CLAM Pavilion Screen Tent | 12.5 Ft Pop Up Gazebo - Gray 8-Person Shelter

Bought this for a camping trip we knew would bring rain. We wanted an area that we could sit and socialize in/at when it was raining. Worked great. The material seems durable without being to heavy. having the side rain/wind/sun blocking flaps attached to the pavilion is so nice. I would have been very disappointed to not have them attached. The set up, take down is easy enough and doesn't take long. It stores long - like 8 ft long. It is like 30-40 pounds, from what I remember, i didn't weigh it. Very happy with this asset to our camping trips. We have used it on I believe three multi day camping trips and it has held up well and keeps water out. This does not come with a bottom tarp, you have to buy that separately, we have not. We us it to put a picnic table in it and there is plenty of space to walk around the table.

We camp for several months in the summer and have encountered severe wind and rain. The tent has come through like a champ. Seams are good. No rips. Zippers, ties, and Velcro, all work fine. It sets-up and breaks-down quickly and easily. The only thing that we noticed this year is that the waterproofing is failing but that is to be expected and should be easily remedied with some silicone spray.

After a complete disaster putting up a cheaper gazebo (Cool Spot) which broke on first assembly, I decided to try this one after reading a positive review in Wirecutter. It's twice the price for the larger model (12.5 feet) but you get what you pay for. I was amazed at how easily this went up, just like in the video (required viewing). They say it takes 60 seconds - I took about double that the first time, but wow, what a pleasant surprise. It really is a pop-up and it really does take only one person to do it. After assembly, one other person helped me lift it up and place it over the table, chairs, benches already on the patio. The the corners were then weighted down with plants instead of the stakes. We'll see how it does in wind but it seems pretty sturdy. And anyway, if it doesn't like wind, it'll just take a couple of minutes to take it down when a storm comes through. The materials are good quality and the joints are well made. The fiberglass supports are just flexible enough and make it very light. It all then folds up again when you pop it down and easily goes back into the carrying bag.

We also own an older green Clam pop up that uses separate wind panels. They are fine for wind but rain runs off the roof and behind the wind panels and drips all around the inner perimeter making the outer couple feet unusable in rain. This Clam Quick-Set Pavilion with integral wind panels is the way they ALL should have been designed from the beginning! With the integral wind panels / rain flaps, it is impossible for rain to leak behind the panels and with the edge zippers and protective side flaps, they seal very well in bad weather. Only addition I made was to install quick release carabiner clips on the side guy lines to make putting the flaps up and down easier. Only real issue is that as received, the seams need some waterproofing. The first heavy rain wicked in through the seams along the roof line, in the corners and especially where the tie straps were sewn into the seams. This might have gone un-noticed but I was using the (separately purchased) floor so the leaks and drips were obvious. This mostly stopped as soon as I sprayed the areas with tent waterproofing spray. There still was a bit of seepage in the center of the wind panels but I suspect that was because I did not pull the pull straps back out through the holes when I put the wind panels down. The ends got wet through the holes and the water wicked along their length and down the screen. That same rainy night it was VERY windy (25MPH or higher gusts) and the roof collapsed. I tightened the side guy lines and even though the wind increased through the night, the roof did not collapse again. Note that this is not a concern unless the wind is VERY strong. But it could be a real issue if the roof collapses in a rain storm since the resulting accumulated water could collapse the entire structure. I may fabricate a removable prop rod from a painter's pole (so it could pack in the carry bag) to safely hold the roof up in heavy wind. In spite of these issues, I love the Pavilion. It makes for an enormous enclosed and dry area that is easily set up and taken down by one person and easily slides into the back of my SUV. WAY more comfortable than any tent for camping. I had a cot, table, zero gravity chair, refrigerator, Buddy Heater, misc "stuff" and a cart in it and still had lots of room for walking around. At 12.5' across and a 7' ceiling, it is the equivalent of a small room. And with vertical sides, the entire interior space is usable. Only problem is that the roof is slightly higher than our old green pop-up and at 5' 5" tall I need a small stick to pop the ceiling up ;) Note that if you plan to use the separately purchased floor, it is a serious pain to install it as designed. There is a protective flap over the Velcro around the perimeter where the floor is supposed to attach that gets EXTREMELY stuck down when the tent is packed and is very difficult to pull up so the floor can be attached (Clam says this is to protect the screen from damage from the male Velcro). I ended up leaving the flap in place, attaching the floor using the T ties and then just sticking the upper edge of the floor to the small Velcro pieces that are (I assume) supposed to hold the flap up. Not a perfect seal but plenty good enough. And an added bonus.... any small drips down the screens go behind the edge of the floor and into the ground ;)

Awesome design. Easily setup. Used a small buddy heater inside and it kept the warmth easily. Only issue we had was with the plastic stakes. There were only six stakes with the tent. We used them on the inside to hold the Clam Shell in place. Luckily we had another six stakes on hand for the guide lines. The stakes used on the inside of the Clam Shell broke when trying to remove them. The outside guideline stakes also broke upon attempts to remove them. The stakes, both the new ones with the Clam Shell and our older ones, were all plastic. We think the ground, which was wet and clay like, was not willing to release the stakes easily. I have since ordered a set of military style aluminum stakes, so staking out the Clam Shell should no longer be an issue. This was the first time using the Clam Shell since purchasing it over a year ago.

UPDATE: We had HUGE winds resulting in the dome coming down, not supporting the roof. Originally hadnt staked down with the side ropes. Since then, high winds didnt cause the roof to come down so all is still good. EXCELLENT easy up dome screen tent. BEST in class and has all the features. EXCEEDS expectations. The first one we had was a different name brand and lasted a couple years, it was a good name brand but was over $300. THIS replacement is much better in every way. *The fabric, grommets, zippers, velcro, and even the stakes are high quality. The six strings come with smaller stakes for extra wind protection *The ATTACHED wind and rain flaps are a huge upgrade and bonus! Others have invidual panels that need to be put up by attaching to the tent with velcro. SOME, USUALLY only 2 have windows (so there can be ventalation when the protection, comfort panels are up). These panels have a window in EVERY panel and thus no matter which way the wind or rain is coming from you'll be able to open windows. The quality is notable with small seams fitting over the edge of the panels. There are panels for the doors too. All panels just need to be rolled up and tied when not needing them. Then to use just unroll and velcro down the ones you choose. *The door has two quality zippers, one for the screen layer and one for the wind and rain panel. The zipper can be unzipped from the top or bottom. *The size is larger than most,usually the 12' ones are 11'.5" or at most 12' while this one is an extra 6 inches all the way around (which is really an extra foot inside if adding the 6in from one side to the 6in straight across. This could be used as a sleeping tent for extra guests. The listing pics don't do justice for this screen tent, it's much better. It costs a tad more but overall it's a much better deal. This is a case of you get what you pay for. Review pics were taken with some side panels down and some up to show what each look like. It was very windy when pics were taken. The front anchor strings are not up. The easiest way to set up is go inside and push out the lower wall pieces going around a circle. That takes about a minute. Then stake down, hold stakes at an angle. The grommets are under the rain flaps at the intersections/corners.

Definitely one of my favorite pieces of camping equipment! Durable and very stylish!

This is the second year we have set this te nt up at our seasonal campsite and I have zero complaints. Absolutely huge and extremely durable. We had a bad windstorm with large hail and no damage at all. The oversized bag is actually oversized and easily holds the folded up tent. Transportation is reasonable for the size and quality. If you are looking for a large, durable, and easy to set up screen tent this is the cat's ass of screen tents.