Chinook Twin Peaks Guide 6-Person Plus Fiberglass Pole Tent

Chinook Twin Peaks Guide 6-Person Plus Fiberglass Pole Tent is a unique double dome freestanding structure with two rooms and a full cover fly.

Key features

Where to buy

Check on Amazon they have a shipping service which is hard to match.

What is in the name

This Twin Peaks tent has been on the market for many years, this is a part of a series which also includes one 4-person tent. My guess is that they use the words Twin Peaks to point out the unique construction of this tent. So this is a structure of two domes attached to each other, see the picture below, they use the phrase Interdome rooms for this design. I do not remember seeing something similar on the market. The word Plus should indicate that it has enough space for more than 6 people, more about this below.

This is also a tent with a fly that covers both domes together. So I have included it in my list of tents with full fly. Is it freestanding? Well, the inner tents are indeed, see the picture of the tent without the fly. But the large fly has two small vestibules and they need to be staked down.

Two rooms

The floor plan picture below shows also that this is a 2-room tent of a particular type, with an inner area and a front screen room. What makes this design unique is the front room, and this is for several reasons:

• Without the fly it is just a mesh on the three sides, but the fly covers it completely and transforms it into a true fully protected room.
• But the fly has two zippers on the two sides, which can be rolled to the sides and with this you get two windows with the fly on. The same holds for the front fly door which can be rolled up. If the weather changes, you can close all of them in seconds.
• In addition to all this, you have a removable floor in the front room with clip in/out buckles in all corners. So you can use it and have a floored front room, though crawling insects can still get in the front room. Or you can roll it partly or fully when you want, for example for cooking and for drying the clothes.

So you realize how functional this design is, and this is why I have included this tent in my list of screened tents. 

Who is it for

Size-wise, the declared capacity is 6 people plus. So let’s see if this is realistic. The total inner area is 128 ft² (11.9 m²) and this makes around 2 square meters per person which looks more than enough. But if you use the front room as a living room, then this is a structure for no more than 4 people.

Weight-wise, this is a heavy tent with its 28 lb 8 oz (12.9 kg). This is because of fiberglass used for the poles, this is a heavy material and not particularly durable. But note that the packed size is very reasonable 24.5 x 11 x 11 inches (62 x 28 x 28 cm). So you can transport this tent even on a motorbike. In any case, this is not something to carry around, the tent is for places with a motorized access.

Seasons-wise, and climate-wise, with such a full fly and the great waterproof rating, this tent will protect you in any rain. However, this is a very tall structure with 81 inches (206 cm) height. So I would avoid areas where it may be subject to strong winds.

There is enough mesh on both parts for an optimal ventilation, this includes large mesh doors for a crossflow, plus the mesh on the ceiling in the inner tent, and large mesh sections on the sides in the screen room. 

But these same features make it unsuitable for a cold weather camping, so if this is what you need please check this long list of tents for such a purpose.

More about materials & construction

The poles

There are 5 of them and those are fiberglass poles, all color coded for an easy setup. Each of the two room is a dome created by two X-shaped poles which have 11 sections. You also have a ridge pole with 5 sections which supports the vestibules creating small awnings above the entry doors and it bridges the gap between the two domes so that the fly has no sagging. 

The poles are attached to the tents through clips and sleeves on the top sections. The length of each of the dome poles is 239 in (607 cm), the ridge pole is 116.5 in (296 cm), just to know if you would rather replace them with aluminum poles. 

The fabric

The fly is a polyester material with minimum 2000 mm PU waterproof coating. This should be more than enough for any rain situation in the camp. They claim it has extra UV-resistant treatment for protection against damaging UV rays. They did not provide the denier value for the fabric used.

The bathtub floor is a heavy-duty oxford nylon with the same PU coating and waterproof rating. The removable floor in the screened room is a durable polyethylene. There are several sections with no-see-um mesh for ventilation and protection from insects.

The doors & windows

There are three doors in total, two entry doors and one between the two domes, all double layer type with panel and mesh. All are huge and with a walk-in height. The entry doors are paired with fly doors that are both with parallel zippers so you can create awnings and this extends the protected area considerably. When not in use, you can roll them up and fix above the entrance. 

The front dome part of the fly is with two long zippers on the sides so you can unzip the fly and have great and huge side windows.

Note that you have very durable #10 nylon coil zippers on the doors and #8 on the windows. The fly creates two minimal vestibules in front of the two doors, so small that they are not worth mentioning, only 1 ft deep as you realize from the floor plan above. 

Other details

• Double-stitched and nylon tape-reinforced seams on all strain-bearing upper canopy seams.
• Web loop and grommet/clip and sleeve systems for an easy pitching.
• Heavy-duty guy points made of delta-shaped fiberglass reinforced polyethylene.
• Gear loft is included with each Chinook tent for added storage space.
• Included in the package are tent pegs, guy lines and storage sacks for tent, pegs, and poles.

Good and less good features & rating

Here is my short summary:

The price & rating

The price on Amazon for this tent as of the moment of writing the text is around $385, so this is not the most affordable option in particular in view of its fiberglass poles. But this is not an ordinary tent, you have a unique design here. Please see how I rate it for the same criteria used for all tents here in the site:

Specifications

• Type: extended dome tent.
• Capacity: 6 people.
• Weight: 28 lb 8 oz (12.9 kg).
• Dimensions: 15 ft 8 in x 11 ft 4 in (478 x 345 cm).
• Inner dimensions: 13 ft 8 in x x 9 ft 4 in (417 x 285 cm).
• Inner area: 128 ft² (11.9 m²).
• Inner area per person: 21.3 ft² (2 m²).
• Vestibules area: 14 ft² (1.3 m²)
• Total protected area: 142 ft² (13.2 m²).
• Peak height: 81 in (206 cm).
• Packed size: 24.5 x 11 x 11 in (62 x 28 x 28 cm).
• Warranty: Lifetime.

Chinook Twin Peaks Guide 6-Person Plus Tent vs Competitors

I have decided to show this tent side by side with two other 2-room tents from the top brands. One of them is a screen tent and the other is not, but all of them are in the group of dome tents. This might help in making an informed choice. As you see, the Twin Peaks Guide 6 tent packs nicely and it offers lots of protected area. The Coleman tent offers more but this is not a fully protected space. Please follow the links to see more. 

Final thoughts

Please note that this is not a sponsored text and I am not paid by the brand. Thank you for reading. Please use the comment box below in the case of questions or comments. Have a nice day.