Hi - I'm looking at buying a used Cabanon Biscaya 370 All Season tent. I haven't been able to find a definitive answer anywhere as to what the material they are made from is. Some appear to be being sold as Cotton, others mention Polycotton and and others call it All Season polyester. Does anyone know what the actual material of these tents is and, if it is polyester, is it "standard" polyester that wont last as long as cotton etc.. Does anyone have experience with these tents? Thanks
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If it's green and beige it's all-season polyester, but nothing like regular synthetic tents as it's really tough and some people can't distinguish between this and cotton canvas. It is easier to care for than cotton canvas; can be wiped and can be left for longer when packed up wet. It feels slightly more stiff than cotton canvas. If it's really stiff and sounds crinkly when you move it about, chances are it's seen a lot of sunlight and is on its way out.
Cabanon has never made a polycotton Biscaya. They did make a cotton canvas version in 2007 or 2008, in coffee and brown colours. It had steel poles instead of the aluminium of the all-season polyester model and was much heavier.
The first models (2003 ish) had bedroom inners which fastened up around the internal pole sleeves with white plastic clips. These tended to pop off, especially in high winds when the tent moved. This design was changed for a perforated tape sewn in next to the pole sleeves and metal S hooks to suspend the inner and was much better (we've had both). You can also tell an early model by it's green canopy. They introduced beige canopies in about 2005 (ish).
Cabanon stopped making the 370 Biscaya many years ago, so any around now must be over 13 or more years old.
They do still make the 440, in blue and cream all season polyester.
Ask if the inner suspends on plastic clips, as that will date it more accurately.
The Biscaya 370 is a great tent but just bear in mind they've not been manufactured for very many years now and I've seen some clearly misrepresented - in terms of age and canvas description - when being advertised for sale.
Best of luck with it. Let us know how you get on?
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Thanks - I'm still not 100% sure if we'll go for one. We've just got rid of a small ESVO tent which was probably 20+ years old when we bought it and it was still going strong when it sold. We need something bigger than that (but not as big as our main tent, a De Waard Vergote Zilvermeeuw which is a monster). My thought now is to go for a canvas tent, maybe a Randstad Bunzing or Cabanon Barbados which I've seen for sale used. I think those are relatively safe bets buying used/old.
If you're looking at the Biscaya 370 currently for sale on eBay by seller 'Oliverbone', just be aware that he's a tent dealer (I've noticed he's had very many tents for sale on there and other websites over recent years). Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, just that he won't have first-hand/owner knowledge of the tent and will have added a profit margin into the sale price.
Quote: Originally posted by loydall on 03/5/2023
Thanks - I'm still not 100% sure if we'll go for one. We've just got rid of a small ESVO tent which was probably 20+ years old when we bought it and it was still going strong when it sold. We need something bigger than that (but not as big as our main tent, a De Waard Vergote Zilvermeeuw which is a monster). My thought now is to go for a canvas tent, maybe a Randstad Bunzing or Cabanon Barbados which I've seen for sale used. I think those are relatively safe bets buying used/old.
If you can find a little-used, properly stored all-season polyester Biscaya you won't be disappointed.
We've had a Barbados as well (we changed from the Biscaya 370 to a 440 for longer trips plus a Barbados for weekends) and liked it a lot. The quality isn't as great as your De Waard (we once had a Lepelaar) but I'd say is better than Esvo and is easy to pitch. I actually preferred the 370 as a good compromise between the 2 as was easier to pitch than the 440 and more spacious than the Barbados. The outside space created by the optional canopy and integral side wings was a massive bonus and far better than the optional side panels on the Barbados.
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A bit of a delay with my reply to this post, so apologies for that.
The Biscaya 370 was the only Biscaya in the range that came in 3 canvas types.
Rip Stop Nylon.
All Season Polyester.
Heavy Cotton Canvas.
Interestingly both the All Season Polyester and Cotton, came with ZiG, whilst the Rip Stop Nylon was SiG.
Also the Cotton was the only model with Steel poles, the other two were aluminium poles.
As for the canvas of the All Season Polyester, that was an exclusive for Cabanon from the Ten Cate stable, it is the same canvas that Cabanon used for there commercial tent business, as they were replacing the cotton tents for that side of the business.
All Season Polyester from Cabanon, is arguable not only longer lasting, but also stronger than cotton canvas.
As another side note Cabanon did test variants of Polycotton canvas for the Biscaya range, but decided All Season Polyester was better for there commercial needs, and as far as I am aware Cabanon have never produced a Polycotton tent, which I thought was interesting.
I bought my Cotton Canvas Biscaya 370 new back in 2008, at a time when Cabanon had gone into chapter 11, well the French equivalent at least.
Brilliant tent in any of it's canvas types for the money, mine has certainly stood the test of time.
Quote: Originally posted by Francais on 04/4/2024
A bit of a delay with my reply to this post, so apologies for that.
The Biscaya 370 was the only Biscaya in the range that came in 3 canvas types.
Rip Stop Nylon.
All Season Polyester.
Heavy Cotton Canvas.
Interestingly both the All Season Polyester and Cotton, came with ZiG, whilst the Rip Stop Nylon was SiG.
Also the Cotton was the only model with Steel poles, the other two were aluminium poles.
As for the canvas of the All Season Polyester, that was an exclusive for Cabanon from the Ten Cate stable, it is the same canvas that Cabanon used for there commercial tent business, as they were replacing the cotton tents for that side of the business.
All Season Polyester from Cabanon, is arguable not only longer lasting, but also stronger than cotton canvas.
As another side note Cabanon did test variants of Polycotton canvas for the Biscaya range, but decided All Season Polyester was better for there commercial needs, and as far as I am aware Cabanon have never produced a Polycotton tent, which I thought was interesting.
I bought my Cotton Canvas Biscaya 370 new back in 2008, at a time when Cabanon had gone into chapter 11, well the French equivalent at least.
Brilliant tent in any of it's canvas types for the money, mine has certainly stood the test of time.
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Topic: Cabanon Biscaya 370 material
via mobile 30/4/2023 at 11:22pm
