Gear Review: De Waard Grote Bonte Specht
We love camping in all types of weather, and we also like to have some comfort when doing it. When we’re not backpacking or trekking with a canoe, we prefer using our bigger cotton tent. This tent from De Waard, a famous dutch tent-making company, is the most expensive tent we own but also the biggest one! It is a car-camping tent since it is quite big and heavy, but for us it is the perfect combination of room, comfort and also looks. Read our opinion below.
Facts & Figures
Dimensions: inner tent 230 x 370 cm, you need about an 540 x 540 cm spot to set it up including the guy lines (excluding the awning)
Weight:
Tent: 15 kg
Poles: 2 kg
Properties:
2-3 person tent
Fabric: 340g cotton canvas
Groundsheet: Bisonyl
Poles: powder-coated steel
Entrance is 200 cm high
Packing size around 30cm diameter and 90cm long
Stakes are included with the tent
Price:
€1799 for base tent (april 2025)
€429 for the awning/tarp (april 2025)
€199 for the floor cover/blanket (april 2025)
A closer look
This tent is from the brand De Waard. This is an iconic Dutch brand that makes canvas tents which are known for their durability, wind resistance and design. The brand has existed in the Netherlands since 1940 and is still going strong. The founder was originally a sailmaker for boats, and used the material of sails and construction to design the first tents.
This specific model is called De Grote Bonte Specht (The Great Spotted Woodpecker), since all De Waard tents are named after birds. It is a pyramid-style tent which uses only one pole to set up. The pole is placed slightly off-centre in the tent, which gives it a bit more room on the inside. The back slopes down which gives it a charming look.
Setting it up
The setup of this tent is easier than it might appear. While large canvas tents are known for their complicated instructions, this tent takes us about 20 minutes to set up including the awning. De Waard provides an easy guide to do this, but it basically comes down to staking down the ground sheet, putting in the pole and then staking down the rest of the guy-lines. This can all be done by one person. The awning attaches to the pole inside the tent and comes with 2 additional poles. While easy to setup, it is very helpful to do this with another person present who can hold the extra poles in place. The tent has an entrance point for an electricity cable on the side. This is nicely hidden away but a good luxury option to have.
When putting the tent away again, it is very important that it is completely dry. After rain, the quickest way it will dry is in direct sunlight. If you don’t have this it might take a while to fully dry out. You do need to be patient though: storing it wet can lead to mold growing in the material and having to throw away your tent.
Usability
The Grote Bonte Specht is an ideal tent for 2 persons. The awning is 1 meter in depth and offers enough space to both sit underneath and cook as well. The entrance to the tent opens on both sides from top to bottom giving easy access. The door also have mesh windows you can open to let air inside without gaining any insects.
Inside, we added the insulated groundblanket for extra comfort making it nice to enter. We usually have a 1.40m wide Exped matress on one side of the tent. This leaves more than the other half free for storing your bags, food and to get changed. Since the highest point is 2 meters, you have enough room to stand up in the middle of the tent to get dressed if you want. While the space is kind of a weird shape, being round and with the pole off-centre, you are not lacking room in this tent. For us, using one side for sleeping and the other for gear leaves plenty of room to maneuver around and get changed.
The tent has a couple of pockets around the sides. These are big enough to hold things like glasses or chargers. Next to these are 2 small mesh vents you can open and close with a zipper. Opening these, as well as the two windows in the doors can be very nice to air out the tent in the morning.
The tent is fully waterproof and holds up extremely well in strong winds. We have used it in some pretty bad weather in France last year and had zero issues. You do have to be careful not to touch the canvas of the tent when it is wet though. Because there is no inner tent, touching the canvas opens up the fabric which means it start letting water through. Other than that, it is fully waterproof and the ground sheet nice and thick.
Field testing
We have been using the De Waard Grote Bonte Specht for almost 2 years now. We have used it both for short 1 or 2 nighters and longer weeks away. It really feels like a house when it’s standing, and using it in the mountains and storm is no issue for it. This makes it a very versatile piece of kit: it is water and stormproof for in the colder and wetter months, while being breathable enough for hot summer days. Using it with 2 people is the sweet spot: there is room for a third if you need but it will become cramped quick with another sleeping spot.
The little nooks on both sides of the tent are also great for storing your cooking equipment or food. The guy lines coming from the front of the tent and the awning are often used to hang clothing or a tea towel that need to dry. We find that while we do have to bend down a bit to enter the tent, it is still great that you can stand up to get changed and it doesn’t bother us. The one downside we have found is that the entrance zipper is placed directly behind the pole. This makes it harder to open and close and lead to some scratching on the pole at the backside. This can be fixed by placing the foot of the pole a little bit more forward, creating some space for opening and closing the tent.
When setting up, once you have the pole in the tent, one person can focus on setting the guy-lines while the other can already start putting gear inside. This makes it a very fast and efficient proces. It does work best on softer ground for a quick setup. We have pitched it on more rocky ground, but with the large amount of guy-lines to stake down this can become quite a puzzle.
Pros and cons
Pro
Fully water- and stormproof
The cotton canvas breathes well in summer months
One-pole constructions means a quick setup
Amazing looks: everyone will be jealous
The tarp gives great additional room for sitting outside
Con
Very heavy: this is not a light tent to carry around
Large amount of guy-lines so you need good ground to stake these down
The main zipper is a bit hidden behind the pole
You cannot store the tent wet and drying it takes time
Conclusion
All in all, for us this is the perfect car-camping tent. It can be used in basically any season or weather and will remain comfortable. While it is quite big and heavy to store, we feel like the tent has so many benefits otherwise that it is worth it to us. Having a tent made by a Dutch company is also a bonus for us. De Waard is a real household name in the Netherlands and their designs are quite recognizable. Whenever we use this tent, we usually get curious campers coming to investigate the tent and ask us questions about it. We love the look of our Grote Bonte Spect and expect it to lasts us a lot more years in the future.