This is the Kodiak Canvas Truck Tent, as just like the name says, it’s a canvas tent specifically designed to be set up in the bed of your pickup truck.
The Truck Tent comes in three sizes, designed to fit both medium and full-sized pickup truck beds, and it offers an unusual alternative to traditional ground tents, or the increasingly popular rooftop tents that are taking the industry by storm
This is the Kodiak Canvas Truck Tent, as just like the same says, it’s a canvas tent specifically designed to be set up in the bed of your pickup truck.
History Speedrun: Kodiak Canvas
Kodiak Canvas was started in Layton, Utah in September of 2005 by Bright Path Enterprises. Company founder Aaron Hill filed the first Kodiak Canvas trademark application in December of that same year. Kodiak introduced its Flex-Bow tent a year later in 2006, a cotton duck canvas design on a heavy-duty steel pole frame. Hill said later that his reason for building the Flex-Bow was frustration with cheap polyester tents on flimsy poles.
Kodiak added the Z Top sleeping bag in 2019, it’s a rectangular sleeping bag with a removable insulated top flap and a knitted neck opening – intended to seal out drafts without the constriction of a mummy-style bag. The company calls it the biggest innovation in sleeping bags in over 20 years, and many buyers seem to agree.
Two decades on, the Kodiak catalog now includes cabin tents, flex-bow tents, swags, truck tents, sleeping bags, cots, camp chairs, and camp stoves. The company claims to be the best-selling canvas tent brand in America, and while that’s hard to independently verify, it does seem highly likely.
The Kodiak Canvas Truck Tent
Kodiak makes the Truck Tent in three sizes, Model 7211 covers mid-size trucks with 5 to 6.5 ft beds, including the Tacoma, Frontier, Colorado, Canyon, Ranger, and Jeep Gladiator.
The Truck Tent comes in three sizes, designed to fit both medium and full-sized pickup truck beds, and it offers an unusual alternative to traditional ground tents, or the increasingly popular rooftop tents that are taking the industry by storm
Model 7206 fits full-size beds from 5.5 to 6.8 ft, and model 7218 fits 8 ft beds only. Both full-size versions cover the F-Series, Silverado, Sierra, Ram, Tundra, and Titan, including heavy-duty models where the bed dimensions match. Bed length is measured inside the bed with the tailgate up, and Kodiak asks buyers to carefully confirm sizing with a measuring tape before ordering.
The Truck Tent’s mounting system is remarkably clever, it uses steel rails that clamp onto the bed walls with C-clamps, and the tent’s 3/4 inch steel tube frame integrates with those rails. Kodiak notes that trucks without standard bed rails may need larger aftermarket clamps.
The canopy is made from Hydra-Shield 100% cotton fuck canvas, which Kodiak describes as double-fill and silicone-treated for water resistance and breathability. The interior ceiling height is 5 ft, it’s tunnel shaped and it pitches with the tailgate down for extra floor length.
The style of the Truck Tent is clearly reminiscent of the frontier wagons of the Old West, with the curved roof and canvas cover, though now the tent is built around a pickup truck bed rather than a wooden wagon.
There are five no-see-um mesh windows in each tent, a cab access window that doubles as a pass-through for a power cord, a D-shaped door on YKK zippers under a covered entry, and two gear pockets. There is no groundsheet as the truck bed is intended to be floor, this makes cleaning it out far easier.
The style of the Truck Tent is clearly reminiscent of the frontier wagons of the Old West, with the curved roof and canvas cover, though now the tent is built around a pickup truck bed rather than a wooden wagon.
The full-size versions are listed at 45 lbs, a duffle bag is included for hauling it, and the warranty is lifetime limited. It’s rated all-season but not for heavy snow loads.
It’s worth noting that setting the tent up does take time on the first attempt, but owners report that it becomes much quicker once you get the hang of it. If you’d like to read more or place an order you can visit the official product page here.
Images courtesy of Kodiak Canvas
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
