*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

I plug mine into a samll cell phone charger battery.

$26 Portable Charger Power Bank 25800mAh, Ultra-High Capacity Fast Phone Charging with Newest Intelligent Controlling IC, 2 USB Port External Cell Phone Battery Pack Compatible with iPhone,Android etc

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-258...1954022&sprefix=external+cell+,aps,154&sr=8-3

 

I have a CX topper and I have been told that ARE are some of the toughest fiberglass toppers. They are reinforced in the center and I was told it has over 400 lbs dynamic rating. But thats word of mouth. Ive had my Sherpa Rack and Alpha II on there for months now and not a single issue.

 

Unless you have the HD from ARE, all of their shells have a 200 pound dynamic rating. I emailed them when I first bought mine, so that comes directly from them. With that said, I have a non HD cap and have no issues so far with my RTT on top of it.

 

Went out to the garage and measured my clearance between my Prinsu top rack and my garage door frame. I have a comfortable 9.75"+ and maybe ~10.5" if I don't count the flexible weather strip which is the lowest part.

At this point I've all but decided to move forward researching hard shells to move on from my CVT soft shell. My days of fighting to stuff it closed and zipping zippers in below zero conditions are soon to be behind me.

I've got a somewhat short list of options, some of which are very similar and likely a rebranded version of the same item from the same factory. Anyone with any experience / information on the following tents would be good to know to help set them apart from one another.

• Roofnest Falcon / Falcon XL
• CVT Mt. Hood.
• Desert Armor UltraLite
• Desert Armor Ninja / Ninja XL
• FSR Odyssey is the only oddball that I haven't completed ruled out either

While the Roofnest and CVT options appear nearly identical, the Roofnest lists the height as 6.5" while the CVT is 9.75" Anyone have any idea on the cause for that discrepancy? 9.75" leaves me with very little room in case I need to add some height from mounting feet.

CVT has a discrepancy between weights, listing it as 160 pounds in the description, but up to 226 pounds for the large size in the specifications table. Based on the others of its kind I assume the accurate weight rating is the lower number?

@upTOPoverland, any accurate idea on when the Ultralites will be back in stock? I know the website says late July but I didn't know if those have all already been spoken for.

@fatfurious2, do you still have a lead on an FSR discount?

 

Not sure if it still works, but call and ask for Casey and mention "great white taco" and it should lead to a 10% off. It works for you!

jealous of you guys that have been camping. Ive been, but not off the ground. Still waiting on my GFC to be built

 

I was in the CVT showroom checking out the Mt. Hood recently and the height includes the load bars. The channel for mounting accessories is a nice feature. There is small changing/shower/port-a-poty room that can be attached that can be set up in seconds. I've had a soft CVT for 6 years and I hear you on cold zipper closings. I'm hesitating because getting a sizeable sleeping surface results in the tent protruding over the sides resulting in wing on top of the truck. Happy shopping.

 

Oh wow ok yeah that makes perfect sense. I could figure out why it was listed as being so much taller. Thank you!

 

Mt Hood med is a heavy one. I'd say close to 200 with ladder. Never weighted mine. But two people will have a had time removing as its size can be awkward.

 

The older style (one year ago) single channel like I have is shallower. The newer duel channel is deeper. The deeper one allows you to leave the ladder in it. I assume you can also leave bedding in it.

 

Interesting. I’m going to call CVT tomorrow to get the story straight. Having the ability to store bedding up there is an obvious major advantage over the others, but a true 9.75” without the cross bars is majorly pushing the confines of my height limitations. Plus being so much heavier is also pushing the limits of the weight limit of my ARE cap.

 

Yep this is what I do, portable battery pack almost any kind will work. tThat LED strip light is super bright in my Gen 1 though so I usually use one of those battery powered LED lanterns that collapse on them selves to shut off. Makes it easier to control the light output.

 

Ill be following along on your research haha. Im getting to the point where Im ready to get a wedge on order (should have done it sooner honestly). Some 50+ nights in my Ayer II over the past few years have been awesome but the ease of setup with a wedge style, the cold weather considerations, and bedding storage will all justify the cost in the long run I think.

 

I just called CVT and got some answers.

All the weights on the three sizes are ~160 pounds like the description says. The numbers listed on the specs page that are all north of 200 pounds are the shipping weights.

The height of 9.75" does not account for the load bars. It is that height because of it being a double channel so there is some extra space in there for bedding, so @H3llRid3r you were completely right in that regard.

It seems now to make the decision if the extra ~3" of height can clear my garage door. I really like not having to remove bedding from my soft shell, and while it is a trade off I'm willing to make to gain all the benefits of the hardshell, if I can make it work I'd very much like to have the ability to do that to avoid another bin in the bed with bedding.

 

You can always air your tires down to get a little extra room getting into the garage.

 

Let us call GFC quick to get a status on this for you.

In all seriousness, I think you tagged the wrong peeps

 

Yikes, my bad.
I meant @uploadadventure

 

Been there, done that, and then some more. Looking to just go in and out of the garage normally again.

 

Someone skipping leg day.

 

My gf just bought us a few cheap string lights from target that we hang up along the rails and leave in there when we pack it up.

something like this

https://www.target.com/p/90ct-exten...s/-/A-80417387?preselect=54348826#lnk=sametab

eventually i'd like to get one that plugs into a battery pack instead of using disposable batteries, since I already have plenty of those. but for now, those work. and one set of batteries will power them for quite some time.

She also got a cheap little solar lantern from Big 5 that I'll hang up if I need brighter light. but it isn't really necessary.

https://www.big5sportinggoods.com/s...ts-rechargeable-camping-lantern/0730136730989

 

My .02 is to go with the wedge that you can keep bedding in. Going from a ground tent to a RTT that I can leave bedding in is fantastic. It's one less thing to load and unload. Plus if I go out on a day trip and god forbid I need to spend the night somewhere that I wasn't planning on, I'll always have my bedding with me.

I guess the caveat to that would be that it'll only be worth it if you can leave all of your bedding in there, pillow and all. Otherwise, you may as well keep none of it in there and have it all in a tote.