The Ozark Trail Flat Creek 12 Person Family House Tent is an impressive freestanding and tall structure with many rooms and cabinets, and a unique shower room.
Key features & benefits
- Cabin style framed tent.
- Shower room.
- 2 Closets.
- Very tall.
- Floor vents.
- E-cable port.
- 8 + 2 Windows.
Overview
Here you have an incredible camping tent which they describe appropriately as Family House Tent. So this is a framed tent, and the meaning of this you can realize from the picture below that shows the tent without the rain fly. So the frame is self-supportive and freestanding. You raise it by attaching the tubes to each other, and then attach the tent to it.
Some describe such tents also as wall tents. This is simply because of the vertical or nearly vertical walls just like in a house. The tent is fully freestanding as usual for such framed structures.
The tent is full of great features, and some you can see in the aerial view below. So the base is like a cross, the first room on the bottom side below is the entry room with its integrated mat. It continues to the central area where you have removable dividers. But see more about the rest below.
The tent is very tall, you have a peak height of 86 inches (218 cm), and this height is in all rooms of the tent.
Shower room & closets
On the rear side there is a shower room, this is the extension in the middle of the picture above on the top. This is a cool and very unique feature. As of the moment of writing this text, this is the only tent on the market with this bonus. This shower room has its own zippered door.
There are also two built-in closets. You can see them in the aerial picture on the top side. Strictly speaking, they are just extensions for storage, and not real closets because there are no doors on them. But they come with very useful storage elements, one of them is shown above, and the other is in the picture below. Because of these features I have included it in my list of tents with closets and cabinets.
How many rooms?
The picture below shows the view in, this is how it looks when you enter the tent and this is the entry room with huge windows on the sides.
The inner door which is in the middle leads into the transverse room which is 6.4 meters long. Here you have removable dividers so you can create three separate rooms, one in the middle and two on the sides. But you can use this space as one large room. Far on the back you can see the door that leads to the shower room behind it.
Below you can see the mentioned central area. The shower room is on left, and the entry room is on the right. Observe great windows everywhere. They have mesh and panels for privacy and protection.
So this is a 4-room tent, plus its shower room, and plus its two cabinets. But you can use it without dividers and have two rooms, or you can use one divider and create three rooms.
Materials
The poles: The frame is steel, and this holds even for the roof poles. The tubes are thick and they connect through several hub elements that are pre-attached to the tent. You will see details in the videos below. The structure has many elements but it is color-coded for set-up ease.
The fabric: They write that the tent meets the flammability requirements of CPAI-84 but it is not fire-proof. However, they do not provide any detail about waterproof rating. But the fly seams are taped.
The floor appears to be polyethylene and it is a catenary cut which is not so great feature because it implies that the seams are on the perimeter of the tent.
Ventilation
All the walls are with incredibly large windows that have mesh and panels. The double-wide door is also with huge windows that have mesh. You have seen its aerial view above, so the ceiling is a mesh surface of around 18 square meters.
There are no fly vents but I do not think this is a big deal here. In the largest central area they have added two floor vents, one is shown in the picture below. So all in all, there is nothing serious to object with respect to ventilation of this tent.
More details
- Built-in mud mat at the entrance helps keep your tent clear of outside debris.
- E-port for supplying power to your electronics.
- There are several sets of wall storage elements, each with several pouches.
- Three hanging storage shelves.
- Three sets of rope lights.
- A large hanging media screen shown in one of the pictures above.
Please see how to set this tent up:
Here you can see how to pack it away:
Who is this Ozark Trail Flat Creek 12 Person Family House Tent for
Regarding the area, it is officially for 12 people. They do not provide any information about its actual floor area. The overall dimensions are huge, it measures 21 x 17 ft (640 x 518 cm), but its shape is like a cross, so it is far from clear how much space it offers.
They write that it can accommodate 4 queen size beds, this is indeed so, but this also means that this is not really a 12-person tent. They determine the capacity by the number of sleeping pads that can be placed on the floor, and in this sense they were probably right.
My estimate of the total area is close to 194 ft² (18 m²), and this is with the closets and the shower room. Note this is not an exact number. So this would give around 16.2 ft² (1.5 m²) per person.
Regarding seasons & climate, this is a summer camping tent with excellent ventilation, roomy, tall, and pleasant, with 8 separate mesh windows plus 2 windows on its double door.
The tent is huge and, although the frame is strong, it is best to avoid windy spaces. The fly is minimal and there are so many windows with panels and this means many potential places with leaking issues, plus the catenary-cur floor. So it is best to avoid areas with lots of rain.
Regarding the weight, this is a very heavy structure that weighs 81.04 lb (36.8 kg). The packed size is 35 x 18 x 17 inches (89 x 46 x 43 cm). All in all, such a tent can only be used at places with a car access.
Specifications
- Weight: 81.04 lb (36.8 kg).
- Official capacity: 12 people.
- Dimensions: 21 x 17 ft (640 x 518 cm).
- Inner area: around 194 ft² (18 m²).
- Inner area per person: around 16.2 ft² (1.5 m²).
- Peak height: 86 in (218 cm).
- Packed size: 35 x 18 x 17 in (89 x 46 x 43 cm).
- Limited 6 month warranty.
Final thoughts, rating, pros & cons
In summary, this Ozark Trail Flat Creek 12 Person Family House Tent is an impressive construction with some unique details. The shower room is definitely one of them. This is a great addition that adds a lot to the functionality of this tent. Even if you use a separate shower tent, you can still use this shower room for storage.
But it also has plenty of other storage elements that include cabinets, storage pouches, and nets. The tent offers multiple room configurations, it is tall and pleasant with its nicely designed windows. However, do not put it to harsh tents, this is a summer camping tent and for quiet weather.
See how I rate this tent against my standard rating criteria that I apply consistently to all the tents here in the site so that you can easily compare. The rating is based on the official capacity:
BEST PLACE TO BUY:
For more tents of this type please check in the group of Cabin Tents. You might want to consider also these Coleman Sunlodge 12-Person Camping Tent and Coleman Camping Tent Skylodge 12 Person that are slightly smaller.
Bookmark this site and come again, this will keep you informed, I add texts here on a regular basis. Thank you for reading.
T . Jones says
Area per person
8
Weight
0
Packed size
0
Protection
0
Ease of use
0
Features
0
How much is the flat creek tent with the shower room
JV says
Hi, I do not sell it, so all you have to do is to click the link and it will give you updated price.
D. Welch says
Area per person
10
Weight
7.5
Packed size
7.5
Protection
9
Ease of use
8
Features
10
I have a family of Sasquatches. We needed something that ensured plenty of headroom for family weekends camping. This tent delivers. There are plenty of arrangement options to suit your family needs. We also spent the night in a nasty storm with heavy rains all through the night. The tent was dry. The bathroom/shower space does come in handy for bathroom trips in the middle of the night. It takes a bit of time to put it up for the first time, but after some practice it takes us 30 minutes to set up. We have only used the tent a half dozen times, but it has already paid for itself in regard to what I would pay for resort room fees for equivalent family vacations…and it is only early June. I recommend it for modest weather outings at campground areas. It seems very heavy and cumbersome for seasoned explorers camping in remote places though.
JV says
Hi, not sure what you mean by family of Sasquatches, I assume tall users, right? In any case, thank you for this report about your experience with the tent. My readers will appreciate it for sure.