WHITEDUCK Regatta Bell Tent (Realtree Edge, 16.5' (5M), Water Repellent)

I ordered my 10-ft Regatta Bell from Amazon because they had sandstone beige in stock and the White Duck web site did not. Nevertheless, the tent was drop-shipped from White Duck. Go figure.As many reviews state, construction is first class. There are lots of thoughtful details. I particularly like the large-tooth YKK zippers on the door. They seem much more robust than the typical coil zippers that you find on tents.I've set up and taken down the tent twice. Both processes are straightforward, especially if you've owned a number of different tents and understand the common principles of setting them up. Given the number of stakes and guylines and the sheer size, it does take longer to set up and take down than a backpacking tent, but not dramatically longer. Once erected, the tent is very stable, and it was pretty easy to get the canvas taut because of the nine perimeter stakes and nine guy lines.As others have stated, there is room for two cots in the 10-ft tent. If you want to use a stove (I don't), you basically have room for one cot, one stove, and lots of gear. I do love the fact that I can stand up straight in the center of the tent. My guess is that if you had campers in sleeping bags only, you could get four people side-by-side on the tent floor.The first time I set it up, I sprayed water on the tent to season the canvas. The water repellent coating beaded up the water, and it rolled off. I won't know until I camp in the rain if the seasoning worked or not. I do know that canvas tents from many years ago would weep water wherever the oil from your skin would touch the canvas, so my advice is to keep from touching the canvas the first time you use it in the rain.I used the tent this past weekend in clear-sky weather that reached 29 ˚F in the morning. Throughout the night, winds gusted up to 25 knots. The tent fabric would shudder a little with the strongest gusts, but at no time did I worry about the tent collapsing. I left a water bottle out on the tent floor, and it had no ice in it in the morning, so the tent actually retained heat better than expected. There was no frost on the inside of the tent walls even though I kept the windows and door closed, so the roof vents worked well.There are some things I'm getting used to:* I'm 5'11" and I have to stoop pretty far to get through the door. Given the geometry of the tent, it's hard to imagine otherwise, but taller people should be aware of the fact.* The steel pole in the 10-ft tent pretty well blocks access to the middle of my cot. I have to sit on the upper end of the cot or the lower end, but I can't sit exactly in the middle. The steel is also cold on a cold day, so I'm thinking of wrapping parts of it with gaffer tap where I might grab it (say, when getting out of the cot).* At least two zippers must be opened or closed to enter or leave the tent because of the inverted-T arrangement of the zippers. If you're used to one U-shaped zipper, understand that zipping and unzipping the tent will always take a little longer. Also, getting all of the zippers on both the screen and the doors to perfectly meet up at the junction of the T is harder than I imagined when the tent is taut. There is a half-circle of vinyl between the screen and door at the meeting points of the inside and outside zippers to keep insects and small critters out, but it can get in the way of closing the zippers completely. In short, it's a bit fiddly.* If you want to hang a lantern from the ring on the center pole, you will need a hook or carabiner to do it.* The guy line stakes are made from galvanized steel rebar. The ridges on the rebar hold dirt and can be more difficult than I expected to clean off after pulling them from the ground.Some things that I wish were better:* The floor seems to have some extra fabric in it. In spite of staking out a taut perimeter, the vinyl tent floor is a long way from taut. As best I can tell, it was cut a little bigger than necessary before being sewn into the canvas perimeter. I have no idea if this was intentional or not.* The cap on the door pole is cheap, flexible vinyl. It will yellow, harden, and crack or tear with time. I didn't see replacements on the White Duck web site. I hope they're available nonetheless. I can imagine that cap is an absolute necessity to keep water out in a downpour.* The shock cord and chains holding the tent poles together are a bit looser than I would like. The poles don't really snap into place, and the pole sections can easily slide apart again as you erect the tent. I pinched the web between my thumb and forefinger once because of this.

