I'm curious, 2 years after the initial purchase if you're still stoked on the Alu-Cab or if you've looked at alternatives.
I'm in a similar boat and want the ability to carry gear on the roof. I hate losing the entire roof space and not being able to carry surf, SUP and Kayaks and the RTT.
I have an RTT now which I love, but sacrifice roofspace on every trip which had me looking at trailers, but I find ultimately a trailer is not what I want or they're too expensive 10k minimum for what I'd want.
The alu-cab while incredibly expensive for most, is far cheaper than any trailer I'd consider and let's me keep my 4Runner, instead of moving to a Sprinter, full-size pickup or other oversized rig that I can't park in the city where I live
I've been super frustrated that I can't do both. I want to go far or not so far-flung places, surf, kayak, standup AND camp in my tent. I don't necessarily want a 10-15 foot trailer in tow in the city. With all that in mind, the Alu-Cab seems like a great solution, not to mention the convenience of how quick it is to setup. Whether it's worth 5k all in for tent, mounts, load bars, etc. is debatable, but if it makes me happy then it's worth it to me.
I saw some early posts from 2017 that complained of leaking in the rivets, but seems like that problem has been resolved as it's been several years. Curious to hear your thoughts now that you've owned it for a few years. Appreciate the photos and previous comments - they validate what I've been thinking.
So after a couple years of having this tent -- I have to say that I like lots of things about it. And some things that I'd change. First off -- I must have gotten one of the leaky ones. After about a year, I would have a small puddle in it after a bit of rain and a huge lake following a downpour. Looked everywhere to see where it was coming from and we couldn't figure it out. But to alu-cab's credit -- they had me destroy the old one and they sent me a new one. That's the quality of service and support you should expect and receive from something of this price.
I've had the new one for a couple months and haven't gotten around to throwing it on top of my rig. Frankly, just not sure how much I'll really use it going forward. Life changes and the hassle of dealing with it on my ride every day is a bit more than I imagined. I wanted to be able to take it on and off -- even bought a gantry crane and hoist to rig something up. But once I put the first one on the rig, it seemed like more trouble than it's worth to figure out how to take it on and off readily -- so it just stayed on. I live in Los Angeles, and fortunately there's usually street parking, but a few times when traveling with the RTT on top and getting to a city where we'd stay in a hotel -- it was tricky finding a place to park. However, often they would have to park my rig right in front next to the Bentleys and Porsches because it was too tall to get down into their parking structure -- that was a pretty cool sight and perhaps even worth the price of admission. Especially given that it was usually covered in mud and gunk, and the exotic euro-rides were pristine -- made me chuckle every time and bestow a humble blessing upon the alu-cab.
Now forgive the vulgarity, but here is a principle issue. My wife and I have a dog that needs to pee a few times a night, as do my wife and myself. For me it's a lot easier to manage off the ladder and into the wild -- for them, not so much. A ground tent really is just a lot easier to deal with in that regard. This holds true for all RTT's, but it really is something to consider when dropping 4k. However, because of the height of the alu-cab in particular, I will say that peeing in an old nalgene bottle is significantly easier than most other RTTs. 4k easier? -- well that's for you to decide. The dog though, despite my best efforts to train him, still hasn't figured out to pee in the bottle and demands to be taken down the ladder.
(You can't really stand in the tent -- close, but at it maximal opening, it's still only 5' high. But that makes getting dressed and just hanging out in the tent way sweeter than sleeping in the back of the rig or many other RTT's.)
Also, get rid of the garbage ladder that comes with it. Keep the hardware from the top rung and buy one of those telescoping ones from Amazon. Put the hardware from the alu-cab on it and it will connect to the brackets on the tent. I can send you pics of mine if you do decide to go in this direction. Really easy to do and way better than the one that comes with the tent, which is too short most of the time for reaching the ground on uneven surfaces, and although is supposed to fit readily inside of the tent when closed, but is too long to get in there without some annoying finagling.
Before the leaky issue -- I loved the tent and awning. The awning is really special -- and once I added the brackets, it was perfect. The tent is truly the easiest to put up and take down in ANY conditions. Did not feel like it significantly compromised my ride, even with the weight up high -- even with a yakima box with all sorts of climbing and camping gear in it. Mind you, I'm not doing the rubicon, but we definitely did some exploring that put us in some dicey ruts and canyons. I think it's still the lowest profile tent on the market, especially on top of a Prinsu, which I have a whole other thread's worth of thoughts to share if you're considering a rack system. Like you, I don't want to have a Sprinter van -- I want to keep my agile lifestyle agile, and I was scared enough on some of those dicey trails in the 4runner, much less getting through them in something that looks like a rolling tower ever about to roll over. And I've watched way too many "trailer gone wrong on the trail" videos to ever go in that direction -- also, if I have that much stuff I "need" with me, my goals have changed in a fundamental way. Great for some, but not for my adventures. Full-size truck won't jive either -- so many trails I was barely able to squeeze through in the 4runner to get to the camp/climb spot, couldn't imagine figuring out how I would have done in it anything bigger.
So where do I stand now -- after a couple years with the tent...not sure. I love the tent and still think it's the best on the market. Yes, expensive. But as I can personally attest -- you get an excellent product made by folks who take care of any issues that may arise. (Thank you again excellent folks at Ok4WD and alu-cab.) But I got the new one a couple months ago, and it's still in the crate in my shop unopened. It's been raining a lot this winter in California, so not been doing as much climbing as skiing, thus not camping at all really.
A basic question to consider is also do you expect to use it at least 40-50 nights over the span of time you'll have it. Because, for the same amount of cash, i.e. $4-5k, you could just stay at a Best Western for 40-50 nights; they have showers, king sized beds, free coffee in the morning, hot tubs (often even in the rooms!), free parking, most are pet friendly, are much nicer than they used to be, seem to be near almost anywhere I want to go adventuring, you needn't pee in a bottle in the middle of the night (unless you want to), and you can walk around as much as you like inside without having to crouch down. The tent is fantastic gear, if I was to buy a new RTT today, I'd still get another alu-cab. But I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not sure I'd not prefer the Best Western just given how much and in what particular ways my life has changed in the last couple of years. Who knows though -- I'll probably figure out an easy way to load and unload it soon enough and throw it on the rig and regret all the nights I haven't slept in it in the last six months -- until then there's always a light on for me in a not too distant Best Western.
