*THE RTT Owners Thread (With BS)*

Moab, north of town on the Colorado river, second camp ground up called Grandstaff.

 

Ah, nice! I like those spots along the river there

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/roof-top-tent-inside-a-soft-topper.454723/

Sorry if this is a repost, great idea worth sharing!

 

Wow! If I had a Tacoma that would be my set up. Pretty sick and so low profile

 

Finally joined the ranks after reading at least 100 pages of this thread.

We picked up the Yakima Skyrise 3 person tent at REI. First impressions are good, a few little disappointments, but we'll give it a proper shake this week and maybe I'll review it since there was a few folks interested in how light duty it might be.

For now, pictures:

 

Where are you planning to camp around the Springs? I need to find some good areas because I picked up my Tepui Kukenam today from REI and will be eager to use it!

 

It's all about how you pack. Here's a rundown of my typical long trip load in the bed of my dcsb:

24gal water bladder in wood box
Army surplus tool bag
12x22" tool tray
spare 3-man dome tent
Two 80L and one 40L duffle (clothes)
Dirty laundry bag
Harddig 24x24x24 box (food)
Harddig 24x24x36 box (kitchen and dry goods)
Highlift
10k winch on winch tray
Viking recovery kit
Max-axe kit
28" bar chainsaw in box w/2L pre mix
Folding toilet w/24 wag bags
Jerry can of fuel
2 adult and 1 child folding chair
10x10 easy-up
And enough room for extra crap we pick up on vacation.

All of this fits under a fabric tanau cover under our allpro packrack welded in the low position.

In retrospect, I would have fabbed some ultra low cross bars and made the tent low enough for a softopper to fold over the tent when not in use.
Like this.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/attachments/img_8354-jpg.1201603/

 

Have any pics of the straps you're talking about? I have the same issue with my CVT, but I'm not sure of those straps. Only one side won't slide in completely. I find myself practically hanging on the tent and pushing it in to get it to line up. I've had it come apart in the middle of the night once...not a fun feeling.

 

We really haven't explored too much yet, hoping her being more comfortable in a RTT will help change that.

We also don't do any long trips either nor really have any planned. We are more weekend warriors and may try for some 3 day trips here and there. For the last few years we've really just stayed within 1.5 hours of home and gone to Rampart Range, Mt. Hermon, Cheyenne Mountain, Rainbow Falls (outside Woodland Park), several areas south of Cripple Creek, Mt Princeton (island lake area) and similar. Nothing to rave about in most areas of those places, but also good local trips, even from Monument, to get out and test it out for a quick run.

Let me know how the Tepui works for ya. We ultimately decided on the Yakima for a few reasons, but one of the bigger ones being we could easily transfer it to her SUV cross bars (thanks to the Yakima mounting setup vs clamps/nuts/wrenched) and take it on our more cross country roadtrips to see our families and such.

 

For sure, I'll let ya know. I'm going to install it tonight, but probably won't get to sleep in it for another few weeks.

 

Sweet, sounds good. Do you need cross bars? The ones in my pics will be for sale soon (and for a local TW member, I'd go pretty cheap on them). I don't like the way the Yakima feet mount to these thicker bars, seems like it stresses the plastic Yakima clamps. I've ordered a smaller square bar setup but it's taking its time being shipped. As soon as it get here (end of April/early May) I'd part with these Relentless Fab ones. PM if interested and I can shoot you some pictures and talk details (or you can find them on CL, I'd take $60 off that price).

I wasn't going to use the bars at all, due to not liking the clamp fitment, but the girlfriend has hip surgery May 1st and we're trying to get out and try out the tent before she's down and out for a bit so figured we'd utilize what we have in the meantime.

 

I like the color matched setup! Looks really sharp!

 

Thanks, we are really enjoying the setup, and I cant wait to have it done.

 

I really like the way that Yakima cover fastens down. My only real complaint about my Tepui is how much of a pain it is to zip the cover on especially with pillows/sleeping bags in the tent still

 

I have my wife stand on the tent when I fasten the straps down after folding up the tent. The cover goes on way easier after that, if it is still tuff I have her sit up there after I pull the cover over and zip it up.

 

Hmm I suppose I could throw ratchet straps over the cover too and cinch everything down as I zip. Plus that is some added security since the velcro straps don't always hold on long drives.

 

Finally got one of my own. I took it camping in Big Bend National Park for 3 nights.

This was taken on the boarder of Texas and Mexico!

 

Yeah that was one of the things I read before buying that caught my attention. After opening it and then closing it for the first time, I can see getting the tent folded flat is going to be a little extra work. Hopefully it'll break in a little, but then there will also be sleeping bags and pillows in there so not sure it'll truly improve much.

The cover itself feels very good, quality material and the two zipper corners paired with two Velcro flap corners works good at making it an easy fit. The girlfriend did mention the idea of ratchet strapping the tent shut as both a way to compress it easier than maybe sitting on it and to add some stress relief to the buckles on the cover. We'll play with some different techniques.

 

i like the Yakima bottom part where you can lock it. I was wondering if Yakima had spare parts for sale on their site and see if I can retrofit it on my cvt.

 

Bold camping location

...unless you're a coyote