ah, I didn't realize they used this kind of collapsing tube ladder on RTTs. Only seen the 2 or 3 sliding sections ones.
$500 roof top tent strategy unfolding.
- Thread starter IdahoDoug
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ah, I didn't realize they used this kind of collapsing tube ladder on RTTs. Only seen the 2 or 3 sliding sections ones.
I'm really interested to see where this goes. I can't justify $1500 on a tent. Especially one that weighs 150#.
- Thread starter
- #23
Checking in just to admit I have done nearly nothing to finish this even though it's about 4 hours to finish it. I painted the platform the other day - does that count?
Busy having fun, so great excuse. And today wrenched on the 97 most of the day - fixed the classic oil pump cover O ring leak, changed the oil, new belts and such. Was going to get to it in the Fall, but a recent hot tow made the leak grow and I started fretting about the O ring blowing out and emptying the engine before we caught it. So now I can get to this.
The ladder is going to be two 8 foot ladders of the traditional type. Strong and predictable to help mitigate the risk of a sleepy kiddo getting hurt in the middle of nowhere. I need one on each side so each can get in and out without crawling over the other in the middle of the night. The ladders will be fixed strongly at the upper end so they can use them to stabilize their movements, and ensure they never, ever, ever slip. I think the ladders will sit in a channel in the platform, and be held in the channels by metal clips that allow the truck to move up and down without exerting pressure on the ladders. A night light illuminating the ladders from above when needed may be part of the gig.
DougM
Busy having fun, so great excuse. And today wrenched on the 97 most of the day - fixed the classic oil pump cover O ring leak, changed the oil, new belts and such. Was going to get to it in the Fall, but a recent hot tow made the leak grow and I started fretting about the O ring blowing out and emptying the engine before we caught it. So now I can get to this.
The ladder is going to be two 8 foot ladders of the traditional type. Strong and predictable to help mitigate the risk of a sleepy kiddo getting hurt in the middle of nowhere. I need one on each side so each can get in and out without crawling over the other in the middle of the night. The ladders will be fixed strongly at the upper end so they can use them to stabilize their movements, and ensure they never, ever, ever slip. I think the ladders will sit in a channel in the platform, and be held in the channels by metal clips that allow the truck to move up and down without exerting pressure on the ladders. A night light illuminating the ladders from above when needed may be part of the gig.
DougM
Looking forward to how this turns out. DiscoveredLC, formerly DiscoveryXD (I think) is on here and slept in a tent cot on top of his Discovery. Not sure how he had it mounted, but might be worth a quick PM for pics?
Not to derail, but I certainly hope the VW project you finished and sold wasn't the Synchro!
Mike
Not to derail, but I certainly hope the VW project you finished and sold wasn't the Synchro!
Mike
Must be the shorter one I guess.
- Thread starter
- #26
Yes, the Syncro is gone. Honestly one of the most unique vehicles I've ever owned, but not the right vehicle to take into remote country as a self supporting vehicle. Things constantly went wrong with it that should have been lifetime components. Even after I went through it to an amazing degree it was still puking up major failures. So it's gone.
The roof top tent is looking very good. The platform was final coated on Thursday and has been drying while we were out of town. I opted to cut it down to minimalist dimensions after realizing how hefty a chunk of quality 3/4" plywood is. That simply meant about a foot off one end, so no big deal.
Ladder is figured out. $75 for a 16 foot ladder at a big box store. Drilled out a couple rivets and have two strong and light 8 foot ladders, which fit perfectly.
In the next day or two I'll trial fit it all on the roof, then figure a way to stow the ladders up there with the tent all folded down. I'm still way under budget and am done buying stuff I think. Might need a bungee cord mesh to hold the tent from flapping, and not sure if I'll need some clips or brackets for the ladders yet. Pretty sweet how its worked out so far.
DougM
The roof top tent is looking very good. The platform was final coated on Thursday and has been drying while we were out of town. I opted to cut it down to minimalist dimensions after realizing how hefty a chunk of quality 3/4" plywood is. That simply meant about a foot off one end, so no big deal.
Ladder is figured out. $75 for a 16 foot ladder at a big box store. Drilled out a couple rivets and have two strong and light 8 foot ladders, which fit perfectly.
In the next day or two I'll trial fit it all on the roof, then figure a way to stow the ladders up there with the tent all folded down. I'm still way under budget and am done buying stuff I think. Might need a bungee cord mesh to hold the tent from flapping, and not sure if I'll need some clips or brackets for the ladders yet. Pretty sweet how its worked out so far.
DougM
- Thread starter
- #27
Well of course the night I have time to post up the finished product and Photobucket is down for maintenance. So will update when their site is up. It turned out really nice. Sturdy as a rock. I am able to lift the platform up there alone. And also get the bulky tent up alone as well. Way under budget. Fits in the garage with the platform up there - a hoped for goal that worked out.
