constructed from polyethylene. The tent wall and rainfly fabric are made from weather-resistant nylon.
UltraViolet light Material Breakdown
Nylon will break down more rapidly than polyester or Dyneema due to UltraViolet light exposure. The higher your camping elevation, the greater the UV exposure. If you plan to use the Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch for multiple weeks each year, at higher elevations, the rapid rate of material decay may be something to consider when comparing material composition.
Poles
A hearty Cabin Tent requires a hefty number of poles. The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch tips the scales on the heavy end of the weight spectrum with seventeen steel framing poles. The poles are color-coded into blue, white, and red for ease of assembly.
- Six steel leg poles with white tape
- Six steel gable poles with blue tape
- Two steel Gable Poles with U-Clip on Both Ends
- Two steel Side Eaves Poles with Red Tape
- One Steel, Center Ridge Pole with Red Tape
- There are nine pole connection hubs
Ease of Use
You could set this tent up all by yourself, but we don’t recommend it. This is the exact reason you need friends! Practice pitching the tent before you head out on your adventure. You don’t want to set this tent up for the first time in the middle of nasty weather.
How to Set Up the Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch:
- Sort the poles and gables based on their individual color codes. Colored tape has been placed on each end of the poles for ease of assembly.
- Spread out the tent in your chosen camping location
- Assemble the roof frame based on the color codes a few feet/meters away from the tent.
- If you plan to use the rainfly, drape it over the top of the roof frame
- Together with your friend (you did bring them along, right?), walk the roof frame over the top tent and set it down so that all corners are correctly positioned between roof frame and the tent corners.
- Slide the Steel Leg Poles into their corresponding hubs; white tape on the pole should match the white taped side of the hub. Red to red, blue to blue.
- Lift each steel leg pole and insert a pin-ring located on the tent base into the bottom of the steel pole
- Stake the tent
- Take off your shoes, unzip the porch screen and move into the center of the Living Area floor.
- Lift the tent and attach the S hook that’s connected to the top of the tent to the Ridge Pole hub.
- Exit the tent and put your shoes back on. Connect the remaining nine S hooks from the tent fabric to the corresponding hubs.
- Standing outside the tent, connect the remaining S-hooks on the outside tent fabric to the corresponding hubs.
- Connect twelve quick clips to the Ridge Poles
Packed Size and Weight
The packed size of the Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch is 3’1” x 1’1” x 1’1” (95 x 33 x 33 cm). It should easily fit into most automobile trunks.
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch weighs in at 46 lbs (20.8 kg) and has its very own rolling carry bag. This is a nice touch for a hefty tent.
The rolling carry bag has bumpers on the end opposite the handle for easy standing storage in your closet or garage.
The Ozark Trail 8-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Porch is very comparable in both size and weight to the Core 11-Person Family Cabin Tent with Screen Room
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Space-Lots of it!
- Screened porch/mudroom/vestibule
- Mesh ceilings: watch the stars
- Headroom: can stand up and walk around
- Port for electricity
- Price point: very inexpensive
- Rolling carry case
Cons
- Two-person set up
- Weight: this isn’t a backcountry tent
- Nylon material should be treated for waterproofing
- Screened porch not fully encapsulated. Easy entry for bugs and varmints.
- Weight
- High profile: wind may cause issues
Rating
| Comfort and Space | 10 |
| Weather Resistance | 7 |
| Durability | 7 |
| Ease of Setup | 7 |
| Size and Weight | 8 |
