*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

I tried to go cost effective and wound up with the headache I described earlier. I wound up getting an iKamper skycamp mini in the end, and it made me a believer that the RTT market is best entered with a "buy once, cry once" mentality. If you are sticking to a grand or less I'd just get a Gazelle ground tent and a equip it nicely for sleeping. I think it will be a better experience than a cheap $1K hardshell RTT.

 

I really liked the inspired overland RTT tent- their basic one.
They let me borrow one while my carbon fiber RTT one came in and I really liked their basic tent way better. Easy to set up and close, fit bedding and stairs inside while closed, lite enough for me to put on/take off my rack. and I think they are less than 1k last I saw them. there were comfortable to sleep in and if anything you can always upgrade the mattress.

 

I went camping with a friend who just got a RTT and it's his time time using it. I had my ground tent. His tent is a simple soft cover smittiy built. It was in the 20s and super windy. He had his tent set up ready to sleep in it and the fire going while I was still getting my ground set up ready. Hammering stakes into the frozen ground, having go get all my bedding and foam pads into the tent to keep from feeling the cold ground. (Plus the bedding and foam took up a lot of room in my truck.) Then when the morning came he was done packing up while I'm prying stakes out of the frozen ground. I've been doing tent camping my whole life and I've never felt like it takes that long to set up but when compared to a rtt in freezing weather it's got me looking hard at rtts.
So I found this. It seems to check a lot of boxes and be fairly inexpensive when I'm reading all its features and stats. But since I can't find any rear world reviews I was hoping I could get you guys thoughts.
https://overlandvehiclesystems.com/...wcgdq68VPFmRDynevzYRj5JZk2laGvr2oSAfs5t2byfh3

 

I'd suggest cruising youtube for some reviews of other OVS tents. It won't be specific to that one, but it could give insight into the quality of the company.

 

I don’t know anything about them, but it has more features than mine did. Included condensation mat and cold weather wall kit had me sold on it.

 

There's a guy in Denver selling his nature nest wedge for $500

 

Another question. I currently have icon 3 leaf all in the rear. I get vibrations from the rear at times. I've replaced the rear shocks. I was thinking about replacing leaf springs to see if it would fix the vibrations and get it better suited for the rtt. I have a set of dakar HD had me downs. I was also looking at other options. These deavers are for sale within 2 hours of me. They are stage 2s and it says they have 15k miles on them and are $600. Would you risk putting old dakars on, buy used deavers, or buy something new like like icon rtx?

 

How many miles on the Dakars? Choice really depends on how much weight you carry.

 

How much lift are you getting from the current Icons? Vibration may be due to incorrect driveshaft angles. If it's lifted 2+ inches, might try a 3 degree axle shim. That was what fixed it for me (Deaver Stage 2).

$600 seems a little steep for 15k mile Deavers, but not too far out of the ballpark. For that amount of money I might consider new Icon RXT.

But yeah, like geekhouse said, choice kinda depends on how much weight.

 

The rtt I'm looking at says it's 160 pounds. I currently have a decent amount of weight but it's mostly up front. (Winch, low profile bumper, steel skid trio, sliders. I currently rarely have over 200 pounds in the rear. I did have a camper shell on it but a tree fell on it during the hurricane and destroyed it. I have hauled big loads randomly here and there but that's not often. The aal said it lifts the rear 1.5 to two inches. I didn't do a before and after measure. The dakars have unknown mileage. They are a little rusty and need new center pins. They were free. But the work to make them usable may not be worth it. That's my fear at least.

 

The Dakar HD are for 660 lbs. constant load. You seem to be a bit under that, and they are an unknown. But free. I'd still skip those.

You said you are trying to eliminate a vibration. Depending on what you are calling a vibration, I'm not sure springs are your problem. If it rides well otherwise, not too stiff and doesn't bottom out, you might want to look at the driveline (center bearing, u-joints), or the driveshaft angles.

 

I have replaced u joints and carrier bearing but I'm also looking at buying a rtt so that added constant weight is also on top of the vibrations. I thought it may have been transmission or need a tune up. So I replaced plugs and did a transmission service yesterday. It did make it run better and shift smoother but the vibrations still comes and goes. I haven't done research on the shims yet. I've also noticed my tires slightly chop even after alignment, tie rod, and ucas. I thought maybe the slight chopping of tires is the vibrations but I still haven't found a reason for the chopping to begin with.

 

Plastic layer is peeling on my Roofnest condor. Anyone have suggestions on remedies? I was thinking maybe get some epoxy or other superglue in there between the layers and hold it down? Otherwise I’ll sand and peel the layer off where it’s messed up and spray a bed liner on the tent shell.

 

contact roofnest to replace the tent. I Had that happen on my tuffstuff Alpha II, They replaced the entire tent.

 

Out of warranty and I bought it used (new) from someone else.

 

got ya... if moisture get under that top layer it will get trapped then steam in our heat... possibly remove the clear film and replace with ppf

 

I got my tent mounted. I've left it in twice already. I'm happy that the height of the rack on the tent matches my roof rack. It makes taking my 14 ft kayak easier

 

Mid-height is the way if you have a roof rack IMO. Love the flush look, plus the ability to mount long cargo (like a kayak as you said) is underrated.

 

Yep. High enough to still see out the back window but low enough to not be higher than the roof line. It did take a lot of measuring and looking into different products to be at the height I wanted.

 

I had a nice spot last night. I'm pretty happy with the tent so far. I do have one complaint dealing with the awning poles and haven't found a fix yet.