A tent is a vital piece of camping equipment. It provides the user with shelter from the elements, storage to keep gear dry, and a place away from insects in order to have an undisturbed sleep. A good tent is also portable, and can withstand the rigours of hiking and being set up and taken down without damage. At the 3rd Ottawa we take our tents and camping gear seriously, and for the last 25 years our tents have been made by Eureka!.
Eureka! tents were established in 1895 Binghampton, New York, producing custom tents, awnings, wagon covers horse blankets and flags. They soon became well-known, making tents for businesses and during World War II, all-purpose hospital, barracks and mess hall tents. In the 1960s Eureka began making lightweight cotton cloth tents, including for Mt Everest expeditions. In 1973, Johnson Wax Associates purchased Eureka and came up with the iconic Timberline tent, which was then made visually famous by the Boy Scouts of America.
Throughout the 1970-1990’s period Eureka tents were used by many famous individuals and organizations, and were often seen in images of Everest climbs, Geological Survey photos and many more. Scouts Canada was also now regularly selling Eureka! Tents and in 2000, the 3rd Ottawa replaced an eclectic collection of many different styles of tents in order to better equip our Section Scouters for outdoor adventure.
For the next 20 years, the 3rd Ottawa tents were solely the Eureka! El Capitan Outfitter 4-person tents, made of heavy duty 150 denier polyester oxford tub floor and lightweight UV-resistant polyester fly, with a few features unique to the Eureka! – a dual vestibule area and two doors on the tent provide lots of storage for shoes and other gear to keep them dry, as well as aluminum shock-corded poles that are durable and can be used in all four seasons (fibreglass poles become brittle in the cold). The El Capitan zippers and mesh doors are exceptionally sturdy and stand up well to repeated use, setup and teardown, all in a packed weight of only 6.1Kg – very good for a frontcountry camping tent. These tents are workhorses that stand up to the test of time.
There are a few important features in a tent that we look for:
- A tub floor that comes up the side of the tent at least 10-15 cm, to protect against heavy rains and moisture.
- A weatherproof fly that incorporates a venting “chimney” to enable heat to rise up and escape, and provide ventilation in the tent.
- The fly should also go all the way to the ground in order to thoroughly protect the main tent from the elements.
- Mesh screens should be fine enough to stop “no-see-ums” – sand flies or biting midges – to keep occupants of the tent insect-free and comfortable.
- Aluminum poles for durability and year-round tent use.
- Strong, beefy zippers that don’t catch on fabric or jam and move freely in all weather, with weatherproof seams.
- Internal gear pockets and gear lofts to organize and store items that will be needed like headlamps, glasses, toothbrushes and more.
More recently, Scouts Canada came to an arrangement with Eureka! to exclusively manufacture the MacKenzie 4 tent, based on the very successful El Capitan design, with the same durable rip-stop nylon, UV-resistant fly and heavy Oxford nylon tub floor, and the excellent aluminum shock-corded poles, that was slightly larger and taller in a simple design built to expedition standards. We now have several Eureka! MacKenzie 4 tents at the 3rd Ottawa.
In 2016, with a large Scout Troop and burgeoning Venturer company seeking to move out of just frontcountry camping and get into multi-day backcountry adventures, we were looking for a lightweight back country tent. We worked with our Scouters to purchase several Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3 tents for this purpose. The Big Agnes has many features in common with the Eureka! tents, they are durable and highly weatherproof, include 2 vestibules and use DAC Featherlite NSL aluminum poles giving us a 3-person, 3-season backpacking tent that comes in at an astonishing 1.72Kg – three and a half times lighter than our Eureka! tents, but with incredible durability that will keep youth dry and comfortable in all weather.
Unfortunately in October 2023, Johnson Outdoors (who own Eureka!) decided to exit the brand and in December 2024, production of these excellent tents was stopped. We were pleased to hear from Jennifer Bellaire, the National Director of the Scout Shop, that they were able to acquire a supply of the excellent Scouts Canada MacKenzie 4 tent by Eureka! before the firm was closed, so as of February 2025, the 3rd Ottawa will continue to ‘evergreen’ our Eureka! tents (replacing older, worn tents with new ones on a regular basis) in order to ensure our youth get the best of comfort when camping with us, and parents the comfort of mind that their youth are having fun, safe adventures in our abundant Canadian countryside and forests.
If you have any questions about the gear the 3rd Ottawa uses at our camps, or would just like to talk to us about tents, feel free to contact us and we’d be glad to have a conversation.