The Ozark Trail 7-Person Family Cabin Tent is a 3-season tent great for camping trips with family and friends.
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent is a 20’ x 20’, fourteen-person, five-room, car camping tent. Four separate entry points, twelve windows, and five different sleeping zones provide many options to configure the tent just to your liking.
Contents
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A removable ceiling rainfly allows for extra ventilation and star gazing from all rooms. Pre-attached zippable room dividers provide as much, or as little privacy between you and your fellow campers as you wish.
Comfort and Space
Floor Space
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tents’ overall layout is a 20’ x 20’ (610 x 610 cm) “Plus” shape.
Exterior rooms
Each end of the Plus symbol (+) is a separate room. Each exterior room is approximately 6’7” x 6’7” (229 x 229 cm). There’s a common area in the center of the tent that’s accessible to each outside room.
Common Area
The common area is approximately 6’7” x 6’7” (229 x 229 cm) in size.
Total floor space
The total floor space of each individual area is 44.89 ft sq (4.17 m sq). The total floor space of the entire tent is 235 ft sq (21.8 m sq).
Ten adults can fit comfortably into the Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent if two adults sleep in each exterior room and two adults sleep in the common area.
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Head Room
The Interior Peak Height in the Common Area is 6’6” (198 cm). The peak height of the Ozark 16-person Cabin tent is 6’11” (211 cm).
The Interior Peak Height in the Exterior Rooms is approximately 5’5”’ (165 cm).
The individual Exterior room Peak Height is an important factor to keep in mind if you plan to stand upright to socialize with your co-campers, or plan to stand up straight to dress.
ALSO SEE: Best Tall Camping Tents: Stand Up Tents for Tall People
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person has been identified by Ozark as a Cabin style Tent, but we think it’s more of a Multi-Room Tent. Multi-room tents are all about multiple rooms and providing the option for privacy between rooms. A Multi-RoomTent is a good choice for a family/friends gathering.
A dedicated area for gear storage and a fair amount of private sleeping areas make this a good option when you want space and privacy. A Multi-Room tent isn’t a good choice for inclement weather situations.
Doors and Vestibules
There are four separate entry points into the Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent. The doors may be operated independently to allow greater privacy in each section of the tent.
Primary Entrance
There is a single primary entrance. The Primary Entrance door is approximately 6’7” x 5’6” (229 x 168cm). There is an exterior door cover that may be fully or partially tied open to allow ventilation, or zipped closed to provide rain protection or privacy. The door, nearly floor to ceiling, is no-see-um mesh.
Secondary Entrances
There are three Secondary Entrances. Each door is approximately 4’ x 5’ (122 x 152 cm). Each doorway is “D” shaped and has no-see-um mesh windows that are approximately 3’6” x 4’ (107 x 122 cm). The no-see-um mesh windows are located at 1’6” (46 cm) above the ground.
There is no dedicated Vestibule.
Storage
There are five hanging mesh pockets, and five hanging cup holders, located on the interior walls. Given the size of the tent, and the number of campers, the hanging storage is inadequate.
Depending on how many campers you plan to have in the Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent you may have a lot of storage or almost zero storage. We recommend taking fewer campers and then utilizing one of the exterior rooms as a gear storage location.
Breathability and Ventilation
Warm and sunny weather ventilation isn’t a problem in the Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent. With four doors, twelve mesh windows, and a removable roof rainfly, you’ll have as much, or as little ventilation as you wish.
Ventilation Features
There are eight U-shaped Poly Mesh no-see-um mesh windows. Each window is approximately 2’ by 4’ (61 cm х 122 cm) and has an interior zippable privacy flap.
Each Exterior room has a dedicated exterior doorway with a no-see-um mesh window.
If the center room partitions are hung and zipped closed, the primary ventilation for each exterior room will be through its’ individual windows. If the center partitions are not engaged, airflow can move through the entire tent through windows located throughout the tent.
If the rainfly hasn’t been placed on the tent, the entire ceilings mesh no-see-um will provide a massive amount of ventilation. IF the rainfly is engaged, and the windows are closed due to rain, this will be a very warm and moist tent due to the lack of ground-level ventilation.
Weather Resistance
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent is best utilized for summer glamping experiences or targeted fair weather shoulder season camping.
Wind Resistance
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent is a big tent and that equates to a big footprint.
A Multi-Room tent, like the Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent, provides an awful lot of surface area for the wind to grab. This isn’t your tent for windy weather. Many product reviews mention that the tent poles snapped with very little wind.
