What is the deal with fixed top camping rigs?

With a rtt you get the bonus of looking Hardcore when you pull into work or the grocery store the 363 days a year you don’t actually need it.

 

Hey, if you’re mobile homeless, it would be a palace!

 

Is mobile homeless the new kinder gentler way of saying you live in your car?

 

Awesome, glad it wasn’t the unicorn sticker

 

Meh. There was room for a whole giant truck. Some guys wouldn't even need to slow down much to go thru there with a trailer - nevermind need to bring a spotter along

 

I've drug mine through some slider banging rock gardens before... about that bad. You just take it slow and pack the weight in the bottom. I still rock the military pintle/lunette hitch so I can get insane angles on the hitch. Granted it's not a teardrop, though I sometimes wished it was.

Like I said before. You can take the right small trailer through some hellish terrain, in fact mine was built to deal with more than my Taco could. It just sucks doing so!!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ5C9JlNeAA

(Not mine, but you get the idea)

 

I’d say so- took a 3-month trip during school break around the US while homeless (between two escrows). Didn’t have the RTT yet but would have used it had we had one. There were several places I wanted to camp but our trailer wouldn’t have made it. Can’t wait to use ours more when school gets out this summer. I’ll be working my 2nd job and it will be nice to have in the backcountry.

 

I'm down with this.

 

Can't say I'd buy an RTT but I did buy a second hand canopy for $400 and built a basic sleeping platform. Works great as a "base camp".

 

That's it exactly. I don't give a flying fuck if you like it, me or whatever. Nobody says you have to. Do what you like, mind your own shit and the world will be better for it.

 

There are different types of camping. Car camping and backpacking.

I use my RTT for truck camping with friends, family, hunts and landscape photography.
I leave it at stored home when I go off-grid backpacking and use the roof space for fuel and gear.

So far I really like it. I got a $1K tent for $400 new, it has a mattress, made a fairing for the wind drag and setup and take down is 5mins.

...and for driving around with it mounted, I do not care one bit what someone else thinks it looks like as with any other part of my truck.

 

I guess I'm mobile homeless? Full-time in an FWC Eagle.

 

Fricken moose scared the crap out of me, was at one of my favorite camp spots...but it was flooded out, walked around a grove of trees to see if I could get my truck in without getting stuck...came back around the corner, to have have moose 50' away staring me down...and there I was in shorts & flip flops...no gun, no phone to record my death for someone later to find. She looked me up and down, and went on about her business.

Funny how things get real adventurous, real fast without warning.

 

Triggered RTT owners, triggered RTT owners everywhere

 

Did you change your shorts after That?

I did when that happened to me with a bear in oregon

 

Walked along a mtn trail in the dark back towards my truck one night and saw, judging by its eyeshine in my headlamp, a pair of widely spaced forward looking eyes just sitting low, watching me from under a bush right next to the trail ahead. Yeah, I knew exactly what it was and decided to try scaring it like you’re supposed to. So I picked up a big branch and started making grunting noises and walked towards it. I was scarred, but I figured both of us did not know it. It started to look around as I got closer and all of the sudden it leaped to the side and just disappeared. It was too dark to see it without the eyeshine, and it did not make a single noise after it leapt away through the heavy brush. I walked mostly backwards to my truck watching all around myself and happily got in and drove away.

 

I have a smittybilt and it does well keeping the insides dry- the material doesn’t breathe so it can get damp inside from condensation if you don’t open the vents up. As for in a PNW rainstorm, or camping in the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic NF, haven’t tried that yet with it.

 

I am definitely in the “I’d rather not fold up a wet canvas tent, plus I would like the added protection of metal and glass, and in addition to that will never camp on the ground again if I’m not backpacking” group.

My setup is a veritable coffin though, and adding things to the roof makes my rig top heavy... the solution I envision down the road is a higher than cab-high cap.

If I’m going to carry more gear it should go underneath me, behind me, or minimally on the roof.

Currently I have enough space for everything, so more headroom is a great option, plus I would likely do any additional water and food storage behind the seat in my single cab to better protect from freezing and bears smelling it rather than under the platform in the bed. Additional fuel storage would unfortunately probably end up on the roof as I haven’t found a great hitch mounted swing out solution that can accommodate my fat tire bikes and fuel/cargo comfortably, and it cannot go in the sleeping compartment. At least some cheap gas canisters on a roof rack are likely to have a Mad Maxian look to them...



Also I use a homemade awning with a 6 foot wide tarp that I carry on the side and transfer to the back so the rear of the bed and cap are covered with some overhang but I don’t have to deal with the extra drag factor of the overhang on long drives.


As far as having a “permanent air brake on the roof,” maybe sleeping in the bed then using a Thule box for extra gear on top only when camping is a better more modular solution.


Appreciate feedback and thoughts, thanks to all and most importantly do what makes you happy.