Wenzel 3- by 3-Foot Utility Tent

This was a worthwhile investment. you can shower easily within the 5 gallon water constraint (something i never thought possible). somethine else i would not have believed is that the sun could heats the water in the bag to the point where it was too hot to bathe with. remember to check the temperature every 30 mins or so as it heats up in the sun. The only down side i found was that the shower bag has a flimsy valve which has a way of turning itself on if you are not careful. On my second camping trip i lost about 75% of the water on the carpet of my pickup during the drive to the campsite.

I bought one of these Wenzel Shower Tents this summer, and used it exactly once!

While I was assembling it, I thought I liked my Wenzel Shower Tent. The poles seemed sturdy, and the directions were straightforward...for the tent assembly. There were never any directions included for using the Shower Reservior (AKA water bag), and so I had to guess how to hang it up inside the tent.

I filled the reservior with 5 gallons of body temp water...and then tried to lift it onto the hooks inside the tent. Even before I did this, I wondered about the fact that there are only two hooks included in the structure of the tent, and BOTH OF THEM ARE ON ONE SIDE OF THE TENT. Now, I'm not an engineer, but I anticipated what would happen next. The whole tent started to fall over the moment my friend and I hung up the reservior...and it took two of us to lift the full water bag!

In order to take a shower, my friend had to stand outside the Wenzel Shower Tent and hold the structure by its metal frame so that it would not topple over...with me inside, undressed to take a shower! NOT GOOD.

Because I had no instructions on how to hang the bag, I attempted to tie the included cord to the two holes manufactured into the top edge of the water bag, and then we hung that cord from the two included hooks inside the tent. The trouble is, the cord tore the holes in the water bag after one use. Wenzel sent me a brand-new water bag free when I complained, but they still did not send the instructions for its use, even though I specifically asked for them.

Now, the shower hose and shower head are a tube that is folded twice when it is packed by Wenzel. In order for the water to flow through this tube, it must be held straight, hanging from the bottom of the water bag. This meant that I had to kneel on the ground inside the shower tent, in order to put my head below the shower head, so I could attempt to wash my hair. The tube would not stay straight OR in one place, so a lot of water was wasted attempting to keep it straight so I could rinse. Even by turning the water off when I did not want it, the water ran out before I was really done with my shower.

Last of all, there was no place to put my dry towel so I could reach it after I was rinsed off. My friend had to move away from the side he was holding so I could modestly reach outside for my towel. (By now, there was no more water weight trying to topple my tent, so he could safely let go.)

Later, while taking the tent down, I also pulled one of the connector clip pieces out of its pole, by accident. I have never had this happen to me before with any collapsible-pole tent. I too, thought I was stuck with a broken piece, but I also figured out how to jam the clip back into the pole.

The only good use we made of this tent was as a changing room.

I purchased this tent for the sole purpose of tail gating at Cleveland Browns games. We use it as a make shift bathroom...lol It was very useful and I do recommend the tent to others especially for this purpose. My only regrets are the fact it is top heavy and call fall over easier because we are on cement and there is no place to dig the poles into the ground. If the tent had feet it would be much better. Besides that it is great!

took me 10 to 15 mins to setup and about 5mins to take down. will take it camping in 2 weeks are so. and we will see then.

I bought this item for my wife to use with her portable Century toilet on our camping trip. She loved it, it was very easy to setup & take down.