White Duck Regatta Bell Tent review: the 13 ft canvas bell tent, and which size fits your camp

By the OpticVerdict Editorial Team.
Research-based review · Updated 2026-10-11

How we reviewed it: a research-based review built on White Duck's own sources, all read on 11 October 2026: the four Regatta size pages, the Regatta Bell Tent Owner's Manual (10', 13', 16.5', 20'), White Duck's warranty page and its hunting page. We add two independent reviews (GearJunkie, 2022, 13 ft; Man Makes Fire, 2024, a 16 ft tent White Duck sent for review), GearJunkie's 2026 camping tent guide, and the OpticsPlanet listing with its one customer review. We have not used this tent ourselves; the score is our editorial opinion. See how we evaluate.

What the Regatta is

The Regatta is a round canvas tent on a single center pole. You stake the floor edge down, lift the roof from the inside on the center pole, set the door pole, then stake out and tension the guy ropes. White Duck's manual is clear that "this is not a free-standing tent": it needs every peg and guy rope in the ground. White Duck's Regatta size pages and manual list these features:

• Canvas. White Duck's product pages name it "Weatherproof DYNATEK™ Canvas"; the Regatta manual's diagram labels it "Weatherproof DYNADUCK Canvas". Both names appear in White Duck's documents, and we found no White Duck statement that they are the same fabric. White Duck's Regatta pages and manual give no fabric weight or fiber content, so we print none. White Duck's hunting page describes its canvas in general as treated for water repellency, plus UV and mold resistance; mold and UV damage are still outside the warranty.
• Floor. A 7.5 oz biodegradable sewn-in PE groundsheet.
• Air and light. 3 windows, 4 roof vents and 1 door, with no-see-um mesh on the door and windows.
• Stove jack. One heat-resistant, silicone-coated stove jack, pre-installed, with a 5-inch and 6-inch cut pattern. The manual says to roll up the outside canvas flap before you cut. No stove is in the box contents White Duck lists.
• Poles. Galvanized steel. The center pole is 38 mm in diameter on every size; its wall is 1.2 mm on the 10 ft and 13 ft and 1.6 mm on the 16.5 ft and 20 ft. The door pole is 25 mm with a 1.2 mm wall.
• Guying. Reflective polypropylene guy ropes and a shock-absorbing elastic cord around the base, which the floor pins are driven into.
• Other details. An electrical cable outlet, galvanized steel pegs and a rubber mallet. White Duck's 10, 13 and 16 ft pages list a "3-way" waterproof zipper; the 20 ft page says only "Top grade waterproof zippers".

Which size: 10, 13, 16.5 or 20 ft

The size is the floor diameter, and it changes almost everything else: center height, capacity, weight and the number of pegs. These are White Duck's figures for each size. The two weights per size are for the two fabrics; White Duck gives them as the weight of the one box, which holds the tent, groundsheet, poles and tool kit.

Sources: White Duck's four Regatta size pages, its hunting page (floor area for the 10 ft and 13 ft) and the Regatta manual's tool kit table. White Duck gives no floor area for the 16.5 ft and 20 ft; ours is circle arithmetic from a 16 ft 5 in and a 20 ft diameter. The 16.5 ft page is titled "16' Regatta Bell Tent".

• 10 ft. The lightest box at 51 lb, but the door is 4'9", against 6'6" on the three larger sizes. White Duck's hunting page calls it ideal for 1 to 2 hunters.
• 13 ft. The size we card. 8'2" at the center, a 6'6" door, about 133 sq ft per White Duck, and a 66 lb box in Water Repellent fabric. GearJunkie's 2026 guide says it fits four camping cots.
• 16.5 ft. 9'8" at the center and a thicker center pole. The box is 83 lb (Water Repellent) or 90 lb (Fire Water Repellent).
• 20 ft. 11'2" at the center, rated sleeps 10 for camping, and a 107 or 117 lb box.

The camping and glamping capacities are White Duck's ratings; its product pages do not define them. Man Makes Fire, which tested a 16 ft tent White Duck sent for review, describes White Duck's rating as eight sleepers on sleeping pads, calls it "generous compared to typical 8-person camping tents", and says eight people on pads will "have plenty of room to sprawl". Our suggestion: cots and a stove take more floor than pads, so plan on fewer people than the camping figure if you bring them.

What the OpticsPlanet listing sells. Its 10 rows match White Duck's own variants one for one. 10 ft: Realtree Edge, Water Repellent. 13 ft: Sandstone Beige (our card) and Realtree Edge, both Water Repellent. 16.5 ft: Sandstone Beige in Water Repellent, plus Sandstone Beige and Forest Green in Fire Water Repellent. 20 ft: Sandstone Beige, Desert Red and Realtree Edge in Water Repellent, plus Forest Green in Fire Water Repellent. One trap: the listing's spec block gives a single weight range, 107 - 117 lb, for all 10 rows. Per White Duck that is the 20 ft tent; the 13 ft we card is a 66 lb box.

