Remember the Shoal tent, which cleverly put an inflatable tent on top of an inflatable raft, allowing you to spend hours on the lake while comfortably chilling inside a functional shelter? Yes, it was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that some fans actually wanted to use the same tent on the ground. As such, the Smithfly Shore Tent exists.
Why not just put the raft on land and use it like a regular inflatable tent? While that’s actually possible, we doubt that a raft is the most ideal base for a tent on land. Granted, we’ve never tried it but it just doesn’t seem right. With this landlubber version, you get a tent equipped with the same inflatable convenience as its water counterpart, all while coming with a floor that’s perfectly flat to give you an optimal sleeping surface.
The Smithfly Shore Tent takes, pretty much, the same tent from the Shoal and simply separates it from the raft, essentially making it a standalone shelter for use on standard campgrounds. To keep the tent’s floor away from the cold ground, it comes with a modular deck made of square pads (40 x 40 inches) that you can simply assemble before setting up the tent on top, essentially serving as a firm and stable base. According to Smithfly, they use deck modules from UDecx, which sells modular patio decking made from weather-proof composite materials, so the floors should hold up to whatever outdoor conditions you encounter while camping. Do note, setting up the deck using piers and cam-locks will take between 10 to 15 minutes, so it does add extra time to your set up tasks at camp.
We’re not sure how you’re supposed to secure the tent to the deck, although we assume there’s a facility for it, since simply laying down your inflatable tent on a deck without staking it to the ground doesn’t seem like it will make for the most secure shelter. Or maybe there’s none and you’re supposed to stake your tent separately. Either way, it’s a little more work than the inflate-and-go solution offered by the original Shoal tent.
The Smithfly Shore Tent has a floor area of 8 x 8 feet, which, the outfit claims, offers enough space to sleep up to three adults comfortably (or two adults and two kids), all while offering enough headroom to let you sit, kneel, and do anything short of standing inside. The inflatable structure is made using 1mm thick PVC, so this should resist punctures and damage very well, complete with an inflatable air deck, so the floor is firm and rigid even if you decide not to use the included modular deck. That floor, by the way, is drop-stitched for durability and laminated with a cushy EVA foam padding for added comfort. Other tent elements include a fade-resistant 500D polyester rain fly, a 1mm-thick PVC fabric outside the floor for extra protection, a foldable door, and two foldable windows.
Want one? The Smithfly Shore Tent is available now, priced at $899.