Where and how do you store your roof top tent?

Ok its then end of the season here in Alaska and I and trying to figure out where to store my RTT, I would like to hang it from my celing in the garage but my DIY idea is not panning out. I looked at the commercial off the shelf lifts but not to convinced its worth the money and safety. I tried to do a search on here but I’m to new at this to know the correct keywords to narrow down the correct thread to get the information i need. Please help before i end up building a crate and toss it in my shed and hope the -40 or colder temp don’t destroy my investment. Thanks in advance for any information you can toss this way.

 

I have a lift for mine, tent+rack come off and then I can get drive out from under.

I used a 40:1 hand winch from harbor frieght, and threw a couple doubled 2x4s between my shelves to hold it up.

 

I just keep mine on my truck 24/7, I don't have a garage or place to store it easily plus it's a huge pain in the ass to remove/install it by yourself. Thing is heavy AF and awkward to handle without help.

I know some people with garages make use of a pulley system to lift the RTT off the rack and suspend it over the truck, so that you can then move the truck out from underneath it and lower the RTT down to the ground. That's what I would do if I had the space to do it.

 

I long deleted it, but there is a photo on TW of people using the small 120v winch sold by Harbor freight to hoist their RTT up into the rafters of the garage. It’s just a simple mount made with 2 x 4’s attached to the ceiling beams.

I made a rack that holds mine vertically and has caster wheels underneath made with two Harbor freight furniture dollies and so I can easily move it around on the garage floor.


Edit - Found my copy!

 

Do you have a pic of your rolling rack? I am going to build the same thing to store my tent.

 

I live in CA, so temperature is not an issue. I just unbolt the cross bars from my bed rack and use the forklift at work to lift the whole assembly off. It also just goes in a corner of the warehouse. I should get better pictures of the rack, but there are a few in my build thread.

 

Will post soon- its simple though, just attach 2 furniture dollies together with a board as long as the RTT is wide, and put 2 uprights on it to support the RTT. I have a Smittybilt, which have pretty square sides.

 

Found a couple examples online;







Mine is far too heavy to do this;

 

My garage door is too low to do this! Thats why I made a rolling rack. Those are pretty sweet setups, though- wish I could do that too!

 

Thankfully mine is mounted below cab height, if i didn't have the warehouse and forklift at work, and felt ambitious enough to do this in my apartment garage, i could.

The harbor freight pulley systems and an ATV winch or 120v winch would be perfect for this.

 

I made a lift for mine from a simple 2x4 platform, rope, and a hoist from Amazon. It worked, but was way too low in my garage due to crappy tiny garage so it didn't make any sense. I am switching to vertical storage against the wall.

 

Just use 2 of these: and attach together at each end with a 4’ long board, slap on some sturdy angle brackets and attach two additional 4’ boards to those as supports, then simply put the RTT on its side on the dollies. Tie in to vertical supports, and roll away! (The grey thing is my 4’ ARB awning I store on the RTT, too.)

 

I looked at the top one, and the reviews did not give me the warm fuzzy to hang over my truck. I tried with 12 pulleys and some rope but I could not keep it level and it was hard to lift without mechanical assistance. I think I will hit the steel yard and see if I can fab something up. I have an old utility winch (12VDC) that I might be able to come up with something.

Thanks for the ideas and I hope other get some ideas for their setup.

 

Thanks. How tippy is it? I dont want to accidentally crush a kid with it. Maybe I will experiment with adding some outriggers with casters as well.

 

It is a bit tippy if pushed the wrong way, but I don’t have little kids anymore either. Please do stablize it if you let little ones in your garage. Perhaps have a wall hook to lock it to when parked?

 

I'm also trying to figure out a way to store this as I won't be able to do the garage ceiling storage. Storing it standing up seems like a great idea!
That top solution that takes off the rack and tent all in one shot would be ideal.

 

Buy a moving dolly from harbor freight for $7.99 (with coupon) and put the RTT on it's side on the moving dolly. Roll it over close to the wall in the garage. Screw in two bike hangers into the wall studs and run a cam strap to hold it against the wall.
When you need to put it back on the truck, roll it over close to an open tailgate. Lean the tent against the tailgate and lift the RTT up onto it's side on the open tailgate. If you have a bed rack, lean it on the bedrack and push it on top of the bed rack and bolt it down as normal.
I use this method to put it on top of my ARE shell. No pulleys needed.

 

This idea seems odly familiar, I’m having dejavu... hmmmm.

Naw- its just an extention of how I use two of the same HF dollies to store it standing up on the floor. All my walls have either cabinets or benches, otherwise I would hang it like this, too.

 

My ruggedized Kukenam weighs almost 150lbs. With a memory foam topper, its close to 175. Theres no way I'm lifting it up there alone.

 

Any overlander that takes this sport seriously will always leave their RTT on the truck so others know just how EAF they are!