Kodiak Canvas Tents

What Kodiak Canvas makes for hunters and campers

Kodiak Canvas makes tents out of cotton canvas on steel frames. On this site the brand covers tents, plus one screen house that the grid files under canopies. The lineup splits into families you'll see in the grid above:

• Flex-Bow Deluxe: the brand's original design, in three floor sizes
• Flex-Bow VX: the same tent with big triangle windows in place of vents
• Cabin Lodge SR: stove-ready cabin tents with a stove jack
• Canvas cabin and glamping tents: tall walls, big floors
• Truck tents: canvas tents that clamp onto a pickup bed
• Swag: a one-person canvas bedroll tent with a foam pad
• Screen House: a canvas-roofed shelter with mesh walls

Kodiak also sells sleeping bags, quilts, wood stoves and camp furniture on its own site. This site doesn't list those, so the grid stays with the tents and the screen house.

The capacities and ceiling heights in the grid mostly come from Amazon listings, and the grid marks them. The pack weights below come from the maker's own product pages. Where a value is missing, the grid shows a dash, and I'd rather leave a dash than guess.

What every Kodiak Canvas tent shares

Read three of the maker's product pages and you'll see the same paragraph three times. That's useful, because it tells you what doesn't change across the lineup:

• Canvas: what Kodiak calls Hydra-Shield 100% cotton duck canvas, which the maker says is watertight yet breathable
• Weights of cloth: 10 oz canvas on the roof, 8.5 oz on the walls, on the models whose pages list it
• Floors: heavy vinyl, sewn in, with the weight and seam style listed per model
• Frames: galvanized steel tubing
• Stakes: heavy 12-inch steel rod stakes, included
• Season: the maker says use year-round, but not for extreme winter mountaineering or heavy snow accumulations

That last line is the maker's own limit, in its own words. A canvas tent in a Pennsylvania November is one thing. A canvas tent under two feet of wet snow is another, and Kodiak tells you so.

Lineup notes: the Flex-Bow tents

Flex-Bow Deluxe: 9x8, 10x10 and 10x14

The Flex-Bow is the tent Kodiak started with. Its about page says it introduced the Flex-Bow in 2006. The name comes from the frame: steel tube poles plus spring steel rods that bow over the roof and keep the canvas taut, per the maker.

From Kodiak's product pages:

• 9x8: 4-person, 54.5 lb packed including stakes
• 10x10: 6-person, 68 lb packed, a 6-foot-6 ceiling
• 10x14: 8-person, 79 lb packed

The maker describes front and back doors, four windows with no-see-um mesh, two funnel-flow vents, a gear loft, and an awning over the front door. It says one person can set one up in a few minutes once it's staked out.

Rule of thumb on tent capacity: the number on the box is how many people fit lying down, shoulder to shoulder. It's not how many fit with cots, boots, a gun case and a cooler. The 4-person tent page, 6-person tent page and 8-person tent page compare floors across brands.

Flex-Bow VX: the windows version

Kodiak says the VX is identical to the Deluxe except that large triangle windows replace the funnel-flow vents on both ends. The maker pitches it for hot summer weather, when you want the tent wide open. You zip the windows shut from inside when the weather turns.

The grid lists the VX in 10x10 and 10x14, plus the small 8.5x6. Kodiak describes the 8.5x6 as a 2-person tent with extra room for gear, a 4-foot ceiling, and a 30.5 lb pack weight. A 4-foot ceiling is a sit-up tent, not a stand-up one. Plan your boots accordingly.

So the split is by season. The Deluxe keeps air moving through its vents with everything zipped. The VX opens up for July, when you want the breeze more than the privacy.

Lineup notes: Cabin Lodge SR and the hot-tent question

The Cabin Lodge SR tents are the stove-ready ones. Kodiak describes a 5-inch stove jack for a wood-burning stove, sold separately, with a zip cover for when there's no stove. The maker lists a 7.5-foot peak, 4-foot vertical side walls, six windows, two vents and a storm window.

From the maker's pages:

• 10x10 Cabin Lodge SR: about 75 lb packed; 6-person, or 2-person when a stove is used
• 12x12 Cabin Lodge SR: about 97 lb packed; takes an optional 8x8 enclosed awning
• 12x16 Cabin Lodge SR: about 120 lb packed; 10-person, or 8-person when a stove is used

Kodiak says the 12x12 needs two adults to set up. It also says the 10x10 isn't designed for the add-on awning. Note how the capacity drops when a stove goes in. A stove needs clear floor around it, and the maker builds that into its own numbers.

Kodiak's safety page says canvas tents are flammable and that you should keep every flame and heat source away from the fabric. It says stove-ready tents still need caution and care, and that you should always keep a tent ventilated. Its FAQ says not to use propane heaters. Carbon monoxide poisoning is possible with any fuel-burning heat source inside a tent. The hot tent page covers stove-jack tents across brands.

