This Inflatable Floating Tent Is Awesome For When You’re Feeling Extra Adventurous

If the question rings familiar, it’s probably because it’s been asked before. Why camp by the water when you could camp on it? This is how it was initially worded by an Ohio-based company that, back in 2017, claimed to have produced the world’s first inflatable floating tent. That was the Shoal Tent by SmithFly, and we covered it in a separate story.

This here also claims to be the world’s first floating tent, with the difference that it hails from Turkey, is a newer product and, while still bearing a resemblance to the Shoal, is lighter, airier and apparently easier to set up. It’s also more expensive, so in the end, that’s probably all that matters for the paying customer, and not a potential dispute on who created the first structure of the kind, to allow camping on water.

If you’re ever feeling extra adventurous or just craving a challenge, know that you have options. The Floating Tent by Sonmez Outdoor is that option, an inflatable structure you can set up on water, and then spend a nice family holiday there. It’d better be brief though because space is not exactly generously sized and there are a myriad of challenges to extended stays. Somehow, the lack of a toilet is the least pressing.

Sonmez Outdoor had a couple of local content creators test out the Floating Tent on a large river, and while the result is a surprisingly entertaining video (especially considering that nothing outstanding happens), it also serves to highlight the limitations of such a product. But again, if you’re up for the challenge and the extra dose of danger, this here is for you.

Unlike the Shoal, the Inflatable Tent is not a raft with a tent on it, but a single unit that can only be used as-is. It’s made of Airtex Classic PES with PVC columns, and it inflates in just five minutes, not including the couple of minutes it’d take to inflate the mattress that doubles as an extra-cushy floor and your bed for the night, which sells separately.

The tent is designed for four people, if only in theory. In practice, as shown in the test video, it’d be a squeeze, because the 4 square meters (43 square feet) of interior space become insufficient once you throw in all the sleeping and fishing gear, extra shoes, some cooking stuff, a cooler, and what-have-you. But where there’s a will there’s a way, and if four family members want to reconnect with each other at the same time as they reconnect with Mother Nature, this tent would be just the thing to help them.

When in use, the Tent measures 200 cm (78 inches) on all sides, but it can be packed compactly inside a carrying case that weighs just 50 kg (110 lb) and takes very little space inside the trunk of the car. It’s rated for temperatures between -40°C and +70 °C (-40°F and +158°F, respectively), for sun protection factor 80, and for winds of up to 80 kph (50 mph). It’s also good for all-season use and is waterproof, though the latter shouldn’t even be in the product’s description, considering it’s designed for water use.

A perfect square, the Tent opens up on all four sides by means of shuttered windows with netting. Three more clear windows are available on the roof, allowing natural light in and offering protection from the glare of the sun when needed. And that’s the whole of it: as its name says, it’s an inflatable tent that also floats, but which promises to deliver water fun and camping to the entire family.

The challenges to such a product are predictable, and clearly, if unintentionally, highlighted in the video. To set up camp, you first have to inflate the tent and launch it into the water, and then tow it by boat to your preferred mooring location. The couple uses stones tied to ropes, tied to the four corners of the tent for anchors, but whatever the choice for that, it’s clear that you can’t do without them or you’ll risk drifting away.

Inflating the tent might be an easy and very short task, but setting up camp is anything but. Equally challenging is preparing meals, especially if you bring a portable stove like these two did because everything moves when you move. But seriously, an open fire inside an inflatable structure is probably not the best idea, just stick to cold cuts and sandwiches.

Regardless of the weather, the tent can get either very hot or very cold, so striking a balance between the two seems a feat in itself. Mosquitoes, bugs and heavy winds are also issues, but then again, they go hand in hand with water stays. Last but not least, there’s the issue of going to the toilet (“picking flowers,” as these two call it), which becomes an entire adventure that involves moving over to the boat, untying it, and steering it to shore, and then repeating the whole process in reverse when you get back.

As if this wasn’t enough, the interior is small and not exactly functional, mostly because it’s an inflatable on water, which means it’s constantly moving. For these two grown adults, it seems positively cramped, so imagine putting two kids in there as well. “A squeeze” is probably the biggest understatement of the week.

Not to be too dramatic, but the most challenging part about the Floating Tent is its price. Sonmez Outdoor is selling it for $3,450, to which you add another $800 for the air mattress and whatever you pay for shipping. By comparison, the Shoal Tent is selling for peanuts at $1,999, especially since you can use it as a simple raft as well. But you do have to be willing to wait a very looong time for it, since demand is so high that it’s still delivering on backorders.