*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

A Smart Cap EvoA would look nice on it. mine will be up for sale mid October.

 

Pics and price? I'm in the Boise area but have family in Western WA. Could potentially work..

 

If anybody is in the market for camping stuff, especially a sleeping bag, motocampnerd.com has Big Gnes stuff on sale up to 30% off.

https://ctrk.klclick.com/l/01J9V7DHS5XDSY6QA3FMEJ8SWQ_6

 

Managed to take my rtt off pretty much by myself. my wife watched just to make sure i didn't get caught under it or something.

12 ft 2x6s with a couple 2x4s between it. probably could have spread those out more and put another 2x4 in the middle. the distance between the 2x6s is the width of the tracks on my tent. If i could fit 16 ft boards and had a better spot to store them, that would have been easier to slide down, but the 12 ft boards were easy enough to control the tent going down.

i propped the tent on some 4x4 scraps after i unbolted it from the bars. i had so i could move the rear bar as close to the rear as i could to prop the ramp on. i'd go with a different type of hook too. these were heavy duty ones i could get quick from Amazon. maybe some that attach to the top then hook on the bar. either way, i just inched the tent back until it was almost to the tipping point to go down the ramp. got down between the ramp and pulled it down and guided it down.

i also built a small pallet on wheels to prop my tent on it side and roll it around. much easier than convincing my wife to move it with me lol

 

Technically, from an aerodynamic standpoint, you actually have it properly oriented..

 

Update: (and I guess a quick review of the tent if folks find themselves looking)

If ya'll recall, a few weeks ago I asked about tent sizes, mounting locations, and mpg impact. I ended up getting a WildFinder branded Amazon tent to try out on my recent Utah trip and to use until I get my DIY wedge setup built.

1 week and 3k miles and I noticed zero impact on mpgs, even at freeway speeds.

Quick and dirty review of the tent;

Overall it was awesome. Very impressed for a $1000 Amazon tent. It does have a few minor design flaws.

1) fabric was a little stiff around the doors, so when closing the tent it caused the fabric to push outwards and get caught in the seal, and unfortunately right behind the gas strut making it difficult to reach and push back inside.
2) the drip edge of the fabric was just long enough to also get stuck in the seal. To resolve this I used silicone based adhesive to keep it against the inner frame edge and out of the way of the seal. Worked like a charm.
3) side doors dont open upwards, so when they are open the fabric and screen are on laying on the mattress and risk getting damaged when climbing in and out. I'd prefer doors that can be rolled up and out of the way. (Rear door opens upwards and can be rolled up and out of the way)


Overall was very happy with it and I decided to move forward with building a GFC style wedge. Width wise this tent is a little narrow inside (48" I think?) but I think for us it would be manageable, and the one I'm building will be a little wider so I think it will work out just fine. I've read a few posts on other forums about making an pass-through door in the awning that allows you to still use the rear with a 270 awning, so I'm looking into that.

 

like cutting the 270 awning to go through it into the tent on the side?

 

Side or rear. I found the rear door much easier to use and I feel it would be easier when there are two people. While it's not difficult to close up the awning at night, I'd rather not if I don't need to.

I forget where I saw someone mention what they did, but in theory it honestly shouldn't be difficult. Cut the opening and sew in either a zipper or velcro to close the opening when not needed. Would probably be a good idea to add a flap that covers everything to deflect rain so it doesn't get through the zipper/velcro.

 

Yeah my MPG's have actually gone down since taking it off, lol.

 

Huh, well that statement was made from my glasses and pocket protector side, but I'm actually kind of surprised (and yet, not) that it made a tangible difference..

 

I mean, according to my dash so theres that. Was getting 22-23 now I'm seeing 19-22.

 

New tent who dis...





About 4 years ago, I picked up the TMBK tent from Overland Vehicle Systems. It was fairly cheap at the time an had free shipping so I took a chance an bought it.

I was impressed with the quality. Especially after a night on the beach with 60mph wind gusts. I spent many nights in all kinds of weather in the orginal tent.

There was one issue that really bothered me, amyone nearby when i was up in the tent.

The FLOOR panel on the movable section would ripple an pop. Basically Oil canning for those old enough to remember that term. OVS attempted to make it right. They asked shipped out a new floor to replace the bad one. And explained how to remove an reinstall the fabric portion.

A few months later, the issue returned. I just delt with it, figuring.that they would not anything the second time.

Well... I was very wrong...