Lineup notes: cabin and glamping tents

12x9 Canvas Cabin

The 12x9 cabin tent is a tall-walled tent with a twist. Kodiak describes a 7.5-foot peak, a front door and a side entry, five windows, and a side wall that rolls up or extends on poles into a small awning. The maker lists it as 6-person at about 92 lb packed. The grid shows it in two listings.

Glamping Tent

Kodiak's Glamping Tent is a 12x12, 8-person cabin-style tent with a 7.5-foot peak, vertical walls and six windows, about 97 lb packed, per the maker. Kodiak pitches it for base camps and long stays with beds and furniture inside.

That's a lot of tent. It's also a lot of tent to fold when it's wet. More on that below. The cabin tent page and the wall tent page compare tall-walled tents across brands.

Lineup notes: truck tents and the Swag

Canvas truck tents

The truck tents clamp onto a pickup bed with rails and set up with the tailgate down. Kodiak describes a 3/4-inch steel tube frame, five mesh windows, a cab access window you can pass a power cord through, a covered entry and gear pockets.

Fit is by bed length, measured inside with the tailgate up:

• Midsize Truck: beds 5 to 6.5 feet
• Full-Size, 6 ft: beds 5.5 to 6.8 feet
• Long Truck Bed Full-Size: 8-foot beds

Kodiak says some trucks need larger aftermarket C-clamps if the bed rails aren't standard. Check the bed length against the listing before you order. A toolbox across the front of the bed counts against you. The truck bed tent page covers the type across brands.

The 1-Person Swag

Kodiak describes the Swag as a one-person canvas sleep system, an evolution of the old bedroll. The maker lists it at 6 feet 8 inches long and nearly 3 feet wide, with a 2-inch foam mattress pad in a washable flannel cover, mesh windows at the head and foot, and a top that rolls back. A tension pole lets it stand without stakes, so it works in a truck bed or on a cot, per the maker.

It's the only tent in this grid you could call compact. Compact is relative. It still rolls up with your sleeping bag inside it.

The Screen House

The Screen House 10x14 is a canvas-roofed shelter with mesh walls. Its listing names poly-cotton canvas for the roof. It's for bugs and shade, not for sleeping. The screen tent page compares screen shelters.

How to choose within the Kodiak Canvas lineup

Start with how you get to camp

Every Kodiak tent in this grid is heavy by backpacking standards. The lightest is the 8.5x6 Flex-Bow VX at 30.5 lb, per the maker, and the cabin tents run near 100 lb. My one opinion on this page: buy a canvas tent only for camps you drive to. The reason is on the maker's own spec lines. A 68 lb Flex-Bow is a two-trip carry from the truck for most people, and a 120 lb Cabin Lodge is a two-person carry.

Then the floor and the ceiling

Plan the floor around cots, not around the sleeper count on the box. The Flex-Bow tents list 6-foot-6 ceilings on the 10x10 and 10x14; the Cabin Lodge and cabin tents list 7.5-foot peaks. Tall people notice the difference by the second morning.

Then the stove

If you want a wood stove, it's the Cabin Lodge SR, and only the Cabin Lodge SR. No other tent in this lineup is built for one, and the maker says so plainly on its safety page.

Then the windows

Deluxe for cold-weather camps, VX for summer, per the maker's own description of the difference. Everything else about the two is the same.

Setup and care, from the maker

Kodiak's care page and FAQ are short and specific:

• First setup: spray the tent with water and let it dry completely
• Dry before storage: always; the maker says storing a wet tent, even briefly, can ruin it and void the warranty
• Cleaning: hose it down and wipe with a cloth; no soap or detergent
• Bug spray: never directly on the canvas
• Re-treating: rarely; if needed, a silicone-based repellent only
• Zippers: don't grind them around corners; keep them clean
• Condensation: not a leak; vent the tent, and use a ground cloth under it

If you break camp in the rain, Kodiak's FAQ says to set the tent back up as soon as you get home so it dries. Here's the thing: that means a canvas tent can take your driveway for a few days in November. Warn whoever parks there.

Kodiak's pro tips page has one I'd never thought to write down: mark the underside of the floor by the front door, so you unroll it with the awning facing the right way. Mark it once and you won't pitch it backward again.

Kodiak's safety page also says its tents aren't free-standing and will collapse if not properly anchored. Stake every loop and guy out every rope.

Kodiak Canvas facts

From the maker's own pages:

• Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, per its about page; customer service mail goes to Layton, Utah
• First tent: the Flex-Bow, introduced in 2006
• Sleeping bags: Z Top bags launched in 2019, per the same page
• Warranty: limited lifetime, to the original purchaser, against defects in materials and workmanship

Stake it out, let it dry, and put the pole bag in the truck before the tent bag. The poles are the part you forget.