Clam Six Pack 1660 Mag Screen Tent (or the Worlds easiest/fastest screen room)

Just an update -

We have used this screen room extensively (including our current 3-night trip) and it is showing absolutely no signs of wear or tear.  Still looks new & gets a perfect score from us.  

*If I had to find a fault it would be the collapsed length. If we need both back seats of the TV then we simply store it on the bed in the TT (we keep the storage/carrying bag clean & off of the ground so the bed stays clean).

We have one (and love it) and my brother-in-law who has a truck camper has one. He puts his in a case (might be meant for skis) and straps it to his ladder for transport. Fortunately we can throw ours in the back of the truck. For anybody with doubts, We highly recommend the Clam!

We have used ours a few times and it's great for keeping out bugs but we have to use a fan inside to move the air around, it doesn't allow much air movement.

100% a big thumbs up for ease of set up and take down.  We store it in the TT during travel and then sit it on the back bumper until I'm ready to set it up.

It's on my wish list.

Don

Only 3 of us this trip so a back seat is available (also in the picture are the portable solar & hiking poles) -

That looks like a really nice one!  I love my "Bug tent".   It doesn't always get put up at camp, but it almost always goes along.  I get eaten by bugs when nobody else even sees them around.  I have tried spray, wristbands, the little fan things, candles, vit B, everything!   Nothing works as good as my bug room.  Before my room I would always retreat to the camper and I hated not being outside, and my bug room really works!    And on a trip where we stay in the same place for several days, it makes a nice shady spot to escape the sun also.  

Looks good - so glad this thread has resurfaced. How easy is it to put away by one (short) person? And can one (short) person reach up to push up the roof center piece? 

One other question: how long is the storage bag? Will it fit across the width of the cab back seat of the truck? Or would it have to be stored along the center aisle of the TC during transit?

Thanks.

I am 5'1" and can put it up by myself. To make it easier I use a small stool to reach and pop the top, but by that time the rest is stable. It is a little long, I think to put it in the back seat would have to be on an angle. My brother-in-law straps his to the ladder.

Missed part of the question, the Clam is a piece of cake for one (short) person to take down. My only suggestion would be to watch a couple of youtube videos to see how it's done (the first move is crucial)

Lee-Ann,

In the storage bag, ours measures about 6 feet.  It won't lay down flat on your truck's rear seat, but will fit on the floor of your TC.

Home unpacking.

Just took a few pictures although full spec's. are in my opening post.

My wife is 5', 2" and has no problem due to the pull straps that are attached to the screen room.

 We have a safety incentive program at work and for every month we work without injury (or killing a foreman) we get a prize. The prize gets bigger with every consecutive month that goes by without injury. Late last fall the company gave everyone one of those clam screen tents. It seemed very well made but fairly bulky and going into winter did not hit the top of the best gift ever list at work. We joked that with enough duct tape you could convert it to an icefishing tent. A few people were able to get a store credit at a local fleet farm store for them but word got out and they were flooded with employee's trying to trade in  the tents so the store put a stop to that.  I re-gifted  mine to my sisters family for Christmas but with over 600 employees  where I work ,  northern Minnesota has a bunch of those floating around for sale  or tucked in the back of garages  somewhere

Taking our new Clam with us today to Yosemite for a week.  This will be the maiden flight for our Clam. Can't wait to try it out. BTW, we bought three panels also - looks like Red's panels are solid - no window. Ours came with a large roll up window in each panel. 

Mike -

Right on.  Enjoy.

Interesting about the "new style(?)" panels.  Would love a picture upon your return.

Have a great trip!    You might even catch sight of a moonbow -

https://community.lanceowners.org/top...4#491495232143562454

Jeff - Big smile on Sue's face when we popped the clam open in "32" seconds!! LOL.  Have a great campsite in Upper Pines.  I'll get a pic posted if the signal here will allow.  Burr.... It is a chilly 33 here this morning with clear skies!  

Mike 

Watched someone set one up at a softball tournament we attended last summer in Virginia, and I was impressed.  Then I watched them take it down....  They were probably doing something wrong, but I sure wish I'd had a video camera. There's little doubt I could have made serious money on AFV!

Awesome Mike!  

Would love to see pictures of the screen room, panels, & your site.

This is in Yosemite 4/14. No panels on the Clam then. I'll send more later with the panels and windows.  Photo didn't upload. Ugh!

Mike -

Are you home yet?

Yes, I'd like to see the new-style panels, but mostly want to see the site you had in Yosemite Valley as well as any other Yosemite pic's. that you took.  

Home today from Yosemite. Here are a couple pics of the clam and our site. Upper Pines #83. 

Looks good Mike.  

Did you time yourself this morning when you took down the screen room?

