*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

I'm a bit of a broken record on this topic... but I totally recommend an Exped Mega Mat Duo LXW because it is reasonably close in size of the floor of the RTT, but if you're a single sleeping in a tent, you may not need the Duo LXW and might be able to get away with a smaller one.

• for a 56" wide tent, get the Exped MegaMat Duo 10 LXW (Long & Wide) at 78" x 52"
• for a 48" wide tent, get the Exped MegaMat Duo 10 (Medum) at 72" x 41"
• for a single sleeper, get the Exped MegaMat 10 LXW at 77" x 30"

They are not cheap by a long shot, but they provide great comfort and support IMO. At 4" thick inflated, no part of your body touches the floor. And, with a combo of foam and air, it's super comfortable.

We've used it maybe 50-60 nights now and couldn't be happier. The comfort difference between it and the foam that comes in the CVT (and I assume other brand RTTs) is huge. I find that it works best to open up the tent, let it self-inflate for ~30 minutes, close up the valves, and then use the hand pump thingy to put ~50-75 pumps in.

As far as how it holds up - for us it's been great. We are reasonably careful with our gear (mostly b/c I don't like to break stuff and then have to pay to buy new/fix), so that means I'm really careful to make sure that the mattress isn't going to get pinched in the hinge when I open/close the tent, and we try not to bounce around on it too much when we're inside (though I'd say that @mrs.turbodb isn't so good at the latter, hahahaha). But, I think even if it gets a hole, it's like any other air mattress - you can patch it and be good as new.

Also - it compresses more than the CVT foam, so makes it a lot easier to fold up the tent when you put it away. I fold the tent over, then sit on the top, listening to the air come out, for about 30 seconds. Then, there's no forcing of the clips or anything, they just snap right together.

Anyway, I have nothing bad to say. I must sound like a paid advertisement, hahahahaha. If only I was. Oh well.

From my perspective, the only not-perfect thing, is the fit. It's about a 18" shorter than the tent floor - so I just center it in the tent length-wise, and that gives us a few inches at our head and feet to store stuff. As anyone with an RTT knows, you can't really fit your head in those 9" anyway, because the angle of the tent door makes those areas not very useful for body parts.

​

 

Thanks! Awesome idea but definitely a lot more than I was looking at spending.

 

My current solution is to just fold up some blankets underneath the mattress and that works pretty well and is cheap, lol. That inflatable mattress @turbodb posted is on the wish list now though

 

Finally joined the ranks of RTT owners. Wasn’t planning on it yet but a deal popped up and pulled the trigger on a used one. Pretty happy with it.

 

I keep wondering if there is some way to "large dog-proof" this pad - I keep reading everyone saying how awesome it is, but I'd hate to have my 75lb golden poke holes in it when he's up in the tent. I wonder if someone could make some sort of sleeve out of a puncture resistant fabric and sew a "pouch" for this thing to live inside safely away from dog claws. If anyone has ideas I'm all ears.

 

July 22, 2019.

Lookouts - little did we know at this moment - would be the highlight of the day, helping to break up the long trail, and providing surprises that we'd never imagine. From it's colorful start to it's thundering end, our time on the Macgruder was a day to remember, for sure!

Check it all out in IDBDR Pt. 6 - Macgruder Corridor and Hell's Half-Acre​

catch up on the whole story
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6]​

 

Yeah, the price was hard for me to swallow when I pulled the trigger too. Now, I'm glad I did. And, in the scheme of things for the truck, it turned out to be a reasonably low-cost expense... unfortunately. hahahahaha

You'll love it when you get one.

I'm sure you could, easily enough. I mean, even just a sleeping bag on top of it would protect it. Personally, I sewed a fitted sheet for it, just to keep it a little bit cleaner. If I stuffed a blanket like @eon_blue or an open sleeping bag under that fitted sheet, I think it'd protect from claws just fine.

Alternatively - if you're sleeping single up there, you could get a narrower one and (try to) keep the dog off of it.

 

I took this advice a few weeks ago, and we picked up the Exped LXW for our Mt Shasta, before we left on our trip for 8 straight days through the Tetons and Yellowstone. All I have to say is... WORTH IT. Holy crap it completely changed the quality of our sleep. It is expensive, for sure. I had to look away at the register, and just hand the gal my card haha. But I regret nothing. We deflated it the best we could each morning, and when we folded up the tent with all of our sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, it closed better than with the CVT mattress alone. Thanks for the advice, Dan! (@turbodb)

 

Love this thing! Little adventure to Bald Eagle State Forest last weekend! Mini Trip Report HERE

 

i really need to just bite it and buy one.

 

I’m impressed. No way I could get my 75lbs lab up into my tent. She sleeps inside the truck while I occupy the tent, or penthouse as I call it

 

Curious if anyone has used this in the regular (non-short) bed of a Tacoma. I know this is an RTT thread. The L/W one is 77" which is five inches longer than the bed length. Thinking about pulling the trigger on one.

 

July 23, 2019.

...I figured I should check the temps of the brakes - you know, just to see if there was any extra friction. And boy, was there ever. A bit of water sprayed on the passenger side rotor just spilled off onto the ground, while on the driver side - it immediately boiled upon hitting the hot metal. This was clearly not good.

It was a day unlike any other, and the progress we were making on the route came to a screeching stop. Read it all in
IDBDR Pt. 7 - The Curse of the Lolo Motorway







catch up on the whole story
[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7]​

 

I'd do it, for sure! Maybe to help the longevity of the pad, might not hurt to have something under it.

 

Same idea here. No way would I own a RTT if I had to have it mounted to my truck permanently.

Rigged up a pulley system on my garage ceiling. My houses lot is not level, so garage ceiling is ~13 feet above the concrete, so the RTT is well out of the way. Back the truck in and a single person can load/unload the tent and rack (they stay together all the time) onto the truck in <20 minutes.

 

Mind to share a link?

 

The system I used is part Amazon purchase, part home-brew.

I re-used two of these from when I used to have mtn bikes, secured them to some 2x4, secured 2x4 to ceiling joists, and added (4) nut eye bolts to give me a place to secure (2) ratchet straps. The ratchet straps hold the full weight of the tent/rack setup while its on the ceiling, as I am definitely exceeding the capacity of the bike pulleys and would not feel comfortable using them 100% of the time.

Amazon set:

CARTMAN 2 Pack Bike Lift Bicycle Hoists, Ceiling Mount Lift Hoist Storage Rack for Garage Indoor, Convenient Bicycle or Ladder Storage Hangers

https://www.amazon.com/CARTMAN-Util...s=bike+pulley&qid=1566499823&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Installed photo (this was iteration 1. I moved the entire setup behind the conduit for the garage door and left the rack attached in iteration 2): CVT RTT Ceiling Mount by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

 

Just ordered a Smittybilt Overlander Tent after reading lots and lots of reviews. I know some weak points that I will be working on to improve but anyone with user experience I am open to suggestions for improvement.

 

Dang I should have texted you about the exact same tent for $675. Shoot.

 

where, 4WP will credit me back within 90 days, i just ordered this AM