Experience with Friend Zone tent?

Very interesting. No idea about your questions but sure would like to know the answers!

It will likely cost double or more that a standard 2 person tent…

And weigh about 3x as much…

And likely only a very small number of people would be interested…

How about two half domes or two solo tents, with a DIY way to put a tarp or similar over the space between them. Maybe two tents with half moon doors, arranged so the doors face each other about 3″ apart, with a fabric “tunnel” that zips into the tent zippers at either end?

Two of these 1P free-standing tents set up with the doors facing each other and a tunnel/tarp between, for $290 and 6 lbs. vs. $261 and 9.7 lbs.?

A friend and I survived a week long steady rain that threatened to cancel our trip by doing exactly as David suggests.  2 side entry tents and a tarp easily create a “small neighborhood” that is great for creating a dry entry, hanging out, cooking and drinking beer. I always assumed doing this was common knowledge :)

This concept works so well that years later I purchased a 5’x7′ DCF tarp that I use to create a porch over my tent entry when I expect multi-day rain.  No second tent required.

That said, there will always be a market for gear aimed at new or less experienced campers, or those who simply do not what to put their own shelter system together.  IOW, not BPLers.

First of all, calling that thing the “Friend Zone” is absolutely hilarious and clever marketing.

Seriously though, in steady rain and hanging out around camp, a tarp for making a dry area to hang out is worth its weight in gold. Seems rather trivial to make something custom that connects two tent, especially two tent each with dual vestibules.

Being from the West side of the
Cascades, a tent + tarp was a frequent combination.

It made those miserably wet days much easier to tolerate. Cooking, relaxing and socializing in a dry space more than made up for minor increase in weight.

That catamaran tent was interesting, but probably not practical.

How about a simple 2-man tent and skip the fuss?

Cheers

But Roger, that’s the whole point. A single tent crosses over from “The Friend Zone” and into “The Intimate/Too-Close-For-Comfort Zone.”

There was (or is) a military tent I believe made by Eureka that used Goretex walls and had a very similar function. Seems like it would be a lot easier to just use two bivys under a large tarp.

I do like the hot pink though – always wanted a shelter in that color – super visible in shit weather!

A single tent crosses over from “The Friend Zone” and into “The Intimate/Too-Close-For-Comfort Zone.”
There ain’t no such thing as ‘too close for comfort’ at -15 C.

Cheers