So we bought a clam mag six pack screen tent; we've wanted one for a long time.  It was delivered by FEDEX this past week while we were out of town, and we got our first look at it when we returned today.  We were dismayed to see that it had been delivered with half the box packaging torn away.  We were further dismayed when we tried to set it up, and found that one of the panels had clearly been assembled and sewn wrong so that it couldn't possibly open.  I'm sure every manufacturing company has occasional assembly line quality control issues.  The story may still turn out well.  We immediately contacted Amazon this afternoon, and they have given us a delivery date for a replacement tent on Tuesday (72 hours from now).  They've also scheduled a pick-up for FEDEX to come get the defective one we have now and return it to the manufacturer.

Don

Second time appears to be charm.  The replacement tent came with the box intact.  We took it out today and opened it in less than two minutes.  It only took that long because we opened it in our living room and it filled up the room.  Everything seems to be in order, and this tent is just what we were looking for.

It's beyond me why the manufacturer couldn't send us a non-defective tent the first time (it was obvious the first tent was defective the moment we tried to set it up).  That's definitely a reflection on manufacturing QC.  We'll move beyond that, however, and enjoy what we now have.

Don

Because the manufacturer(marketer) never saw it  because probably made in China for them. Sent to their warehaouse and ship to you

BMJ posted:

Because the manufacturer(marketer) never saw it  because probably made in China for them. Sent to their warehaouse and ship to you

You may be right. 

Don

But now.............. You will really enjoy the clam. Good oversized bag, easy set up, privacy or very open, just a great versatile shelter.  We love ours. 

Don -
Sorry that I missed your first post when you received the defective screen room.

Glad to hear that the replacement is all good and functioning properly.  

Here's how our tent looks in our living room.  We're going to fold it up in a few minutes and pack it away for our trip to the Badlands, South Dakota, next week.

Don

Love it!

That's better than a chair & blanket fort.

Red Barchetta posted:

Love it!

That's better than a chair & blanket fort.

Yep - the grandkids will love it.

Don

It's on our "want" list.

We took the plunge and bought one. Put it up on the driveway the other night in the dark. Very easy. Taking out with us tomorrow on a short camping trip. Trip is to try out the new clam plus new generator. Wahoo! Getting ready for our 10 week trip to the NW

Right on.  Enjoy!

Which generator did you get?

We'll have ours at the Oregon Rally. We used it for a week in Yosemite in April and spent about half of our in-camp time in it. No insects or critters got in.  Except me of course.....

Red Barchetta posted:

Right on.  Enjoy!

Which generator did you get?

We bought a Champion 3100. I'll start another post with the trials of our first generator. 

Nice AT.  

Definitely let the forum know how it performs & how it handles the a/c.

Have a good trip!

A big thank you to diamonds in another thread for mentioning that they store their screen room inside their 1575 during travel.   

I placed our rugs non-skid side down on the linoleum and facing up for the screen room to rest on. There is no way it is going to budge while in transit.

Also, I have it centered over the axle and on the "lighter" side of the TT (slide-out & fridge are on the other side) -

Travel report - the screen room hasn't budged on the rugs on the floor of the TT and this trip has had us traveling up & over very twisty 7'500' & 8,700' passes so far.

Nice!  Same here.....   and really like the Clam.

This has been one of our favorite 'add ons'/expenses!  We opted for the pavilion with wind panels and have loved it.  Thanks to Jeff and others for paving the way.  Here is a newer video.  Great for bug free/shaded space; dining and can be used for sleeping for 'company'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...hXIa9cppw&sns=em

diamonds -

It is great to hear that you are as happy with it as we are.  

We last used ours 2 weeks ago at a non-camping event and used 3 of the panels to block the sun.

We'll be using it again in just over a week on a camping trip.

By the way, your link just takes me to my empty Gmail inbox (web version, not the Gmail app).  Since I don't use my Gmail account for anything other than my phone stuff I only got a parting good wish.    

Would love to have the newer video link.

Deal alert -

Currently $213.36 ($1.13 less than when we got it on sale almost 2.5 years ago) -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...2&pf_rd_i=507846

diamonds posted:

This has been one of our favorite 'add ons'/expenses!  We opted for the pavilion with wind panels and have loved it.  Thanks to Jeff and others for paving the way.  Here is a newer video.  Great for bug free/shaded space; dining and can be used for sleeping for 'company'.

 

diamonds -

I still don't see a video link.  

Jeff

just updated with the correct link!

Last summer, we hooked up with the Red Barchetta clan for a fun filled campout. The skeeters, while not overly excessive, were enough for all to be looking for some relief and since I don't do repellant sprays unless absolutely driven insane, when Jeff pulled out his Clam, it was a welcome relief. The shelter was large enough to comfortably seat 5 adults and two dogs and we were able to sip our wine without having to whine about the bugs.

Viv & I have been himmin and hawin about whether to get one of these cool shelters ever since but just haven't pulled the trigger for a couple reasons.......collapsed size and weight being front and center.

