Recyclable and eco-friendly, but is my cardboard tent waterproof?
At last! As a dedicated eco-friendly festival goer, you’ve finally found the ideal camping solution – the EnviroTent cardboard tent. No plastic, and it’s a pitch and go solution – giving you less to carry and no need to add to landfill. But there’s one big question.
Is the EnviroTent cardboard tent waterproof?
It’s cardboard. It’s basically made of paper, right? We all know the British weather is a bit unrestrained at times. It’s all great fun when your festival turning into a mud fight during the day. But no one likes sleeping in a wet bed. So, we understand. You need to know whether your cardboard tent is going to leak. What happens in the rain?
Just like many tents on the market – particularly those cheap throwaway options from your local supermarket that usually lay wasted across the field giving festivals a bad name – our tents are water-resistant. For a normal 3-5 day festival, the EnviroTent will keep you snug and dry.
Still got questions? Read on for a bit more detail.
Waterproof or Water-resistant festival tents.
Waterproof or Water-resistant. Confused? What’s the difference?
Waterproof means that no water is going to get through. At all.
Water-resistant means that you’ve got a good level of protection from water – but eventually, it will get through.
Let’s consider a jacket from your favourite outdoor brand. It’s all down to the material. Most jackets for hiking, skiing or snowboarding, for example, are water-resistant. The material is made to prevent water from getting through, but at a certain point of continuous rainfall, it will become saturated.
You could make a completely waterproof jacket – but remember that you’re not just keeping water out, you’re keeping water in that you produce, such as sweat. Your jacket would get a little bit uncomfortable.
Why not add a waterproof or water-repellent coating to the cardboard?
We have been asked why we don’t add a waterproof or water-repellent coating to our cardboard. The simple answer is, it would make recycling much more difficult, if not impossible! Our tents simply don’t require it for the length of a festival.
Not all cardboard is created equal.
When you picture cardboard, you’re probably thinking about the boxes your parcels are delivered in. But all cardboard is not created equally. The EnviroTent is much thicker and more durable.
We won’t bore you with the nitty gritty (and we have to keep some secrets), but our cardboard is essentially a heavy-duty, high-performance board. The material is less porous which means it can perform similarly to standard tents in extreme weather.
In some ways, EnviroTent performs even better. For example, our tent is less sensitive to wind than a fabric tent. Once you’re snuggled up in your sleeping bag, you’ll forget it’s even windy.
While we can’t promise eternal durability (or that you’ve found your forever home in an EnviroTent), our tents sure know how to put up a fight. We’ve put them to the test over the last year. In fair weather, they may stick around for months, becoming a beloved fixture in your outdoor adventures.
And when the elements turn sour, fear not! Our most recent outdoor tests saw a tent survive five weeks through November and December under a lot of long, heavy rainfall.
So, whether you’re dancing under the stars, or weathering a shower, rest assured, your EnviroTent has got you covered – quite literally!