So are canvas tents worth it? If you’re looking for a durable tent to keep in one camping spot, canvas tents might be right.

If you’re into camping, chances are you also care about the environment. In this case, choosing to camp in a cotton canvas tent is a no-brainer.

You see, cotton is a natural, organic fabric that comes from a plant. This makes it biodegradable, which means it’ll decompose in a short time if left to do so. The plants can easily be regrown after harvesting which means cotton is sustainably sourced.

In contrast, polyester or nylon are synthetic materials that are inorganic and non-biodegradable. As such, it can take hundreds of years for these materials to decompose, resulting in all sorts of negative impacts on the environment.

You’ll often need to use more than a dozen stakes to get the tent to stand.The reason for this is the thickness and weight of the canvas material, which results in needing more tent stakes to fully stretch it and keep it lifted.

This can happen with polyester or nylon tents too, but it’s more common with canvas tents.

There’s nothing technically wrong with this, but do check the tent in advance – it can catch many campers unaware.

This is another huge disadvantage of canvas tents. After it rains, you’ll need to allow enough time for the tent to fully dry before packing it away. Otherwise, you’re risking mold and rotting that can permanently damage the tent material.

Canvas materials are thick and bulky and these tents can take quite a while to dry.

If the tent material is wet and you have to pack it away, make sure to give the tent a proper airing when you get home. Mildew stains can be a pain to get off tents and can affect the visual appeal of your tent even when scrubbed off.

Finally, weight is probably the biggest drawback of canvas tents. Yes, the tent material is very thick and sturdy, but this also makes the tent rather heavy to carry around.

As such, backpacking with a canvas tent is completely and utterly impossible. Canvas tents are better suited for when you’re camping in one spot for a relatively long time.