Roof top tents yay or nay?

Not anymore, I left some half eaten free ranged chicken with organic tofu in it during my last camping trip to the Yukon and a bear got inside and totaled my RTT, he even climbed up the ladder. This is why I know seek out bear dens when camping and kick the inhabitants out.

Sweet revenge.

 

Hmmmm... takes me 4 minutes to set up and maybe 9 minutes to strike. Easy to deploy and easy to undeploy (?).

 

You can save a lot of setup time with this. Just park it and you are done!

 

Totally get this. I had a 16' vintage Shasta camper for a while. It was fun restoring it but we never camped in it but we did tent camp and backpack during that time. I did live in for a month when I first moved to Tahoe though! Just never felt that hauling a camper somewhere just to be in a campground around a bunch of people was really "getting into the outdoors". Then we moved to the mountains and regular "getting outdoors" just means going out your front door. This leaves me with motocamping, backpacking, or 4wheeling into a spot to "get away".

 

Those things are so expensive lol, at least the bigger ones like that. $500k or more

 

Way too new-school for me, RTT's have that Truman era charm:

 

Many people on here pack for a few hours then travel for hours to get to their camp spot. A regular non-instant tent takes what, 5 minutes max to put up. I don't think a few minutes saved is really a big deal but.... like you said, there are lots of instant ground tents now. I might get one. Unzip the bag, toss it on the ground, pop the sides out (Gazelle brand), toss my self-inflating 4" luxury Thermarest in there and that's it. I did consider a Gofast camper for a bit but over $5k to achieve what I listed above for $400 is crazy plus I can't toss dirt bikes or kayaks in the bed with a camper.

 

And they haven't changed much in 80 years.

 

I have a short bed but a long bed with Softopper and some sealed cargo bins or homemade drawer system is about the most simple, cheap, versatile setup around. Cheap, can do anything, haul anything, etc. Add a 4" Exped mat and down bag and sleep like a baby.

 

I've had my RTT for about 3 years and I'm a fan. I still have my 3 person ground tent for plenty of reasons, as they both have their benefits.

One of the main things my RTT has been good for is beach camping. Here in NY, you cannot use a ground tent on state beaches, and the wife will absolutely not just sleep on the sand in a bag like I will with my buddies. We do as many trips out to Montauk in the summer as our schedules allow.

 

I was camping last week and a Jeep was near me. He had a badass trailer that housed his gear, cooking supplies, and food and his RTT was on top of his trailer. That seemed pretty ideal. It was clearly a very expensive setup. Far out of my price range.

 

My plan is hard shell RTT or gtfo.

Idk, I'm not a fan of those fold outs. I think the pop up hard shells are the most practical, but super $$$$$$.

 

My brother just got this one:

 

That’s just enough lol

 

HEMTT or GTFO!

 

got my new camper ready to rock and roll

 

I cannot wait for this trend to be long gone

 

Why? What does it matter to you? If you don't like the product then don't buy it.

 

People have been using RTT around the world for a long time, since the 1930s, just seems new in the states.