We need to upgrade our 4 person backpacking tent for a larger size car camping tent. We are looking at the Wawona 8 with a footprint of 10'x14'. This will give our family plenty of space to spread out esp. during inclement weather.
Do most US public car camping spots allow this size tent footprint? I want to say yes since we will have to drive in and park our car in the camping spot. Also, any downsides with such a large tent? Thank you.
Update: Going with a Wawona 6, with the vestibule, it will be as big as the 8.
The 8 with a vestibule would be too big.
I picked up a Wawona 6 person tent and tried it out with the family this past weekend. The specs are 9.5’ x 8’. The vestibule added another 4’ to the 9.5’, so similar footprint to the Wawona 8.
Setting up wasn’t too bad, took longer than expected figuring out how the combined vestibule/rainfly sits and which poles to use where since one is curved and the other is straight.
The space was ok for 2 adults and 2 kids, would have liked more space to keep our clothes and cooler bags inside. It fit four sleeping pads fine, I doubt a 5th would’ve fit. Standing space was good, the sides were more vertical than slanted.
The vestibule was nice to have to put storage and buckets, fans, etc. that you don’t want to leave outside.
The rainfly was covered in morning dew, I am not sure if there was any way to make it more taut.
We are still on the fence if we should keep it or go for the Wawona 8. My wife wants the 8 for more space. I saw the Core 6 at Costco for $150 which is a steal compared to the Wawona 6, anyone have experience with it?
Yeah. I’ve slept in it with myself on a cot and my three boys in sleeping bags. The 8 doesn’t have the same vestibule setup. I didn’t prefer it as much but if that’s not a big deal 🤷♂️
We just did this and have 4 kids. Some items like a Coleman stove we already had, but here’s what we bought to get started. It adds up but was still so much less than the AirBnb even after campsite fees. We mostly camp in New England hence the sleeping bag choice. Good luck!
1 x NF Wawoma 8 Tent w/ footprint tarp
6 x NF Wawoma 20 Sleeping Bags
4 x Nemo Switchback Sleeping Pads
1 x Exped Queen Megmat
We purchased a North Face Wawoma 8 person tent. Easy to put up and break down (my kids ... 12 and 11 do it). Only issue, which you'll have with many large tents, is finding a good place to setup and a lot of platforms are too small.
I have a Wawona 6 which has a larger footprint than the 8 due to the very large vestibule. It's 18 feet long. I've never had an issue setting it up on the ground, although it won't fit on most pads or platforms.
No, the vestibule is an integrated part of the rainfly on the 6. The sleeping area of the Wawona 6 is smaller than the 8, although the vestibule is larger.
we have a north face wawona 8. It fit two queen mattresses plus about 3-4ft of tent for supplies. It felt spacious and we could walk around easily. The only issue with this tent is that the front door is hard to open, it took two hands to hold part of it taught while the other hand pulled the zipper. This was particularly challenging as we have an infant in arms, but with older kids it may be a minor inconvenience rather than an issue.
Our friends had the Marmot 6, the snowpeak 6 and the big agnes bunkhouse 6. The bunkhouse was giant compared to the other two tents. It could fit two queen mattresses plus a small 2ft strip for supplies. The quality is amazing and its very easy to set up compared to the north face. The marmot 6 and snowpeak 6 could only fit one mattress but with ample room for supplies. Marmot was simple to set up, snowpeak slightly more challenging, but both seemed equal quality to the north face.
Top Camping Tents on Reddit
1
The North Face
Wawona 6
84% positive of 134 users
Spacious vestibule, strong in storms, but rainfly tricky solo.
310TX
