Who uses bed tents?

I already have a nice camper but I would like to look into the custom tents that fit our beds. A camper is nice to have and all but it’s about to become more and more of a hassle for me especially with my moving situation since I won’t have anywhere to store it. 1. I prefer to not have it on 24/7 because I like to see what’s behind me/my blind spots clearly. 2. I have a toolbox that I use anyways. I only use the camper for... well, camping. I tried a bed tent from AutoAnything.com and it clearly didn’t fit right so I returned it. A bed tent would just be much easier for me to live with. I’d like to see if anyone has one of these and where you got it. Thanks.

 

You're talking about a roof top tent (RTT) right?

Or one of these (hopefully not)




I have an RTT that I keep wrapped up in tarps in the backyard when not in use, since we don't have a place to store it at our house either. It's not that big of a deal but some RTTs are bigger than others and the really big ones will likely take at least two people to remove/install, unless you have a garage with a pulley system in place.

 

Actually the one in your picture is what I’m referring to.. are they frowned upon?? From what I’ve seen I think the RTT are a little out of my budget, unless I’m misinformed.

 

I just don't like the idea personally because it requires you to remove everything out of your bed when you have to sleep. When I'm camping/wheeling I usually bring supplies and tools that stay in the bed. Just a lot more work than necessary, I would rather have a ground tent in that case. But that's just me...also our 1st gen beds are short/narrow and if you're 6' tall and/or have another person sleeping with you, it gets real crowded real fast between the wheel wells.

 

Luckily for me my tool box only takes about 5 minutes to remove but I see your point. I just like the idea of using the bed, since I have it might as well use it. Partly what it’s there for. (At least for me). But yes that’s another point, that at that point you could just throw a real tent on the ground.

 

There are two major bed tent mfrs, Napier and Rightline Gear. Napier has a liner and requires you to remove everything in the bed to deploy. Rightline has no liner, which allows me to use it over a folded hard tonneau:





Pretty roomy inside (room to stand).

 

I would consider a ground tent over a bed tent, and a roof top tent over both of those.

 

Ohhhhh boy I like that a lot. I thought they all came with a liner. Interesting

 

An RTT (or snorkel) would've been destroyed by the overgrown trails I went through last month. I was lucky not to lose the sharkfin antenna but did lose my $40 front camera. RTT also has other drawbacks (weight, cost, risky ladder climb when drunk...) but those are well documented.

 

Love this thing for $100. No way i would spend 20x more to sleep 3 feet higher.
#lowcashcowboy

 

The little ladder step is too hollywood!!! C'mon it's supposed to be CAMPING!

 

Hey I had to special order it from Home Depot's web site

It's incredibly light and folds into a thin flat panel. Held up well over 3 camping seasons and can still be used at home for buffing out pinstripes on the roof... or painting walls and shit.

 

Personal preference

Good point on the drunk part; no one's getting into my RTT though...

 

I spent under $500 for my ground tent setup while I was backpacking and its been working great for car camping. Id highly recommend that over a bed tent personally

 

Being off the ground in the bed is nice for peeing, though. No splatter at 3 a.m. when you hang your dingy out the zipper.

 

This is true haha, although with my tent I have to get up and out of it to piss so thats not really an issue

 

This one is used with a camper shell but I find it to be very comfortable and well made.

 

What exactly is the point of putting a roof on top of the camper shell?

 

It keeps rain from flowing down to the opening of the cap.

 

Damn nice truck! Ive got a gold extra cab w a green cap, ive thoughts of getting this tent. Thoughts on the fit of that tent w a ~4" high lumber rack off the cap?