The other colours, in the retailer's own listing photos and under its colour names. The photos give no scale, so they do not show which size each one is. On screen the Desert Red reads closer to a rust brown than a bright red. Click a photo to enlarge.

Our 13 ft card, MPN S4-4GO7-UPDK: around $770.

Water Repellent or Fire Water Repellent fabric

This is the choice that matters if you plan to run a stove. White Duck makes a flame-resistance statement for one fabric only, in the Regatta manual's fire safety section:

“The materials used in the manufacture of the Fire Water Repellent fabric meet the flame resistance requirements of CPAI-84. It is not fireproof.”

White Duck, Regatta Bell Tent Owner's Manual

The manual goes on: "The fabric will ignite and burn if left in continuous contact with any open flame", and "Canvas tents are not for use with open fire pits." White Duck publishes no test report or certificate with the statement. The Water Repellent fabric, which is our 13 ft card, carries no flame-resistance statement at all, so we do not call it fire retardant.

On a stove, White Duck's manual does not forbid one in either fabric. It says: "Installation of log burners or heating equipment is at your own risk." It also says grills and cooking appliances must not be placed nearer than 1 meter to the tent canvas. White Duck's warranty page lists damage from "fire/stove/air conditioner use" among its exclusions. The three Fire Water Repellent rows on the OpticsPlanet listing are 16.5 ft (Sandstone Beige, Forest Green) and 20 ft (Forest Green). They cost more than our Water Repellent card, and White Duck lists them heavier: 90 lb against 83 lb at 16.5 ft, 117 lb against 107 lb at 20 ft.

The two fabrics side by side, from the manual, the warranty page, White Duck's size pages and the OpticsPlanet listing:

Setting it up

White Duck's hunting page says to expect about 10 to 20 minutes once you have done it once or twice, and that one person can pitch its bell tents (it names the Regatta and the Avalon). The manual's sequence:

1. Lay the tent out with the door facing the way you want.
2. Stake the floor edge with the pins, through the elastic cords around the base, in a star pattern or going round the tent, angled at 45 degrees toward the center.
3. Take the center pole inside, set it in the roof's centerpiece and push the roof up; stand the pole on the marked circle in the middle of the groundsheet.
4. Set the door pole through the grommet at the top of the door, about a foot inside the edge, and put the rain cap back on.
5. Stake the guy ropes with the larger J-pegs, starting over the door, in line with the tent's seams; then tighten them a little at a time all round. The manual compares it to tuning a guitar.

The manual recommends pitching the tent once at home, so the first time is not at camp. The independent reviewers differ on help: Man Makes Fire, on a 16 ft tent White Duck sent for review, wrote that "one person can set it up" and that "The biggest setup challenge you might have is carrying the heavy tent". GearJunkie's 2026 guide, on the 13 ft, says "you’ll need a large site and likely some assistance", and that getting it to the campsite "will require a second set of hands".

Two independent field reviews

GearJunkie, 13 ft (Sean McCoy, 31 October 2022). The reviewer took the 13 ft to elk camp: "three hunters eating, sleeping, and working for 10 days", including a camp at around 12,000 feet. They report: "We had no condensation inside, even after a long night of rain." A Portable Buddy heater kept it warm; they did not use a wood stove ("We did not use a wood stove during our trip"). One night of high wind, the optional awning caught the wind: "The awning had pulled a stake loose and flung it about 20 feet across the campsite." The tent itself stayed up ("the tent did not come down"). The reviewer's concern was that someone standing near the tent could be hit by a flying stake, and they called it "a low-probability issue" to keep in mind in very high winds.

GearJunkie's guide, 2026. GearJunkie's "The Best Camping Tents of 2026" guide (updated 27 August 2026) picks the 13 ft as its "Best Canvas Tent". That is an editorial pick in a buying guide, not an award. The guide says: "This is a tent you’ll have for a decade plus if you take care of it well." The same guide describes the fabric in two different ways and gives two different weights, so for fabric and weight we use White Duck's own figures.

Man Makes Fire, 16 ft (Chris Maxcer, 20 March 2024). White Duck sent the tent for testing and review. The reviewer describes the 9'8" center height as "whopping" and the inside as expansive, and on wind writes: "High winds and shifting winds tend to slide off of it." Their unit "weighed in at 78 pounds inside the included carry bag", one sample against White Duck's 83 lb (Water Repellent) and 90 lb (Fire Water Repellent) box figures for the size; the two are not measured the same way.

