A safe, comfortable home away from home
Tent camping is supposed to be fun, right? We go camping to escape the everyday grind, to get away and refresh our spirits, to enable us to spend time with our kids, to pursue that elusive lunker rainbow trout in our own secret backcountry hideaway. We camp as a means of "getting out there" — it's a lifestyle of exploring the nooks and crannies of the world. We camp so that we can sit in the company of friends and toast the sunset, with vistas we simply wouldn't have from the nearest hotel room. We camp because it's relaxing and fun. So the last thing we need is a tent that doesn't perform.
Springbar® tents will exceed your expectations! If you are accustomed to tents that leak or come apart when the wind gets blowing, you'll be pleasantly surprised on your first trip with a Springbar.
Water Repellancy
A tent needs to keep you dry. That's a pretty basic requirement; but not all tents are equally adept at keeping the rain outside while controlling humidity and condensation inside. Most manufacturers use coated synthetic fabrics to shed water. When you build a tent using a single wall of coated nylon, you'll keep the rain out, alright, but at the price of practically zero breathability. To get around this problem, a common strategy is to use an uncoated inner wall covered by a coated outer fly. This is called "double-wall design," and it's the way that many backpacking tents are constructed. Though a valid way to construct a tent when weight saving is the primary goal, in larger tents that will be transported by car, jeep, truck or boat, double-walled nylon construction brings unneccessary complexity in setup and less long-term durability compared to a Springbar tent.
Our Sunforger® 100% cotton duck is a premium fabric, manufactured with a super-tight weave and a double dry-finish treatment, yielding a fabric that is highly water resistant and at the same time highly breathable to minimize condensation. Because of these characteristics, Springbar tents don't need an external rainfly. And you'll stay dry inside, no matter what the weather is doing outside.
Breathability = comfort
You know that one of best ways to beat the summer heat is to don a cool, comfortable 100% cotton shirt. It's really no different with tents. The problem with many tent fabrics is the same thing that plagued those polyester shirts back in the 1970s: lack of breathability. The synthetic tent materials commonly used in the industry are just not as breathable as natural cotton, so indoor humidity builds up and it feels "stuffy" inside. Not so with a Springbar. Our 100% cotton duck breathes like your favorite cotton shirt. Don't sweat it — a Springbar is the most comfortable tent you'll ever experience.
Roomy Interiors
The floor plan of most Springbar tents is rectangular, a shape that provides the greatest usable sleeping capacity per square foot. Steeply sloping sidewalls allow plenty of room to stand up virtually anywhere inside the tent, not just in the middle as with some family "dome"-style tents. All this extra space is something you'll really appreciate on your next camping trip.
Stands up when others fall down
Besides offering great interior volume due to straight sidewalls and a high roofline, a Springbar tent has amazing wind-stabilty, standing up to the worst weather imaginable. We often hear the following story (with variations) from our customers: there was the "big storm" that blew though their campground … and the only tents left standing were the Springbars! Visit the customer testimonials section of this web site to read real-life accounts of how Springbar tents hold up in adverse weather conditions.
Quality materials are one reason that Springbars are known for their wind-worthiness. The other is the design itself, which has just enough flexibility to be able to resist strong gusts without snapping tent poles or pulling out seams. Our tents have been time-tested in America's harshest environments, from southern Utah's canyons to the high passes of the Rockies to the windy plains of West Texas.
Though you probably don't plan to take your Springbar on a high-mountain expedition, isn't it nice to know that you could? A slightly modified Springbar Model 7001 Family Camper was used as a basecamp tent for over 40 days at 21,000 feet on Mt Everest. During this expedition, typical windspeeds were in the range of 30-40 MPH, with frequent gusts up to 70 MPH!
Easy Setup
When you've been on the road for hours to get to that weekend camping spot among the pines, the last thing you want to do is struggle to get the tent pitched.
The Springbar design is not only strong, it's also super easy to set up! Springbar frames have a minimal number of poles to keep track of and no ropes necessary for a secure pitch (some models use guy ropes to tether the optional front canopy). Once you've experienced the ease with which these tents go up, you'll be spoiled for life. Our tent setup sheet shows just how simple it is. It takes only minutes, giving you more time to do what you came for — relax and enjoy yourself!