I am so bitterly disappointed with my new Stout tent. The workmanship is terrible throughout. I am sure they have sent me a substandard tent. It is a nightmare to put up; the tent seems to have been badly made, lopsided and unable to be pulled taut with the guy ropes.
The stitching is terrible, there are bits missing, scraps have been used to cobble together pieces that should be robust and strong and the finishing is just dreadful.
I was shocked to find there is a hole in the canvas door, hidden away, that I could easily have missed. This is a fault I have never seen in any tent I have bought new in all the decades I have been camping.
The canvas is leaky, retaining water, sagging and it seems like an old tent
This is not the quality I expected for a tent of this price with the Stout name. I paid the extra premium for a tent that would be durable, comfortable, reliable and long lasting. This tent does not even reach the quality of the bell tents at half this price. I would find it difficult to sell this tent second hand, with all the faults it has.
I bought this tent as I need to use it for several weeks during the Summer months, and I wanted comfort, reliability, quality and longevity. Being a bell tent I get asked about the quality of the brand and the customer service from people who are interested in buying a bell tent themselves. But I am not able to recommend Stout tents and the Bell tent model for a tent at this expensive price.
I have enclosed photographs in three following emails.
1. HOLE IN THE CANVAS: I only found this by chance when I unzipped the groundsheet from the main body of the tent and was fitting the inner net door, which had concealed the damage until then. On the right hand side of the door (looking from the inside of the tent) hidden from view, there is the hole in the canvas just above the zip and stitching.
2. SEAMS: The quality of the sewing is terrible with looping and loose stitches that will not last long. The seams are tatty, messy, badly finished or unfinished with poor quality stitching and frayed edges. All of these loose, looped stitches will catch, fray and come to pieces. Just dreadful!
3. PATCHED TIE-BACK: On the right-hand side door the interior tie-back has been constructed from two scraps of fabric sewn together, and constructed badly. This tie-back is the most heavily used one in the tent and is already showing signs of fraying and will fall to pieces before long. Shocking evidence of cutting corners on materials used.
4. LEAKING. There is something wrong with the canvas. I have used this tent for several weeks in dry and rainy conditions and have experienced the usual leaks as the canvas weathered in. As I expected there were leaks as the canvas proved with the rainy weather, but the leaking is getting worse and continuous. The interior is cold and damp most of the time. This week the tent developed extensive beading along all the roof seams that drip onto the bedding, clothes and flooring. Water is even beading through the canvas itself - often after the rain has stopped and the tent should be drying out. It does not seem to be stopping, just getting worse. The canvas just seems to suck up water like an old tent and retain it, making the interior uncomfortable and miserable.
5. WATERPROOFING: The canvas absorbs and retains water. The atmosphere inside the tent is miserable, clammy, cold and damp. It is always the last tent to dry in the campsite, as the canvas seems to absorb rather than repel water. I have only felt like this when I have a very old tent that is loosing its waterproofing. Normally tents feel warm, dry and cosy. This one feels uncomfortable, damp and dank.
The tent appears patchy and striped when it becomes wet. The waterproofing does not seem to have been completely applied. People have commented upon the stripy appearance of the tent, easily seen across the campsite. People are surprised when I tell them it is a new tent, they feel it looks old and second-hand.
6. IRREGULAR LOPSIDED CONSTRUCTION: Pitching this tent is a nightmare, even with two of us. We have to pitch and re-pitch, over and over again to try and get tension in the canvas, to get the walls straight and to get the aprons taut. Failure to manage this results in dripping and dribbling rain onto the bulging groundsheet (see below). The problem seems to be the worst on the right-hand side (looking at the tent from the front) - these walls seem to fold and crease as if the tent has been cut from the wrong size pieces.
7. BULGING GROUNDSHEET: (linked to the Irregular, lopsided construction) The bath-style groundsheet only rises at the front of the tent, around the door. Elsewhere the groundsheet bulges out and cannot be pulled up high enough to create the proper bath read more