This morning I was perusing my emails and happened upon a similarly functioning shelter, albeit smaller. It's much less expensive, lightweight and folds up into a 31" disc. I have a couple "pop-up" tents, one of which Jeff used at the factory tour rally back in 2014 so I am familiar with the concept. I ordered one to see if it will fit the bill and if not, it's easy to return it to the Costco warehouse.....no questions asked.

https://www.costco.com/.produc...C_2017_0408_Backyard

My apologies to Jeff for hijacking his Clam thread but felt it might be of interest to some. After all, gettin some relief from the bugs is really what this thread is about.....right? 

Best wishes! We had one of similar design but smaller. We nicknamed it the DevilTent because it enticed us into the ease that it went up, lightness etc, but when it came time to leave we could never get the thing to fold in to the circle. Finally gave it to a nephew (physics degree) who had mastered the secret. By the way he got it in it's wonderful open state. Hopefully you too will be an origami master (We own a clam and love it)  

I finally had a chance to check out the Sportcraft screen room. I had no problem with folding it back up. In fact, it was quite easy once I watched a youtube vid.

That said, it's going back. I didn't care for the zipper as the fabric was tight making it impossible to zip with one hand which is important if you're bringing beers or glasses of wine into the shelter to enjoy. The other thing that makes me want to return it is that the fabric weave is not tight enough to ward off no-see ums.

It's already proving to be an extremely buggy year up here and I think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and get one of those Clam shelters or risk getting eaten alive. 

We did get our Clam shelter screen tent for Christmas.  We have only set it up twice, but with skeeter and fly season upon us, I'm sure we will find plenty of opportunities to use it.  It really is quick and easy.  We also got a 3 pack of wind screens. The downside is that it is bulky and heavy.  (6'6" and 34#, I think) folded up and in the bag.

Agree it is heavier and bulkier than others, but won't trade it for any of them. It takes no time to set up as long as you get the first move Our first time was close to divorce and a neighbor offered t o help then retreated to safety. Once we watched the video it took less than2 min, now I make sure to check out the you-tube if we haven't used it in a while . Add a couple of panels and you have shade, warmth or privacy. Would purchase again in a heart beat.

I agree.  When we had kids at home (back in the dark ages) we had a couple of cheaper screen tents.  What a joke!  Neither of them lasted very long, and they were difficult to assemble, use, and disassemble.  I am sure there are other good products out there now, but I love how well the Clam is engineered and manufactured.

Our 140 x 140 Clam showed up this week. It sets up as advertised and looks to be extremely well made and thought out. And yes, it fits perfectly on the floor under the retracted slide.

The only negative......it is pretty darned heavy.

Enjoy Randy & Vivian!  

We actually are using 2 of the privacy screens this trip.  Just to shield us from the cg loop road.  We've only needed them for a handful of trips in the 3 years that we've had this fantastic screen tent.  Nice to have when needed.

We just retired our Clam after about 3 years of use. Out of the 3 years it's probably been set up over half that time. We've used it at home, camping and gate guarding in South Texas. Understand the Texas sun is brutal as are summer storms. Overall this is a good product, easy, as said by others, to setup, good in higher winds if staked well. Downsides are the material has suffered badly in the sun, does and has always leaked at the roof seams ( not bad, but enough to be annoying), and Velcro for the panels wears out quickly.  Also in higher winds the pop out sides tend to pop in, so best to keep things away from the sides.

I'd recommend going to the model with the sewn in exterior panels and getting some extra tent poles to put out the panels for better sun shading. Not being overly critical, just being honest. Ours seen heavier duty than most would get. All said I would buy another if our usage was cut back.

We have been hauling our new Clam throughout the PNW. Set it up once at the SCIO rally just to check it out and reaffirm I could pop it up in less than 5 minutes. LOL 

This screen room is a great mosquito repellent. They seem to see it laying on the table and fly away. Since purchasing this Clam, mosquitos have been pretty much non existent. 

When we were at Fort Stevens SP, someone had a very similar structure that came from Cabelas. Same pop out panels and roof but it also had window flaps built onto the room. According to the owner, it weighs quite a bit more than the clam.

diamonds posted:

This has been one of our favorite 'add ons'/expenses!  We opted for the pavilion with wind panels and have loved it.  Thanks to Jeff and others for paving the way.  Here is a newer video.  Great for bug free/shaded space; dining and can be used for sleeping for 'company'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...hXIa9cppw&sns=em

Will the Pavillion store in the forward locker or is it to long? (Our 1575 will not have the "coffin".)

I love the clam, but had a problem while camped out at Curt Gowdy State Park in WY. 
very strong winds and the Velcro came unattached and wore a hole in the screen in three places. I was able to get screen material but in order to have it repaired I would have to completely remove it from the frame. 
Never happen. Has anyone made screen repairs and if so how did you do it??? New ones are costing $280 plus.