*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

No zipper on the cover? SOLD!

 

Last summer I bought the CVT Mt Shasta Hybrid. I got a significant discount because it was an older generation design. The top of the tent when stored has the matte black diamond plaiting with two rails mounted to it. The cover itself wraps around only the sides of the tent, leaving the top exposed. Near the top, there is a Velcro strip with a zipper underneath, this runs on all four sides. The tolerances on this are very tight and its a pain to unzip and zip under the Velcro strip. The bottom of the tent cover has elastic band with adjustable ties and clips at all 4 corners and in the middle on each side. It also sucks I cant keep the ladder attached with this design.

I found a mom and pop automotive shop near my house. I took them the tent and am planning to try an new custom cover that wraps the whole tent (top and sides).

Here is what we discussed...

The tent would be made out of black marine grade fabric. It would be the size for the tent when closed with 3" extra on all 4 sides. The ladder will be permanently attached under the top part of the cover. Two ratchet straps would be used on both sides of the ladder to hold the ladder down and to keep the cover from blowing when traveling. The bottom of the cover will have an adjustable string sowed within the cover to tighten the bottom portion. We would utilize the 8 clips on the bottom (4 corners and 4 sides) just as the existing design did. The cover will be made sometime here within the next month or so. I will update with some photos and share my experience. Hopefully I have thought this out enough and it will work well.

 

I don't think that zipper is intended to be used for opening the tent, isn't that what the buckles underneath are for?

 

Wow, and now we have come full circle -- making a cover for a design that eliminated the cover. Wondering if they changed this on the newer generation. Good feedback. The cover doesn't bother me that much and I've got plenty of life left on my tent, but I would consider a hybrid just for more convenience when the time comes. Not sure about some of the trade-offs, though.

 

This is basically a bit of a trial and error. Before purchasing from CVT, I was warned that the tolerance was very tight and it was difficult to remove the cover to open and close the tent. We shall see if this experiment works, if not I can always go back to what I have.

You're correct. I don't believe it was originally designed to have the zipper completely removed, rather just pull up all four sides and let it hang. This however is near impossible without removing the zipper, at least it is on mine.

The majority of the tents I have seen, have the zipper on the bottom and the Velcro overlap covers that, right? Then two straps wrap around the whole cover one both sides of the ladder? This is my intention with the new design only replacing the zipper with an elastic rope at the bottom and using the straps to hold it in.

I'll try to get some photos when I get around to it.

 

Yes that's how most of them work. Sometimes it's a major PIA to zip them up, especially if you've got a lot of bedding stowed in the tent, though if the sides were a little taller it would help a lot.

 

I think if I do go for a hybrid I'd skip the extended fly this time around, it's been two years since I zipped the annex on my current tent. Seems like the standard fly would pack away easier because of less material.

Edit: well once in the last two years, but yeah.

 

Yes no zipper lol. Some buckles that I never use. I just slip cover over and boom done

 

The tent is hoisted up in the garage so it’s tough to get some good photos.

 

Vevor 25 PCS Interlocking Plastic Tiles 12x12x0.5 with Drainage Holes Outdoor Floor for Pool Shower Bathroom Deck Patio Garage, Black, Count : Tools & Home Improvement

https://www.amazon.ca/Happybuy-Drainage-Interlocking-12x12x0-5-Flooring/dp/B08C29K36X?th=1

i am thinking of using this under the foam mattress to minimize condensation, have anyone used this before?

 

That looks like it would work well if it's not too spendy.

 

It's been a while since I've lurked this thread but I have found it useful at different times so I figured I'd give my unwarranted .02 back . I'll try and list the maybe not as obvious or maybe obvious pros and cons of my experiences

Probably an unusual situation but my typical trips include either myself and 2 dogs or my significant other and 3 dogs. The dogs pose a particular challenge as really they take up more room than tiny humans, or at least we permit them more room in my DCSB. I am 6'1~6'2" my lady is 5'6" and our dogs are 50, 55 and 85lbs.

Softshell life. Back in late 2019 I purchased a Tepui Kukenem ruggedized 3 and it had a lot to love. Coming from a Coleman 4 person tent or sleeping in the back of my old 3rd gen 4runner the treefort experience of a RTT was novel and fun.



Pros:
1. Dimensions: HUGE footprint when unpacked. Definitely would have no problems with 2 adults and a child or even 3 cozy adults, 2 adults and a dog. My lady wasn't too thrilled with the mattress as she's mostly a side sleeper, an early hack we found was a 1" memory foam topper from Amazon for $30 was more than acceptable.