Earlier this month I was at RITO up in arkansas, an i ran into a. OVS employee who was sharing.a booth with another vendor. I was looking for there kitchem roll. But they didnt have any. We got talking an i mention i had several pieces of OVS gear an i mention the.tmbk.an how i like the.tent itself. But the floor.was. a weak point an i had issues even after the replacement.

Now at this time i had no idea he was an actual OVD employee an not just a 3rd party vendor.

He told since they had replaced the floor once an i was still having issues. That the next step was to upgrade me to the nomadic 2, at no cost to me. He told.me.to.call the office an let them know he saw me an the tent at the show an he was approving the upgrade.

A phone call an couple emails to document the issue. An the replacement.was shipped. Getting in here took a bit longer tha..normal since tbe freight carrier had there trailer stolen along with my tent. But a second one sent out to replace it..

An today it arrived, an made it onto the truck.

Now i need to figure.out what to do with the orginal one. OVS said keep the old one...

 

Gave the Thule Foothill a shot on a 10 day drip from SD to Cabo and back last month. Was running it on Yakima Overhaul HD rack (68" bars) and Retrax Pro XR t-slot cover. Was cool to fit a water tank, surfboards, and the RTT on the same rack. Lost about 1-1.5 mpg compared to surf trips without the rtt. The tent was very easy to install, but cumbersome to open and close. The rainfly is also a pain to work with when you don't need it. Ladder was terrible and the pins kept unscrewing and falling off in the bag despite tightening it with my allen key.

Tent: As expected, not very comfortable for trips longer than 2-3 nights. Sitting up with the top windows open gives a neat "convertible" feeling. Otherwise, at 6' I felt a bit cramped when trying to do anything that involved sitting up. The sleeping area is positively long, but the mattress - at only 1.5" does the bare minimum at keeping you comfortable and in total - felt like a roomy coffin; PLENTY of ventilation options, though.

These are the only photos that I managed to capture where you can kind of make out how the tent was set up.

At the end of the day it was awesome to fit a rtt (sleep off the ground), boards, and water tank on my rack for a surf trip. The tent and mounting, held up great off-road at speed. However, the tent itself had too many drawbacks to justify keeping it for my intended uses - so I returned it. Will be selling off the rack and retrax cover to go the wedge camper route in January.

 

This is the same reason i sold mine. Great tent but man it was a PITA to close it. Now looking to either get a alu cab lt50, fsr aspen lite, or ikamper.
Leaning more toward the alu cab because its slimmer and has a hard aluminum top unlike aspen lite that is tonneau type material. Anybody use a lt50?
Also apologize for not being a taco :/

 

I’ve been looking at the various options on Amazon, and the reviews look fairly positive for several around $1000. I am tempted to give one a try for the price.

I know that all (or at least most) of those on Amazon are made overseas. Are there any wedge style tents that are fully made in the USA? When I can’t find any information on the country of origin, I can only assume they are not USA-made.

I am OK paying a little more to support an American business, but I simply cannot find any options other than GFC, which look awesome but are way out of my price range. Even there I cannot find written confirmation on their website about the manufacturing process being fully in the USA. Still I have a hard time justifying 5x the price for comparable alternatives.

I’m curious if anyone has recommendations for USA made wedge tents.

 

The only RTT maker I know of that does manufacture in the USA is GFC. You can actually watch videos where they walk you through the shop and assembly.

The only other company I've seen try to push that they are a US company is Roofnest, and it's complete bullshit. They are a chinese drop shipper. They list an address in Colorado, but when I wanted to return the RTT I bought (showed up with holes, full of aluminum shavings, etc.) they said I can't take it to the colorado to drop it off because they don't have a facility there. They are just a complete scam of a company with garbage products. I had to fight them for over a month to get a refund. Avoid like the plague.

 

It's the last portion of this page.
https://gofastcampers.com/pages/we-...ruck campers that,-house in Belgrade, Montana.

 

Look at Loan Peak Canopy Campers.

 

Thanks for the information and confirming. I thought that was the case but missed that detail so I wasn’t certain.

I would really love one of these, but just cannot justify the ~$5K price. I’m sure the quality is far superior, just wish they were less expensive.

Still exploring budget alternatives in the ~$1K range for now.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. The LP campers look awesome too, I had been considering one but I think the rack mount wedge is better for my space and use case. I have a bed rack already, and the wedge will be much easier to store in my garage when I need to take it off for full bed access.