First Time Overlander Advice

Hello world,

I am trying to select a tent and rack overland setup on my 2005 Tacoma.
I've been thinking about the CBI mid height rack with a ROAM Vagabond tent for awhile now, but I am too skeptical to pull the trigger. Also the blue is out of stock.

A couple of caveats:
I want it to be universal if I were to buy a newer Tacoma (3rd or even 4th gen).
I currently have the long 6' bed, but I want to buy a 4 door / 5' bed in the future.
Would it fit or look stupid if I put a 5' rack on my 6' bed?

I like the tube steel look to match my front bumper.
I also like the slide on bed rail attachment to easily take off for hauling.
Any ideas on how to also haul my dirt bike easily with the overland rack?
Any designer brains out there feel free to call me out aesthetics or performance.


I see three price ranges:
Low -bed bars with cheapest rag tent $2000 with plan to maybe upgrade someday
Mid -height with decent rag tent $3500
Tall -Cab height with cab rack Sherpa Pak and "clam shell" style ROAM Desperado $6000 (Yikes)

An unrelated vent: I bought the Body Armour bed rack and even got it halfway assembled only to find that it did not mount to the 6' bed configuration. I had to return it. Luckily they are going to refund me, except for the shipping cost.

 

how about you get an enclosed setup, that for significantly cheaper, offers
-gear protection
-insulation
-zero assembly and take down
-discreet appearance that can be used any time, any where
-retaining it's value in a universal way, able to be sold later
-can store things inside, inner windows, outer windows, headliner, and atop it

if it has to come off, while shells can come off,
faster at doing that is softopper

hauling a dirtbike could potentially be done via the hitch

 

Its gonna be a pain to remove everything to put the dirt bike it the bed, buy a hitch carrier.

 

I agree, with above. I've had the camper shell in the past - I used to sleep in my truck bed between classes in college lol. I will look into buying a new one.
Devil's advocate, if I were deadset on getting a tent & RTT, would ya have any suggestions for someone new to the game?

 

I thought about a RTT, but then I thought about having to crawl up and then down in the middle of the night or after sipping on Tennessee wiskey. If I'm setting up a base camp where I'll be staying for a week or so, I set up a 8 person cabin tent. If it's only for a couple of day or so I put up a small tent to store supplies and gear while I crash out in the bed of my truck. I bought one of these a few years back and it works great for my purpose.

$220 DAC Full - Size Truck Tent for Tailgate

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007WT1GYQ?ie=UTF8

Packed Up

Camp mode

 

Not mine.
But one of my inspiration trucks.

 

So I don’t have input on the long v short bed issue.
But I do have input on this overall. I had a soft topper for my short bed, I slept back there one time and it was… doable. It wasn’t super comfortable. In a long bed it would be much better and maybe if I build a big platform it would’ve been better but then that ruins a lot of the soft topper appeal imho.

I now have a Diamondback cover with a front runner rack and a OVS Nomadic 3 Extended tent. (Basically the roam but for a bit less) I used it for a 4 day trip and I loved it. Comfiest I’ve ever camped. I would say it’s not for everyone, and a hard shell RTT will always be quicker to setup/takedown. But my girlfriend prefers this for camping and a soft shell fit the budget better. I love it and I’d 100% get it again, but I also camp at least once a month, usually more.

 

I got a triple set of KB voodoo bars with 6 uprights for sale. Idk where you’re at but here’s the link with pics and deets https://www.tacomaworld.com/posts/29570005