2. The folded over diamond plate is super clutch! I was able to stick magnet lights to the truck and reflect them off the bottom creating abundant and diffuse light. Combined with a small 5ft awning off the cab, the covered area was roughly 4ft x 9ft. This was an epic cabana in the high sun or in many cases the light to mid rain.

3. The folded footprint also offers more versatility with a bedrack than my later setups. I was able to mound rotopax on the side, outside the rack and canvas topper as well as a DIY roadshower off the back. This was all supported by the stout bedrack and not reliant on tent mounting. While pretty heavy, even without bedding, my girlfriend and I were able to muscle it off the rack a few times when we knew we didn't have trips for over a month.


Being 55" by 48"ish gives full access to run larger roof boxes length wise which matches generally how their latches work.

With the awning poles and many windows, soft shell tents do breath much better. In high heat or cold, condensation was never an issue, nor getting ventilation of heat. We had one trip with 95 degree nights which a battery powered fan and having all of the windows open and rainfly off made... almost pleasant. Almost...



With a hard topper over the bed, you lose some functionality, windoors don't open all the way, generally not as many ways to mount more stuff to the cap etc.

Cons (Less original issues here)


1. MPG and driving feeling. 3-4 mpg hit having it above cab height and it definitely feels like a sail up there. Switching from Thule roof crossbars to a 80/20 roof rack and Plano boxes gave me back almost a whole 1mpg back and felt better at highway speeds. For me it's not so much the idea of worse gas mileage as the feeling of fighting the square sack on the roof at 70 MPH. Can I drive slower? Yes... Sometimes... Sometimes in California or Nevada 70 is pretty much as slow as you can go safely.

2. Setup/teardown time.... In the heat... In the rain... In the cold. Full disclosure, we are notorious for arriving at camp in the dark. This amplifies this issue considerably, as it's much less fun folding fabric or fiddling with tent poles in the dark.

3a. Major one for me. I am a very light sleeper. Soft shell tents flap in the tiniest amount of wind. On occasion I tried to be lazy after arriving to camp late and not pu the poles out for the rainfly. Generally they will flap like a mofo in the even 5-10mph winds. It is much much better with the poles all out but that definitely adds to the setup and teardown inconvenience.

4. Weight
The 3 person ruggedized with bedding, ladder, etc was probably pushing 180lbs and it felt like it on the roof.

I suppose I'll break this up in 2 posts as it's getting long... To be continued, spoiler alert. I went hardshell.

 

I was also looking for a budget friendly solution to an anti condensation mat so I didn't have to shell out the cost of the one designed for a tent and the consensus between forums was just buy the actual anto condensation mat designed for your tent. It's a perfect fit, works great and folds up nicely in the tent, assuming you have a soft shell. I would try something like you linked if I had a wedge since the floor doesn't move at all, but anything that folds I would opt for the manufacturers mat.

 

I came across this product that I am thinking about trying.

https://www.mattressinsider.com/mattress-condensation-prevention.html

 

The kicker there is it's only 39" wide, so you would need two strips of it. Softshell tents are roughly 8' long so you're looking at 16 linear feet, or $160+shipping. At that point may as well buy the manufacturers mat. I paid $158 shipped for mine off of Amazon a year ago but I don't know what they're going for now.

 

Technically an owner..
Just threw down on a 14" kb voodoo rack, 58" with bakflip mounting brackets (adds 2 1/2") and a 50" CVT MT Hood. Hoping my math and research is all going to work out. Any body out there have a similar set up? Will be posting pics on set up and everything, for now the shipping waiting game begins.

being mounted to a dclb

 

CVT having a sale I didn't know about??

Finally got my UpTop mid height bad rack ordered and now need the RTT before camping season. After endless thread searching it seems like hardshell is the way to go. Mainly because it's just my wife and I sleeping in it and it's just a place to crash (don't need head room or space for card games or anything.

The only negative thing I can find on hardshells (other than being more expensive) is the weight. How heavy is too heavy for two semi-strong people to put it on and off a bed rack? Looks like there are some soft shells that can weigh just as much but I'd rather not have to use some kind of pully design. TIA!

 

Getting it on and installed once is not the problem. You can always muster up enough manpower to get it up there and installed. Weight and install difficulty only really matter if you want to remove it whenever you're not using it. That's where the pulley system really shines because your friends will help you once, but they won't want to do it at the end of every weekend.

 

I'm anxious to see if I'll need to make one when I mount the ovs mamba 3. If the mpg isn't terrible I may not bother

 

It depends how you use your truck. I don't daily mine, so it really only sees use on the weekends. And a lot of the time I'm camping or at least hope to have time to camp. I used to take the tent off a lot more than I do now. Even with a pulley system it just became more trouble than it was worth. Now if I drove the truck everyday or lived/worked in a rough area my story might be different.