Hardshell RTT Directly to Roof

[btcsxj]

Just wanted to post this here to show it can be done (And yeah, show off ). Super happy with the way it turned out, less than 1/2" above the roof of the truck. Total height to the top of the tent is 6' 8" and to the rack bars 6' 11".

Going to be adding a front air dam like a lot of roof racks have and potentially an awning and/or light. Really love how these tents are made of aluminum and have extrusion track everywhere for mounting things.

 

[acidrane]

That looks pretty awesome! Care to share how you mounted it?

 

[uh0h50]

Just wanted to post this here to show it can be done (And yeah, show off ). Super happy with the way it turned out, less than 1/2" above the roof of the truck. Total height to the top of the tent is 6' 8" and to the rack bars 6' 11".

Going to be adding a front air dam like a lot of roof racks have and potentially an awning and/or light. Really love how these tents are made of aluminum and have extrusion track everywhere for mounting things.

Looks awesome. Did you have to delete the shark fin antenna? How did you mount it to the truck? And what brand is the RTT?

 

[btcsxj]

Looks awesome. Did you have to delete the shark fin antenna? How did you mount it to the truck? And what brand is the RTT?

Thanks!

I removed the original shark fin and designed a cover for it, 3D printed it, sealed it and then reinstalled. It's now maybe 3/4" tall.

As for the brackets... I also designed those, plasma cut and welded them in my garage. It's bolted to the truck with the 8 bolts that attached the original roof rack along with 8 more bolts of the same size that attach to the tent.

The tent itself is interesting... I found the factory in China that makes these tents for Roofnest and CVT. Importing it was a bit of work, but I was able to get the tent made to my specifications on color and imported into the US for less than half the price of a new tent from those brands. That's including all of the broker fees, customs fees, duties, taxes, etc.

All in all it took a few months and a lot of research/learning, but the results are worth it lane:

 

[RoamingScott]

The tent itself is interesting... I found the factory in China that makes these tents for Roofnest and CVT. Importing it was a bit of work, but I was able to get the tent made to my specifications on color and imported into the US for less than half the price of a new tent from those brands. That's including all of the broker fees, customs fees, duties, taxes, etc.

You really buried the lede here, I think every single person who is interested in RTT is most interested in THIS bit!

 

[ZaibachX]

That looks awesome! I want to do that to mine eventually. How is it against wind and whatnot?

 

[uh0h50]

Thanks!

I removed the original shark fin and designed a cover for it, 3D printed it, sealed it and then reinstalled. It's now maybe 3/4" tall.

As for the brackets... I also designed those, plasma cut and welded them in my garage. It's bolted to the truck with the 8 bolts that attached the original roof rack along with 8 more bolts of the same size that attach to the tent.

The tent itself is interesting... I found the factory in China that makes these tents for Roofnest and CVT. Importing it was a bit of work, but I was able to get the tent made to my specifications on color and imported into the US for less than half the price of a new tent from those brands. That's including all of the broker fees, customs fees, duties, taxes, etc.

All in all it took a few months and a lot of research/learning, but the results are worth it lane:

Pretty neat. Do you have pics of the stuff you made? Maybe templates? Link to RTT factory?

 

[rheosibal]

Oh man, great job. Definitely a game changer if you're able to mass produce your "rack".

I thought the GFC with the proprietary 5th Gen rack was clean, but this looks better!

 

[Jpilot]

BTCSJX for the win! Awesome! :clap2::clap2:

 

[curmudge1]

Looks GREAT!

Your setup and the campsite! So envious, with all the 90+ degF heat we've been getting here in NJ. A nice cool (at night, anyway) pine forest campsite, that's the ticket!

At the risk of hijacking, can you elaborate on the carrier in back? Hitch mounted or bumper? Nice camp kitchen setup, looks like a shelf to put your stove on?

I like the way you have the tarp/fly setup, when I was a kid & family went camping, we always had several tarps/flies for shade/rain and to block wind and rain if it was windy. Clever Dads we had.

I think it was Slumberjack that has a fly designed to extend back from the hatch, not specific to the 4Runner.

 

[btcsxj]

Your setup and the campsite! So envious, with all the 90+ degF heat we've been getting here in NJ. A nice cool (at night, anyway) pine forest campsite, that's the ticket!

At the risk of hijacking, can you elaborate on the carrier in back? Hitch mounted or bumper? Nice camp kitchen setup, looks like a shelf to put your stove on?

I like the way you have the tarp/fly setup, when I was a kid & family went camping, we always had several tarps/flies for shade/rain and to block wind and rain if it was windy. Clever Dads we had.

I think it was Slumberjack that has a fly designed to extend back from the hatch, not specific to the 4Runner.

Yes, while it's been 110-115F down here in Phoenix, we always have some beautiful pine forests about 2 hours to the north!

The carrier in the back is another home-brew. It carries my Cooler, a 5 Gallon Jerry and usually the trash on the way home. I found some fold-up stainless hinges on amazon and designed a table that nests nicely in the frame. I built it a little over a year ago and it's been great.

I love the tarp as well. I had an awning before and while they are easy to deploy, they are a HUGE liability. Mine was caught by the wind several times, even when staked down well, and got bent and even hit my truck. That and you have very little flexibility with where you can set it up. With the tarp, the worst thing that can happen is it comes down, and I can pitch it almost anywhere with those two poles. It's a Kelty Noah's tarp and poles.

