Roof Top Tent Questions (Some 3rd Gen Specific)

[traben27]

I guess it depends where you camp/live too.... My normal camping spot is 1.5 miles up a mountain trail from where you park.....We usually stay up there for 4-6 days.

That's a good point. I have a 3 man and 2 man tent that has worked well for those situations. Recently we've started to do trips of 3-5 days where we are moving sites each night and in remote areas. It's just a hassle to pack everything up and set up/take down a full tent every day. I'm a big fan of traditional tents, I think my use case has just changed to where a RTT is probably a good option.

Expedition Portal has a head to head write up on it here. Another decision guide from a local forum is here.

Either way, I won't be getting rid of my traditional tent.

 

[traben27]

One other question I thought of (about to pull the trigger on one), is for those who have one, how have you mounted it? I was thinking of a unistrut rack to keep it low and sturdy but wanted to see what everyone had come up with.

 

[traben27]

Ended up buying a used Tepui Gran Sabana (aka Autana XL) from my cousin. I followed the instructions here to build an inexpensive unistrut rack. I used half channel strut as I wanted it a little bit lower.

To answer my own questions, this is one of the biggest tents sold and it fits just fine. I haven’t noticed a big change in COG, even in tippy situations. With MPG, I have a good baseline because I drove almost the exact same route earlier this year. I averaged .2 mpg less this time around but I also had more gear and people this time. I felt fine with my two year old in the tent. He obviously wanted to climb in and out by himself but we told him we had to help.

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We took a trip down to the San Rafael Swell to test it out for a night. For reference, it was 2 adults, a toddler and a 6 month old. We had plenty of room and the tent stayed nice and warm in temps down to the mid 30's.

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[99_RRdifflock]

https://roofnest.com/

This is what I got. I am a big fan of the hardshell RTT's. I do not have the 'roofnest' version, I bought on craigslist and it seems like it is a knock off - however the quality is spectacular for a knock off. But you can see it in action on the roofnest site.

It comes with a sleeping pad, and I bought sheets (had to modify) and a duvet, and two very nice feather pillows. I can go from from parked to sleeping in 10 minutes, and sleeping to driving in 10 minutes.

In the pictures, I have the tent on the two factory bars (not recommended - too much flex) So I shelled out the big bucks and got the skookum Thule Bars, MUCH better.

I paid 1200.00 CAD, and I think i got a steal of a deal for a hardshell RTT.

 

[Imprezme]

Definitely need to invest in one of these some day