Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Camping Tent Review

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent with Screen Room is a dome style camping tent. The tent is built from durable and robust materials and is suitable for 3-season camping.

It is a 2-room structure with 158 ft² (14.7 m²) of area. The tent is loaded with features that include a screen room, steel and fiberglass poles, a large floor area, and much more.

Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent, Blue#ad

Convertible screen room with inverted "T" style door and...
Removable seam-sealed fly
Mesh roof vents
3 zippered side windows with inside flaps
Shock-corded fiberglass roof frame with steel uprights and...

Key Features & Benefits

Spacious.
Stable dome structure.
Great price.
Screen room with the floor.
Comes with a carrying bag.

Drawbacks

The only entrance is through the screen room.
The rainfly is not a full-coverage type.

Specifications

Weight: 27.3 lb (12.4 kg).
Dimensions: 16 x 11 ft (488 x 335 cm).
Total Area: 158 ft² (14.7 m²). Main room: 98 ft² (9.1 m²). Screen room: 60 ft² (5.6 m²).
Peak height: 78 in (198 cm).

Who is it for?

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent is suitable for 3-season campers, small family campers, and car campers.

Tent Brand

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent from Wenzel. Wenzel is part of a large family of outdoor brands owned and operated by Exxel Outdoors. They are experts in making camping equipment. Whether you are a novice camper or an experienced outdoor veterinarian, they will support your adventure and provide high-quality camping equipment at an affordable price.

Tent Shape

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent is a dome style camping tent with a screen room.

These dome-shaped tents are the most popular option on the market today. They feature a set of poles that cross at the center. The poles bend downwards, reaching the tent’s corners. They can also be set up with ease.

Because the edges are rounded, water can roll off the tent, which helps to prevent build-up.

The walls of the main room are very high and straight. You can put any bunk bed in such a room. But it may be unstable in strong wind.

Tent Seasonality

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent is a 3-season tent. This is a popular style of a tent and for good reason. These tents are suitable for use in the spring, summer, and fall.

Mesh paneling provides ventilation and breathability, but the tents are sturdy enough to keep campers dry in a storm. However, these tents aren’t suitable for heavy snowfall and stronger winds.

Tent Structure

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent is a non-freestanding tent. The central dome structure supports only the main room. You must secure the screen room with ropes.

These tents are given their structure via stakes. This can make it challenging to pitch the tent in the sand. These tents are often lighter than freestanding tents, as the tent’s pole structure can be less sturdy.

Screen Room

This tent comes with a screen room. You have 60 sq ft (5.6 m²) of space here.

In the screen room, there are nets all around and above, but it also comes with panels so you can zipper it up completely in case of rain and all the interior is protected.

The screen room has a floor to prevent crawlers from entering the tent.

You can enjoy the starry sky in the screen room on a clear night. You can also organize the screen room into a lounge area with chairs and tables.

Tent Fabric Material

The fabric type of the Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent is polyester. This is the most common fabric used to make tents.

It is also a popular option since it is affordable and performs well in different weather conditions. Polyester is waterproof if coated, won’t change shape or sag when wet, and performs reasonably well in sunlight.

Polyester is also more durable when compared to nylon, usually packs down quite small, and the weight is also reasonable. However, the low breathability of this material often results in condensation.

Tent Pole

Steel and fiberglass poles are used in the Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent. It’s a nice powerful combination.

Steel makes some of the most durable and strongest tent poles out there. When the poles enter the continuous sleeve along the body of the tent, it creates a very strong structure that is best suited to handle the wind. But steel is heavy compared to aluminum tent poles. They are only suitable for car camping.

Fiberglass tent poles are still the most inexpensive materials used for tent poles. In general, these tent poles are flexible and solid but are heavier when compared to a material like aluminum. They can also break or crack when exposed to cold temperatures, which means they are more suitable for summer use.

Waterproof

Made of polyester fabric with a waterproof polyurethane coating, your tent is protected from the rain from top to bottom. Unfortunately, it does not have a bathtub floor.

Ventilation

Many things can lead to condensation, including sweating and exhalation. This is more likely to be an issue when it’s much warmer in the tent than it is outside. Proper ventilation is important.

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent has 2 windows and a screen room. The large mesh ceiling provides good ventilation.

There is a vent on the back of the main room. It can be zipped up, but you can keep it open all the time because it has a rain cover, so there is no chance of water getting in.

Tent Weight

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent weighs 27.3 lb (12.4 kg). This is a tent for car camping. Weight won’t be an issue with these tents in most cases. Only the smallest of vehicles, like smart cars, will have an issue.

Tent Size

The dimensions are 16 x 11 ft (488 x 335 cm). You can indeed place 5 narrow pads on the dome area, and 3 narrow pads in the screen room.

Many campers, especially adults and teens, will want to have between 25 and 30 square feet of space. In most cases, capacity ratings overestimate how many people can comfortably sleep in a tent. Unless you don’t mind being cramped, you shouldn’t trust that number.

It can be helpful to subtract 2 from the tent’s stated sleeping capacity. For example, if a tent says it can sleep 6, you can assume that it sleeps 4. While this rule won’t always work, it’s usually effective for tents with a sleeping capacity between 4 and 8. These recommendations typically refer to teens and adults.

Another solution is to divide the sleeping capacity by two. If you do this, you can assume that everyone will have plenty of space to stretch out. This also means you’ll have ample room for gear, such as a heater, furniture, and any other supplies that you want inside your tent.

A larger tent can also be a bonus if the weather is poor. If you’re confined to a tent, having extra space means you’ll have enough room for indoor activities.

Tent Height

The Peak height of the Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent is 78 inches (198 cm).

You shouldn’t just look at peak height when determining if a tent has enough headroom. This number measures the tallest point of the tent. To get a sense of the interior height of the tent, you should subtract 2 inches from the tent’s peak height. This can keep your head from brushing up the ends of the tent. This is because the end of the tent may get wet with condensation overnight. Wall geometry is also something that you should consider.

At the highest point in the main room, you have a ring for lantern attachment.

Set Up

You can easily set up the Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent in 20 minutes.

But we still recommend that you should practice setting up your tent at home. This way you can set it up quickly before the storm or the sun goes down.

Tent Rooms

The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent only has 1 sleeping room. It is not a tent designed for a large family.

Tent Doors

The only entrance is at the front of the screen room. Here, you have an inverted T-shaped centered zipper. Behind it, you have an O-shaped room entrance with a zipper.

The only entrance is through the screen room. This may be a drawback. Because you can quickly make the floor of the screen room dirty.

Rainfly

A rainfly is a separate waterproof cover that is made to fit over your tent. The Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent has a roof-only rainfly.

This type of rainfly allows more views and light while providing sufficient protection from the rain. The fly covers only the upper part, so it is far from the ground and may not perform well in strong winds.

Others

There are several very small pockets.

Tent Price

You can buy the Wenzel 8 Person Klondike Tent at a reasonable price and get good quality and rich features.