Kings Awning Shower Tent Instant Ensuite Review

What’s in the box

A shower and change tent in a zip-up PVC cover that mounts to a roof rack or an awning rail with the L-brackets and bolts that come with it. Fold-out arms hold four full-height walls of 210D ripstop Oxford with a silver PU2000 coating, and the top is open to the sky. It has a zip door, mesh pockets on the inside walls and pegs for the corners. There’s no floor or shower base.

Quick Specs

Mounting

The cover is meant to stay on the vehicle. We first bolted it to the side of our roof basket with the L-brackets: position the brackets, bolt them on with a 13 mm spanner, then fix the tent to them. Later we moved it to the track channel on the side of our rooftop tent, where it slides in and sits right next to the ladder. Either way it’s light enough not to notice on the road, and it stays out of the way until you need it.

Setting Up

Unzip the cover and the fold-out arms swing out and hold the walls in shape, with no poles or guy ropes to sort out. The first time, you clip the tent to the frame; after that it’s up in under a minute. Packing it away is the fiddly bit: folding the walls back into the cover can be a bit of a puzzle at first.

At Camp

We’ve used it as a shower with the San Hima camp shower, as a toilet tent and, most of all, to change clothes, and it does all three well. On busier campgrounds it’s really handy to have your own private corner. The silver-coated walls are tall and thick enough to block shadows, even with a lantern on after dark, and the open top keeps it airy and stops condensation. The mesh pockets hold soap and shampoo, and the fabric dries quickly on a dewy morning.

Build and Wind

The 210D ripstop is tough for the price, and the silver coating blocks light and sheds rain. The zippers have kept working through dust and damp, back-to-back camps, and the stitching is doubled at the stress points. In wind, though, the walls sway: on a windy night near Capertee we had to peg the corners down, and sand pegs work well in grass. Very low cars may find the walls drag on the ground.

Kings or KickAss?

We’ve also tested the KickAss Shower Awning, at the same price. It has tougher 300D fabric, an alloy frame and a height you can adjust, and its materials feel a step up; the Kings is a little lighter and has done a lot of trips with us.

	This oneKings Shower Tent	Tougher fabricKickAss Awning→
Floor	No	No
Size set up	100 × 100 × 200 cm	105 × 105 × 160–210 cm
Fabric	210D ripstop	300D ripstop
Weight	6.5 kg	6.65 kg
Price paid	$130	$130
Our score	8.4	8.8

Conclusion: Kings Awning Shower Tent Instant Ensuite

The Kings Awning Shower Tent turns the side of your vehicle into a private shower, toilet or change room in under a minute, and it stays mounted out of the way between camps, on a roof rack or a rooftop tent channel. It sways in wind, so peg the corners, it has no floor or shower base and packing it away takes a little practice. For $130, though, it works great, and on a busy campground it’s a real comfort.