Camping Swags are a great thing.They allow you to roll up your bedding in a compact roll but also offer you a good nights sleep when at a friends house or camping.

There are four main canvas swag designs that I want to have a look at in this article. The first is the basic envelope style, the second it the basic pole style, third is the dome style and fourth is the new super dome style.

The basic envolope style was the original style swag and has been around in Australia for many years. It’s basically just canvas on the top and bottom with your mattress and bedding in the middle. These swags have gotten cheaper over the years so they are generally pretty affordable now. They also do not need ropes and pegs to set up so they are quick to set up and can be rolled out in your mates shed or living room. The draw back of this style is the canvas is sitting on top of you and there is generally no mozzie screen protection. Also if it rains you have to put the canvas over your head which makes it hard to breathe well and is uncomfortable.

The simple pole style is basically just the envelope style with a small pole at the head area to keep the canvas off your face when its wet. Many of these styles also have a small flysceen to keep the mozzies out. The down side of this type of swag is they’re very hot in summer and do not let airflow through the swag. They also do not give you much room, so they’re pretty basic. They’re not that expensive which is a plus, however we have not found them to be a big seller with the dome style being much more popular.

The traditional dome swag generally has two or three hoop type poles which keep the canvas up off your body. This is great as it then becomes more like a tent. If you select a model with good flyscreen areas they can actually be quite cool in summer too and give you plenty of space in wet weather so you don’t go too mad being couped up in a small space. The main draw back that I see with the dome swag is that they take awhile to set up and becuase they need ropes and pegs to stand up they can’t be set up well on a hard surface like in a shed or house which cuts down its flexibility.

To overcome the problems with the traditional dome swags some manufacturers have brought out a modified type of dome swag which we like to call a “Super Dome Swag”. Instead of a pole in each end and the middle a super dome just has a dome pole at each end and a spreader pole down the middle of the swag. This cuts down set up time by around 80% and also means the swags free stands without ropes and pegs. This gives you the added advantage of being able to take it to your mates place for a big night in the shed. You can see Kulkyne Kampers two models of Super Swags here: Big Boy Swag, Queen Swag and also out traditional dome swags in: Single Swag, Double Swag plus our Drifters Creek swag range and also our full swag range, including OZtrail swags.