Last week Mark Lawless and Mark "the colonel" Sanders visited their tent factories for a final visual inspection of Kampa tent production for 2013

The quality checks involved picking out random finished production, erection and then a 50 point check by Mark Lawless (Kampa's MD) and the “Colonel” as pictured above.

Zips, Seams, cut pattern of material, markings, pegging points, guy lines, bedroom toggles/hooks and inner tents are all checked on every product to ensure no fault through the entire production process. One issue was found on the Watergate 6: the curtain divider in the 2 berth inner had been hung in the wrong place. It was therefore rejected and sent to be replaced - an easy enough job before the stock is sent to the UK!

Sending their UK team out to China gives Kampa a belt and braces situation with quality, as normally this is left to in-line and external Chinese QC teams. Kampa know price  and features are right for 2013 but this is the final bit of the jigsaw and it is important for it all to be spot on this year.

Watergate Front Canopy

Above is the production of the Watergate front porch - it hasn't been seen before as there was no sample available for the tent trade show at Stoneleigh. As you can see it covers the two main front panels which contain the door and window, and has large side windows with privacy curtains. It has a toggle and loop system of attaching to the tent and is elasticated either side of the poles to get a good fit. Finally, with the aid of guy lines it goes over the tent but does not disturb the wet weather entrance as you can see below. (guy lines are green it’s just the flash that makes them appear yellow, above).

Below is the Oxwich Front Canopy - again Kampa didn’t have this at Stoneleigh but as you can see it is a good size with large windows both side and front (all with privacy curtains). This is attached to the main tent again with toggles and loops and elasticated round the pole. We can also confirm that the production of the Oxwich range does come with a mesh door under the wet weather entrance as promised.

Below: Seam Sealing Kampa Tents

This is a big job and to get right requires precision work by two people

Every part of this factory is making Kampa Tents - its organised chaos!

Below - some very nice, very new and very shiny pole sets ready to assemble for the Croyde's and behind are the groundsheets bundled and waiting to be attached to the fly sheets to complete the tents

Finally – the completed tents are boxed and stacked, awaiting a container for loading and shipping to the UK.

So a little insight into how thing are put together: the carpets are made by a separate factory and they are due to land in the UK on the 24th January. Footprints are supplied by the factories making the tents so they will come at the same time as the tents and match perfectly.

Croyde’s, Bamburgh’s, Cromer and Broadhaven Tents are due to land in the UK on 15th February-21st February as they have just left China.

Watergate's, Oxwich's, Caister and Porches are due in the UK between 17th and 26th February

Southwold 4, 2 and Canopies should arrive sooner as they on the water now.

Southwold 8 , Filey 5/5 – Due to arrive in the UK on the 10th March.

As you can see, the production process behind making Kampa tents is a large scale, logistical nightmare but Kampa have it down to a fine art now and we fully expect all tents to arrive on time and be made to the highest quality

To view the new 2013 range of Kampa Tents click here