*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

Going to be back in the RTT game after a brief hiatus and love affair with my Gazelle. Bought this 2005 AT Overland Horizon trailer off a guy from Georgia. Going to sell this RTT and my Mt. Hood and put a four person soft-shell on here to fit my growing family. It was either this or a bigger truck, and I'm too far into my truck and I love it too much to start from scratch.

 

Anyone on here running the Exped megamat max Duo 15 in their wedge?

I made a trip down to REI yesterday to see the Duo 10 LW+ in person. Seems like it is capable of packing down pretty slim once fully deflated. Makes me wonder if the extra 5cm and extra cost would make the MAX 15 worth it. Just not sure if it will deflate as well as the Duo 10. I dont keep a ton of bedding in my RTT, just a sleeping bag. But height is still a consideration

 

It may somewhat depend on how firm you like the mattress. I like mine firm, and I lean on my elbow on top of it and inflate until I can't feel the tent base (I'm 200 lbs.). I personally wouldn't need the extra 5cm. But, if you like thinks softer, you might. Sorry, can't answer as to whether it would fit your wedge, but the 10 folds up as thin or thinner than the stock foam mattress did in my old school CVT soft shell.

 

So you're saying the Duo 10 is enough for you? Thats good to know. I tend to like a more firm mattress and Im a side sleeper, the primary reason Im looking into replacing the factory foam

 

It's plenty for me, and I'm a side sleeper as well. I like it so much I bought one to sleep on at home. The size of the LW is perfect for my CVT as well. Probably my favorite camping purchase, well worth the expense. I had to do something, as I woke up with a dislocated shoulder once (it's a bit loose in the socket after multiple dislocations) from using the foam mattress that came with the tent.

 

I can only speak for the 10 but I can’t imagine how it could be improved on with the 15. I’m also a side sleeper and find that the 10 is plenty. Start off too firm then let a little air out once you lay down to dial it in. My wife spent a few nights on it last summer while 8 months pregnant and found it “not bad.” Which is about as comfortable camping at 8 months pregnant in July as I think is possible.

 

Ready to invest in an RTT but somany options!

My “must haves” list is:

- under 125lbs
- Closed footprint must be smaller than my 5’ taco bed
- ~$2000 or less new
- less tent noise (tent/zippers flopping around in the breeze at night drives me nutz)
- bedding stays in RTT when folded
- side entrance (top of tent will be mounted no higher than the cab and will smack my head getting in if I have to go up the ladder through the floor)


I’ll be camping 75% solo and 25% 2 people and 1 medium dog.

so far my top 2:
- roofnest Meadowlark*
- Ikamper x cover mini

* at 80” open I’m questioning if I’ll be cramped as I’m 6’1”

Any input is appreciated!

 

So I've had no name tents with covers , cvt hybrid with aluminum top and fabric sides.. and now im in a hard top ikamper 3 mini.. I know it's outside your price range but having a hard top is worth the extra money.. I love that it doesn't have any maintenance and can stay on yr round. It weighs 125lbs. With the fabric covers I've always had them Crack or split.. I do realize it's out of your price range but worth a look..

 

do you think the hard top of the Ikamper x cover is a good compromise or going to be the same as a fabric cover?

also curious as to the hidden issues a RTT can hide if I bought an Ikamper 3 mini used. Like mold that got cleaned out but will come back or something

 

I don't have any experience with the xcover I'm not sure if the fabric sides can be replaced.. I know on my cvt the whole base had to be replaced or they would send you a larger cover to go over it. It would definitely be a question I'd call ikamper with as far as mold I know some in here have fought with it some have won some have lost I guess that would be a chance you would have to experiment with

 

I’ll keep a look out for a used skycamp mini and see anyone else chimes in here

 

uxcell U Shaped Connector Bracket 23 x 51.5mm 304 Stainless Steel for Door Closed Bar Holder Strut Channel 6pcs

$14 uxcell U Shaped Connector Bracket 23 x 51.5mm 304 Stainless Steel for Door Closed Bar Holder Strut Channel 6pcs

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MCP6C7M

These are so much better than the flat bar mounts/clamps

 

Been following this thread for a while. Since selling my 16' TRD OR ive been looking for a hard shell for my GX. I like the offerings from OVS (Sidewinder) and FreeSpirit (Aspen Lite). Also considering the iKamper X cover. Crossbars on top are a must for me.

Are there any im missing from other mnufacturers? (Im sure there are)

 

Loving my Aspen Lite so far





It's lightweight: 110 lbs and I gained a 1 mpg over my GFC Superlite

 

Can you access the tent from any side? Really need to hang the ladder off the passenger side. My 180 is mounted to the drivers side

 

Yup and in the rear too through my C4 ladder. It comes with a ladder and mattress btw. Also it comes with a nice weather cover that buckles to the frame

 

The FSR Aspen Lite does have more leg room for taller people since it open up higher hence more feet room.