I received my new White Duck Regatta 16.5' Bell-style tent, and I have to say, I couldn't be happier with it. It was shipped earlier than expected and received in perfect condition. The instructions say to set it up and soak it with a hose before you plan to first use it, to season the tent and make it more water repellant - so I did. Set-up was quite easy and the tent looked great standing there in the back yard (my 3-year old son had a blast running around inside the tent and yelling out the mesh windows). We tried to soak the tent with the garden hose, but the water just kept running off. Eventually, it started to look like the material was actually getting wet, and we made sure to try to saturate every bit of the canvas. After sitting overnight, I went in with a towel to clean up any puddles, but the inside of the tent was dry as a bone! I can't wait to take this thing camping in a few weeks!!!-----------------------------------------------------------------------UPDATE - 9/8/2022-----------------------------------------------------------------------We just got back from our first camping trip with this tent, and I have to say that I'm still as pleased as the day I wrote my initial review.It's like a TARDIS in there!!! It looks a little big from the outside after it's set up, but wait until you start to actually put your gear into it. We took 7 large totes, a queen inflatable bed, a toddler inflatable bed, and other various sundries with us, and with the totes around the walls, and with the beds inflated, there was still so much room in the middle of the tent that my whole family could have lain down in the empty space and not touched each other!Most importantly, it stayed bone dry in the tent through an entire day of thunderstorms and downpours. When the rain started, I made sure the windows were mostly closed (a little gap at the top), and the door was zipped at the bottom (I left the vertical zipper unzipped for air flow and only a few drips came in - I would've zipped that one too if the wind was blowing from that direction). We spent a lot of time sitting in our canvas palace, marveling that we didn't need to mop up any errant puddles throughout the storm.My family loves this tent - I can't wait to go camping (glamping) in it again!!!-----------------------------------------------------------------------UPDATE - 11/28/2022-----------------------------------------------------------------------We have been camping with this tent two more times since my last update, and I am no less impressed with this tent than before. We have been rained on at every camping trip we've taken with this tent so far, and this tent continues to keep us dry. A few weekends ago, my family went to Alabama for a 4-day event, and we had purchased a wood-burning stove in anticipation of winter temperatures, but it did not get really cold until our last night there, so we only got to use the stove for one night. With temperatures in the low 30's, we stayed cozy and warm all night. Even with another adult on another queen mattress staying with us for the event, we still had plenty of room in the tent for my family and all of our gear. I can't say enough good stuff about this tent.BTW: the stove I got was the "Winnerwell Large Nomad Tent Stove", it is awesome! I purchased the stove, a "Winnerwell Triple Wall Chimney Pipe, 3.5 Inch Diameter", and the "Winnerwell Flashing Kit," and the stove fit perfectly in the tent (the Triple Wall pipe was at the correct height to exit through the Flashing Kit without needing to purchase any additional parts). I highly recommend this set-up if you plan on putting a stove in your White Duck Regatta 16.5' Bell tent.FYI: Make sure to protect the bottom of your tent from the heat of the stove. I brought a welding blanket for under the stove, but I still needed to place a barrier of split wood under the stove to keep from melting the floor. Next time, I'll probably take a few sheets of 3/4" plywood to put under the welding blanket (2' wide x 3' long should be more than adequate).-----------------------------------------------------------------------UPDATE - 05/05/2025-----------------------------------------------------------------------I just wanted to add a quick update since we have been using this as our primary camping tent for most of the LARP events my family attends. The family still absolutely loves this tent! The event we were at last weekend had more rain than sun, with wind gusts and general unpleasantness, but we all stayed dry as long as we stayed in the tent. When this tent is closed up, nary a drop of water can get into it. This tent has truly been my best glamping purchase, and if a tree were to fall on it and destroy the material, I'd buy another one tomorrow. I can't recommend White Duck Regatta enough!Speaking of buying another one, my wife and I have decided to get the 10 foot version for when either of us are camping alone and want to pack a little lighter. There was a guy set up next to us at the last campout we attended with one of the smaller 10 foot versions, and it looks perfect for one adult, with or without a child in tow.

I lived in this tent for a season while camp hosting! I. Loved. It. I never had to worry about weather and it ended up being the wettest, violent stormiest Maryland Eastern Shore I'd experienced in 27 years (2023). I never had an issue due to humidity, but I also properly ventilated. I never cut the hole for stove pipe once winter camping. The tent was comfortable. My only complaint is I ordered the A-Frame front and received the center pole design because that was the current model. The center pole is a pain because you loose options for a cot/bed. Regardless, I love living in it. I am 5'2" and set it up alone. The first time, ugh swore never again but it was easy after that! Tear down is a snap and it fit perfectly in the bag! Galvinized reebar stakes are excellent. I did use my own preferred stakes for the guylines.