What owners report: one review

The OpticsPlanet listing has one review, five stars, from a Verified Owner from MI, written in June 2026, with the headline "13’ regatta tent". It does not name a listing row. The reviewer writes: "Very spacious inside and made from quality materials." They also note the weight: "A little heavier than I was hoping for, but I’m not surprised given it size." They list hunting and family camping as uses.

One review is not a pattern. The weight of this page is White Duck's own figures and the two independent reviews, not owner sentiment. We do not use the star ratings on White Duck's own site, which put all sizes in one score.

Before the first trip, and after every trip

• Wet it once at home. White Duck's manual explains that canvas expands slightly the first time it gets wet, so the tent "may leak slightly the first time". It recommends that you "hose your tent down at home with water and let it dry out" before the first camping trip.
• Never pack it away damp. "Do not store your tent when it is damp." If you have to break camp wet, set it up again at home to dry. White Duck says "Mold growth on your tent is not covered by warranty."
• Clean with water only. The manual says to use a soft brush or sponge with fresh water, and not to apply any external treatments or chemicals without consulting White Duck first.
• Brush off snow as often as possible, the manual says.
• Do not leave it up. White Duck says the tent is "not meant to be used as a permanent shelter, left up year-round or left unattended", and counts all three as negligent use outside the warranty.

Warranty: limited lifetime, original owner

The Regatta manual calls it a "limited lifetime White Duck Warranty", "extended to the original owner only", covering defects in materials or workmanship. White Duck's warranty page limits defects to those from the manufacturing process or production errors ("stitches and waterproofing") and excludes, among other things:

• damage from "mold, mildew, inconsequential spot leakage, ultraviolet exposure, fire/stove/air conditioner use";
• damage from extreme weather, including "ice, snow, hail, wind, and lightning";
• use as a permanent shelter, or leaving it up year-round or unattended, which White Duck counts as negligent use.

White Duck repairs or replaces at its discretion and at its expense "provided the delivery address is in the lower 48 states of the US". For a canvas tent, the exclusions cover most of what actually damages one, so care matters more than the warranty.

What comes in the box

White Duck's manual lists "1 Canvas tent | 1 Pole Bag | 1 Tool Kit Bag", and the size pages describe the one box as "Tent, Groundsheet, Poles & Tool kit"; the "Your tent includes" panel on the 10, 13 and 20 ft pages also shows a storage bag. Per the manual's tool kit table, the 10 ft comes with 9 J-pegs and 9 pins, and the 13, 16 and 20 ft with 13 J-pegs and 13 pins, each with one rubber mallet and one rain cap. The groundsheet is sewn in. White Duck sells a ground tarp, a fly sheet and an awning separately. The OpticsPlanet listing's package line reads only "White Duck Regatta Bell Tent".

Trade-offs, plainly

• Heavy: a 66 lb box for the 13 ft, and up to 117 lb for the 20 ft, per White Duck.
• Not free-standing: every pin, peg and guy rope has to go in, so you need ground that takes stakes.
• The Water Repellent fabric (our card) has no flame-resistance statement; only Fire Water Repellent meets CPAI-84 per White Duck, and even that is "not fireproof".
• Limited lifetime warranty, original owner only, excluding mold, UV, fire and stove use and extreme weather.
• The 10 ft has a 4'9" door.
• The canvas needs care: wet it once before the first trip, and never store it damp.
• One OpticsPlanet review for the whole listing.

Key specifications: the 13 ft we card

Specifications are White Duck's, from the 13 ft product page, the hunting page and the Regatta manual. The OpticsPlanet spec block is listing-wide and not used for any size. No award is claimed.

Should you buy it?

• Buy the 13 ft if you drive to camp, stay several nights and want standing room (8'2" at the center, a 6'6" door) for two or three people on cots, or a family on pads.
• Pick 16.5 ft or 20 ft if you want room for more cots plus a stove, and can handle an 83 to 117 lb box; these are also the sizes with Fire Water Repellent rows on the OpticsPlanet listing.
• Skip it if you carry your shelter any distance, need a free-standing tent, or want a tent you can leave pitched all season, which White Duck's warranty treats as negligent use.

What else to consider:

• Bigger or stove-ready: our size table and the fabric section show where the Fire Water Repellent rows are.
• Getting meat out of the field: our Mystery Ranch Metcalf review covers a framed hunting pack built for multi-day hunts and for carrying meat out.
• Back at base camp: our LEM MaxVac Pro review covers a chamber vacuum sealer for home batches of meat.

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