Roof Top Tent inside a Soft Topper

Since this Forum is full of a bunch of whining and complaining I thought I'd post something useful

I've had a roof top tent for almost 8 years on six rigs, and this setup is by far my favorite

Low, efficient, lockable and out of sight.

I made the rack out of .120 wall 1"x2" rectangle tubing.

Bolts on with 8 bolts to T Slot nuts and a piece of angle that stays on the truck when the racks not in use

http://www.mcmaster.com/#94750a595/=14ictuw

The tent slides into 1"x2" Channel and is held in by 3 pins and one combination lock

The key to the clearance was to make the angle on the rise of the rack not too steep so that the topper will fold into the "troth" between the rack and the side of the bed, if that makes sense

Easily installed with a single person.

These tents are not the heaviest but up high on a truck with soft springs or rock crawler they can be down right dangerous.

 

Looks like I just found the direction I want to go. Great idea looks awsome!

 

Really nice work OP. Looks great.

 

Very nice, first time I've seen that!

 

Good idea.

I've recently explored the possibility of having a RTT mounted on top of an elevated platform on top of my bed slide, under my normal canopy - that way I could slide the whole thing out of the truck and set up the RTT. Clearances were tight, but there are a few RTT options that could work. A lot of work for limited gains, though.

 

^^yes I agree very nice job!! Now I'm going to have to think which direction I want to go.

 

@Lots2Learn58

 

That is awesome! I really like this setup.

 

Nice setup. I'm going to get the softopper and out a voodoo frame or another frame outside of it with the rent on top. I'm torn between best top or softtopper.

 

I have been struggling for months for a better solution than my current RTT on top of my shell. This is brilliant, though I'm not sure it would work well (at all??) with my 5' bed and 4' Tepui Kukenam RTT. Still, it's an inspiration. Thanks!

 

badass OP, badass.

 

I hate to whine and complain, but that looks pretty nice.

 

So the question here @mac33 is will this set up fit in a short bed?
And how much would you charge to build me one? Or for a set of plans so I can get a welder to build one? This is a great setup and I just fell into a softopper last week

 

Great idea.

 

Looks awesome

 

So a couple questions. This is perfect for what I'm heading towards. I was originally going to build a canvas topper under my tent. But this is a lot better!

First off which topper is that? Second how high is the rack from those rails? There are a couple vendors that sell some bed bars. But making my own would be pretty easy.

 

Soft Topper

The vendors selling bed bars are all mid or full height bars mounted on top of the bed rails. This guy is the first I've seen that put the bars inside the rails, approximately 3" up to allow clearance of the soft topper and its frame to collapse. Pretty clever. It's unlikely we'll see a vendor make something like this as the demand isn't high enough for such a specific application.

 

looks awesome.. Have same tent.. Also have a bunch of friends who "know" how to weld... til I ask them to help me... need a bed rack but man those things are way over priced...

 

Oh! Good call. I didn't even think of that. I was only thinking height of the rack. But I see now. The rack can't sit on top like most other bed racks.

Looks like I'm posting up my All Pro rack today!

 

@Vandy09 It should fit a short bed, depending on what tent you have. The only issue I see with my tent would be the clearance for the window awning supports closest to the cab. Mine clears by 1/4" inch or so, a double cab would be tight, but you could always leave that window down

As far as selling it, projects like these are a distraction and are just for fun when I have time , and I don't think I'm smart enough to draw up any legible plans,

I am gonna sell this truck in the near future and will sell the rack too.

The "Troth" for lack of a better term is the key for the topper to fold up into, I built one before and the angle was too steep not allowing enough room, it worked but wasn't ideal