 

Hows the ventilation? Anything you dont like about it? How was mounting it to the rack? Pretty straight forward?

Sorry for all the questions, but if i grab one of these its gonna be without any hand-on tire kicking.

I appreciate all the help!

 

No issues with ventilation, it has two vent pockets on both top ends with a screen to keep mosquitoes out and two lower ones near the hinges for ventilation or to run your diesel heater hoses. Yeah install was straight forward. Only thing I didn't like is like any high end rtt it's expensive but you get what you pay for.

 

I've slept in my Aspen Lite three nights so far (one solo, and twice with the GF and our 20-ish pound dog) and driven about 1300 miles with it, wheeled it a little bit, and here's my initial thoughts...

Pros:

• Lightweight, and able to mounted flush with the cab so it's more aerodynamic. Using strictly highway/city trips (gas station to gas station), I'm getting a little more than 1MPG better than with my old 23" contractor shell, which is more or less the same as what I was getting with a Softopper.
  
• Quick and easy setup and takedown, with the bedding (sleeping bag or sheets and comforter, pillows, sleeping bag for dog) left in place in the tent. The mattress auto-inflates and seems to hit just the right comfort level without any effort after about 20 minutes of being left alone. To close the shell, you'll either neither to roll up the toe end of the mattress about halfway to deflate it, or use an inflater/deflater. We got a Coleman and it sucks all the air out of the mattress very quickly, which makes the takedown real easy. The ladder should fit up there, but we keep it in the bed for ease of use.
• Tons of headroom, and great airflow. We hang a USB-rechargeable fan from the ceiling currently, but I'm planning on putting a small USB-powered PC case-style fan near one of the top vents to use as an exhaust.
• The holes for the diesel heater are going to come in clutch... when I force myself to build a diesel heater.
• Size is plenty big for two plus a small dog, plus gear. The rear window sticking out to the rear instead of being a normal wedge adds a ton of room, and I suppose effectively works as an annex to some extent.

Cons:

• The webbing attaching the tent-side buckles for the pull-down strap wasn't stitched correctly on mine, and one tore a little on the first morning using it. Luckily I caught it before it pulled out the stitching entirely, so I think I can just clean it, hit it with some seam sealer, and remove the buckles. (Since it's easy to take down the tent using the ladder or standing on the sliders, I've simply detached the strap, but I've found that the buckles have a tendency to get in the way of closing the tent with the strap detached.
• The black over-cover and the tent exterior gets super hot when it's over 90 degrees out and it's been sitting there cooking. Not a big deal, because I drive a black truck with a black rack and have gloves, but consider yourself warned.
• The boot bags aren't big enough to fit boots. The buckles for them are also stitched to the tent, and only hang from the rear, which is less than ideal if you have dusty boots shoes and you want to put them on/off on the ladder.

General RTT Pros:

• Not packing a tent, two cots, a sleeping bag, pillows, dog sleeping bag to/from the attic before/after every trip is awesome. Not having to setup or takedown that stuff every morning is also awesome. Similarly, it's also killer to not have to unload every single item from the bed of the truck in order to sleep two people back there.
• I have my full field of view out the rear window back, compared to the "I can't see shit through this beat-up and dusty window" on the Softopper or the "this is like looking through a porthole" camper window.
• I no longer have to worry about the dog waking up and jumping off the tailgate or running out of the tent when one of us goes to pee in the middle of the night.

General RTT Cons:

• Your truck's center of gravity is now fucked, and, as a result, pucker factor increases significantly when off camber.
• The OEM mounts for attaching the tent to a rack seem really, really cheap. I purchased some WEW locking ones in advance, and those work great.
• The gear in your bed is no longer out of sight, out of mind, and secure. I've got a Decked, and while it's very secure, it's heavy as hell, requires me to open the swingout to access anything in it, and only holds half to a third of the gear that would be in my bed.. I'll probably end up switching to a locking, sliding tonneau at some point to save some weight and keep all my gear in the bed full-time.

General Wedge RTT Cons:

• No option for an annex over the side doors, which seems to be the case for most every wedge on the market. Not a dealbreaker, but not ideal for camping when it's wet.
• I really do not understand why the side doors and netting on the Aspen Lite (and so many other wedges) roll down, rather than diagonally up. It's not that big of a deal, but it does result in the door/netting either sitting on the ladder or sitting on the bedding when you're going in/out of the tent, rather than simply hanging down. If it's raining outside and you're using the side doors, you're going to be getting water into the tent no matter how you go about it.