Multiple users mention the rainfly detaching from the tent during heavy winds. Definitely stake the rainfly and corners of the tent with heavy-duty tent stakes.
Rain resistance
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent is a lightweight water-resistant polyester. The tent body and Rainfly are made out of Recycled Polyester Taffeta with a 185 Thread Count and 600mm Hydrostatic Head water resistance.
The main tent body seams aren’t factory-sealed, so you’ll definitely want to seal all the seams before you head out on your expedition if you have any expectations of wet weather conditions.
The seams of the rainfly are factory taped, so that adds an additional layer of wet weather protection over your head.
Exterior Room Rainfly Design
Multiple users have mentioned that rain will pool up into a trough on top of the rainfly near the entryway poles. Users have tried to tighten, and in our best estimate overtightened the rainfly guy lines. The overtightened guy lines add stress to the tent poles which leads to the poles breaking or snapping.
Durability
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent has many user reviews mentioning issues in the field with both the tent poles and the water resistance.
Water Resistance
We recommend a good polyester tent sealer and frequent (gentle) lifting of the rainfly from inside the tent to release the water.
Tent Poles
Stretch the Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent out to the proper dimensions before staking it. Do not over-extend the tent poles in an effort to tighten the tent skin. A little bit of loose fabric is OK.
Don’t over-tighten the guy lines in an attempt to have a perfectly tight rain-fly. Over tightened Guy lines may be a cause of broken tent poles.
The flooring is Polyethylene which provides good durability and water resistance. The seams are double sewn.
Poles
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent has twenty-two poles that are both fiberglass and steel. The poles are pre-connected with wire cords.
Fiberglass poles are prone to breaking under heavy winds, but they keep the cost and weight of the tent lower than aluminum alloys or composite.
Ease of Use
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent is an external frame tent. We recommend having a friend join you on your adventure to set up this very large tent.
You’ll need a large clearing for this tent. We recommend at least 30’ x 30’ (9.1 x 9.1 m). The extra distance on each side will allow the use of all four entrances.
User reviews are varied on ease of setup. Some users indicate that fifteen minutes is the correct time, and other users indicate that thirty minutes is the correct time. Ozark expects the setup to take twenty minutes with two adults.
How to Set up the Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent
- Place the tent on the ground and stretch it out. The door with the grey pole sleeve is the primary doorway.
- Extend the pre-connected poles. You will have ten poles when you have completed the connections.
- The two longest poles are the main roof poles. Connect them through the pole sleeves at the center of the top of the tent. The poles will form an X.
- Connect the end of each pole to a plastic connection hub.
- Tie the fabric lines at the center of the tent where the poles cross.
- Thread the main roof poles through the blue sleeves and attach them to the corresponding plastic connection hub.
- Insert the main upright poles into the connected pole sections.
- With two adults, raise one side of the tent and insert the main upright steel poles.
- Connect the pole at the base of the tent and at the pole connector.
- Repeat the process on the other side of the tent.
- Stake the center portion of the tent with the steel stakes at a 45-degree angle.
- Insert the side upright poles into the corner joints and then connect them at the base of the tent.
- Stake the corners of each side of the exterior rooms.
- Drape the rainfly over the primary tent entrance and then extend it over the entire tent ceiling. The grey edge of the rainfly should be aligned with the grey edge of the Primary Entrance doorway.
- Connect the rainfly to the tent with the pre-attached Velcro straps. The rainfly has preattached Guy lines that should be extended and staked into the ground.
Packed Size and Weight
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tent weighs 50 lbs (22.68 kg).
The Ozark Trail Base Camp 14-Person Cabin Tents packed size is 29” x 17.25” x 12” (73.66 x 44 x 30 cm). Considering its gigantic footprint, this doesn’t seem all that big! It will easily fit onto a closet storage shelf or the truck of your automobile.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Massive amount of floor space
- Privacy-Zipped rooms if you choose
- No-See-Um mesh ceiling
- Lots of airflow potential
Cons
- Many user complaints about lack of water resistance and pole breakage
- Complicated setup
- Lack of ventilation in the center room
- Lack of hanging gear storage-it’s quite skimpy for a tent of this size
Rating
Rate the tent (1 to 10) on each of the following criteria:
| Comfort and Space | 8 |
| Weather Resistance | 4 |
| Durability | 4 |
| Ease of Setup | 6 |
| Size and Weight | 8 |
