Eddie Bauer EB-30004.2

I just purchased this tent brand new off eBay. I set it up in the front yard in advance of some rain showers so I could test the tent before taking the family out. I assumed a certain amount of quality assurance testing had occurred with the Eddie Bauer name. Boy, was I wrong.

On the plus side, the rain fly has pretty decent coverage for a family tent. (But don't expect to stay dry. More on that in just a second.) I like the two doors and excellent ventilation for the tent. However, I still give this tent one star due to:

1. Poor engineering
2. Apparent lack of field testing
3. Absence of common sense
4. Inattention to detail
5. Ultimately, a tent design that GUARANTEES the tent will leak.

So here is what happens: during a rain, even the slightest wind will blow the rain on the portion of the door that is NOT protected by the rain fly. My rain test didn't even expose the tent to heavy rain—it was probably closer to somewhere between a drizzle and a sprinkle. Anyway, here is the design flaw explained in more detail:

1. The rain fell on the screen mesh, which provided virtually zero stoppage. (It's not supposed to, it's screen!) and stopped at the nylon tent material of the door.
   QUESTION: Why would they put screen on the outside and then the nylon?  Reversing this order putting the nylon on the outside with the screen on the interior would have helped significantly.)
2. At this point, it ran down the exterior of the door until it hit the cloth zippers that hold the exterior screen door and the nylon tent door. (Yes, there are two separate zippers.)   
   QUESTION: Did the engineers really believe a cloth zipper without rain fly protection would stay dry?
3. Water that drains down, accumulates between the exterior screen door and the interior nylon door—right where the cloth zipper lies.
   QUESTION: Who in the world designs a tent designed to TRAP water?!?! (Wait, I know the answer to this: Wenzel!)
4. At this point, there is nowhere for the water to go.  It just waits until it saturates the cloth zipper material (which doesn't take long) and starts to drip into the interior of the tent.
5. Even if the zipper material were entirely waterproofed, I suspect water would still find its way around the teeth of the zipper.

So my conclusion, with the current design of this tent, it is IMPOSSIBLE for the tent to remain dry in even the slightest of rain. Although I purchased the tent new off eBay, I don't suspect I am going to get any solution from Eddie Bauer or Wenzel, although I will certainly try. 

In the meantime, I want to issue a caution to anyone else who may consider the 10x10 Family Dome Tent from Eddie Bauer/Wenzel. Even though I haven't even slept one night in this tent, I don't have the heart to sell it to anyone on eBay or Craigslist.

Correcting for the design flaw by fabricating a canvass/vinyl outer door flap.

In order to prevent water entering the tent around the bottoms of the front and rear door screen mesh and zippers, I cut up a canvass / vinyl coated painters tarp (45" w' x 15 foot long available in beige from Home Depot for $18) to create two outer door flaps.  The tarp width of 45" is perfectly suited  to completely cover either door opening and zipper. 

I used an old treadle sewing machine to sew the hems.  If needed, you could take the pieces needing hemming to a tailor or you could hand sew a hemmed edge.  The two finished and hemmed tarp pieces should be 63" long to extend down to the bottom of the tent. 

At the top corners, affix a fabric tie (1/2" wide narrow piece of ripstop nylon or tarp material) 10" long diagonally across the corner, and then slip one end through slitted opening on the tent pole clips to tie up the door flaps.  Be SURE the vinyl covered side of the door flaps face away from the tent (the canvass coated side will absorb water somewhat).  To keep the flaps out of the way of the door during clear weather, roll up each door flap and use two fabric ties to secure each one above the tent doors.  I sewed my fabric ties to the back side of the door flaps to avoid losing them. 

The final touch is to cut and attach between 4 and  8 self-stick 1" Velcro strips to the inside bottom corners of the door flaps, placing additional sets of Velcro strips about half way up the sides of the doors if desired.  Doing so will keep the door flaps from...you guessed it......flapping in the wind.

This project took about a half hour and cost less than $20, yet it totally eliminated the design flaw inherent in the tent (rain fly not totally covering doors / correct screen and canvass door positions reversed).

Not a wet weather tent...at all!!!!

I won this tent as a door prize at a work function 12 years ago (around 2006 or '07 maybe). I never used it much until my boys got to an age where they wanted to camp. So I’ve used it several times in the backyard in ideal conditions.

Now, I’m on an across-the-country journey. The first few nights in Custer, S.D., I slept without the fly on and it was great...pretty moist inside by morning, but it was humid and hot during the day and was down to 50 at night, so I expected some condensation.

Time to move over to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming.  Rain is in the forecast, but only at 30 percent. Still, I was a bit chilly the previous night, so I decide I’ll use the fly to keep some of the heat in, while also preparing in case I did get a sprinkle. In true man fashion, I disregard the directions because who has time for that? After 45 minutes of looking like an idiot, I decide to consult the manual. Ah, the zipper does NOT go over the door....makes total sense! Why didn’t I think of that? So half of the four sides don’t have much protection in the event of sideways rain.  

If there’s the slightest bit of rain, I’ll burn the tent as a heat source I guess cause the sumb***h ain’t gonna keep me dry. Leave it to that old job to screw me over ten years after I left LMAO! 

I recently purchased this tent for car camping as my other tents are all for backpacking. Before leaving on my trip I decided to set the tent up in the backyard just to familiarize myself with set up. I found the fly to be a poor fit and was concerned when I saw lg cloth zippers around the windows. The fly was taped but there was no taping around the windows or seams in the tent body.

After setting up the tent I was going to leave it up since it looked like rain and I was curious to see how the tent would hold up. I couldn't wait for the rain and decided to wet the tent down with a garden hose. Boy am I glad I did. This tent leaks like a sieve !!! Had I gotten caught in a downpour I would no doubt have spent a long, cold and wet night.

I thought about selling this piece of garbage but I didn't want to inflict it upon anyone else and ruin their camping experience. I cannabilized the tent for parts and threw the body of the tent away.

In all fairness I do own an Eddie Bauer two-man backpacking tent that I have had for several years and been very satisfied with. This tent is obviously nowhere near the quality.

Got wet.

Had this tent about 10 years. Should have contacted EB long ago about the rainfly. I thought it was the wrong one because the ground-to-top zipper, which I would have assumed went over an entryway, goes over a window. Every other time I take my once-a-year camping trip, I forget this, and it takes some working around to get the rainfly right.

But once that happens, it does not protect in moderate rain. On my recent trip, we got drips through the top of the tent all night, and seeping on the sides where the rainfly makes contact with the side of the main tent. I am not the most mechanical or technical gal, but I know enough to know something falls short with this tent.