Funny you mention the Slumberjack. It's the Slumberjack Shack and it's my favorite ground tent by far. It works great with my carrier/table thing and creates a nice sheltered area at the back of the truck. Here is a picture of that setup last year at the Pike's Peak International hill climb

If you haven't figured it out already, i'm a relentless tinkerer... I like building things and changing the setup and experimenting is at least half the fun of camping for me.

 

[btcsxj]

Here's a picture of one of the brackets in CAD and another close up on the truck. They are fairly simple, but interestingly, the roof rack mounting locations on the truck are not parallel. They actually taper towards the rear. Also, they aren't flat, they are angled outwards 6-7deg. So it took a bit of precise measurement and couple mock-ups.

The brackets were cut on my CNC plasma table and TIG welded.

If anyone has one of these tents, I would entertain the idea of selling them... something else do other than drink beer in these crazy times!

PM me if you're interested. I will want to verify some measurements on your tent and the first 'customer' will have to be a bit of a guinnea pig to make sure my tent is in-fact exactly the same as the Roofnest and Falcons.

 

[sn_85]

[MENTION=150603]btcsxj[/MENTION] Awesome work. I think we'd all love to see the brackets and I'd be interested in seeing how you did the antenna delete. I saw the one GFC does for our 2016+ 4Runners and it's an absolute joke. https://trail4runner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/gfc_roof_top_tent_installation-compressed.pdf

And yes, more details on how you sourced the tent!!!

 

[btcsxj]

@btcxsj Awesome work. I think we'd all love to see the brackets and I'd be interested in seeing how you did the antenna delete. I saw the one GFC does for our 2016+ 4Runners and it's an absolute joke. https://trail4runner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/gfc_roof_top_tent_installation-compressed.pdf

And yes, more details on how you sourced the tent!!!

Thank you sir!

The antenna delete for the later 4runners is an issue... I tried to modify the connector on the antenna and use a toyota corolla antenna, but it did not work. In the end, I followed what GFC did, but I came up with my own 3D printed cover. I think mine looks better, but I am biased

No cutting or butchery was needed, simply removed the sharkfin with the 4 screws and replaced the fin with my cover. The bottom of the PCB holder has it's own gasket with the roof, so the cover is only to protect the PCB from water, and it's under the tent already so I am pretty confident in my solution.

I wish I did a better job of taking pictures as I went, but I kinda just get in the zone and go Here is another picture of the CAD model for that. It sits completely flush to the roof and it's 5/8" thick.

 

[SpeedyKevin]

Damn that looks awesome! Well done!

 

[btcsxj]

@btcxsj Awesome work. I think we'd all love to see the brackets and I'd be interested in seeing how you did the antenna delete. I saw the one GFC does for our 2016+ 4Runners and it's an absolute joke. https://trail4runner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/gfc_roof_top_tent_installation-compressed.pdf

And yes, more details on how you sourced the tent!!!

I would provide more detail on the import process, but honestly, it's more than I care to support with questions and everything.

It is quite easy to find the manufacturers on Alibaba, and honestly the process and dealing with manufacturers in China was the easy part. They have representatives who are quite responsive and correspond in perfect english and are very helpful. This tent, with choice of exterior color and fabric colors, was about $1,400 shipped to AZ. Yeah, they are really that cheap... but then there are several hundred dollars worth of customs, brokers, taxes and tariffs that you also have to pay for and navigate. The process is, in one word, frustrating.

I took it on as a learning experience and I think it was definitely worth it in the end, but it's not something everyone will be willing to go through. And if something goes wrong or the product gets damaged, you have almost zero recourse. So it's definitely a gamble.

Frankly, If you're the kind of person willing to undergo this process, you shouldn't need my help.

 

[Jpilot]

I would provide more detail on the import process, but honestly, it's more than I care to support with questions and everything.

It is quite easy to find the manufacturers on Alibaba, and honestly the process and dealing with manufacturers in China was the easy part. They have representatives who are quite responsive and correspond in perfect english and are very helpful. This tent, with choice of exterior color and fabric colors, was about $1,400 shipped to AZ. Yeah, they are really that cheap... but then there are several hundred dollars worth of customs, brokers, taxes and tariffs that you also have to pay for and navigate. The process is, in one word, frustrating.

I took it on as a learning experience and I think it was definitely worth it in the end, but it's not something everyone will be willing to go through. And if something goes wrong or the product gets damaged, you have almost zero recourse. So it's definitely a gamble.

Frankly, If you're the kind of person willing to undergo this process, you shouldn't need my help.

I would think that doing all that for 1 tent is going to be different if you have some buddies get together and order 10. Customs, brokers, taxes etc, would be rolled together and only dealt with once right?

 

[btcsxj]

I would think that doing all that for 1 tent is going to be different if you have some buddies get together and order 10. Customs, brokers, taxes etc, would be rolled together and only dealt with once right?

Yeah, it would be much more worth the hassle in that scenario. Same process whether you're importing 1 or 100 and many of the fees I paid were flat charges.

 

[slprciv]

Awesome setup sir!

 

[DShindig]

Let me know if you start making more of these. I have the CVT version in 56". I just fit in the garage with this on my roof rack but would love to have a little more room up top