DougM
DougM
- Thread starter
- #28
OK, project done and close to budget. I found the tent in the first post which I wanted in Cabela's bargain cave for $250. The double is perfect for this - bed is over 4 feet wide but be advised you romantics it is kinda two separate beds due to a stout center frame member that makes a gentle ridge down the center. Not that it isn't fine on one side and then you retire to your separate sides later if you know what I mean (nudge, nudge, wink wink..). You can comfortably flop anywhere up there, it's just that you'll find you will settle to one or the other side for sleeping.
Then I got a pair of these nice Cabela's self inflating foam sleeping pads at $70 each: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camp..._l=SBC;cat104795280;cat104712480;cat104484780. Woah, that's a long link. These fit PERFECTLY and fill the roof tent wall to wall, end to end literally as if they were made for it. Very high quality and really nice sleeping cush though you can sleep in the tent without them as the floor is essentially a really tight flat canvas sling.
Then I paid $55 for a full sheet of 3/4" oak plywood, after wobbling the various choices at Home Depot. Easy to figure out which material is stiffest - grab a corner and wobble it up and down until you find its resonant frequency (when you are wobbling at the same speed it rebounds). Fastest frequency = stiffest variety they happen to have. Oak won and I couldn't feel a weight difference. Painted it with two layers of whatever outdoor oil based paint I had on hand which happened to be white. Drilled 18 holes in it to accept the U-bolts that hold it to my Thule rack. Each coat of paint took 15 minutes. Drilling took about 4 minutes after 10 minutes of measuring. After you drill, use a Q tip soaked with paint to get paint in each hole so the plywood is sealed protectively. Oh, and I cut off about a foot as it was excess to the length of the tent base - another 10 minutes. Really a simple project.
Got the 9 U-bolts and wingnuts at Fasteners Inc for about $13. Bought a 16 foot ladder at WalMart for $74 and spent 3 minutes drilling out a couple rivets so I can separate it into 2 ladders. Some of you wondered about having two ladders. The reason is that I wanted the kids to be able to get in and out without one crawling over the other. When we are camping, sometimes one will be tired and want to lay down and the other wants to read for a bit, etc. This way the each have their own ladder and make use of the excellent design of this tent's whopping THREE entrances.
So, what's that - $532 including the $140 pads? The $140 pads are usable for our other camping, or for sleeping in the back of the LandCruiser. Or you may already have some. And interestingly, the roof tent is usable by itself on the ground as intended, etc.
We got back last night from 3 nights in its first trip. We went to the Banff, British Columbia area including Lake Louise. Total driving was around 550 miles and I literally could not feel the weight of the stuff on the roof. I was really pleased about that. Estimated weight up there is 53lbs for tent, 8lbs for sleeping pads, 40lbs for plywood, and 15lbs for ladder = 116lbs. Totally undetected. I found that if you open the valves on the sleeping pads, folding the tent will squeeze air out and they can be left up there.
Here's us in Cranbrook, BC where we ate at an amazing German restaurant just out of view:
You can see the thing folds to about 8" high, and that's the ladder behind it across the vehicle. At 8 feet, the ladder is narrower than the 8'6" allowed for everyday trailers. It was surprisingly normal looking - not like you'd think an 8 foot ladder slung across would look. Plus it's about 7 feet off the ground. Doesn't look like much up there, eh?
Here it is set up for camping later that night down a scary remote road east of Radium Hot Springs later that night:
Scary because this is serious Grizzly country and the local advice we got for this stop was spot on. Totally remote, near a creek, lots of brush. And of course we arrived at night and being Canada I had no firearms with me. Felt like there were eyes on my back the whole time I was setting things up by headlamp. Without saying anything in front of the kids, we opted for me to sleep up with my son while the girls slept in the LandCruiser behind steel and glass. Tracks everywhere. I'll never camp there again.
Here we are in the Tunnel Mountain campground in Banff National Park:
Here is a closeup of the platform showing how it simply attaches to the Thule cross bar in 4 spots, and you can see a smaller pair of wingnuts that hold the legs onto the platform in 5 spots:
It felt rock steady up there. Absolutely no flexing or movement and I'd feel perfectly safe up there in heavy wind. My intent was for it to be sturdy enough for a full on storm. It is attached to the platform with essentially 10 solid bolts (two per U bolt), and the platform is attached to the Thule with 8 larger bolts (larger U bolts). This would also work with no changes on a Yakima rack as I chose U bolts big enough in case one of my buddies wanted to borrow it. Cabela designed it to be a bombproof shelter for a professional guide and it shows. The floor has a full perimeter steel frame, and when open 2 heavy steel arches hold up the roof/walls. No attempt at lightness here - thick steel tubes are the order of the day.
While on this, a brief description of the tent and what it's like sleeping in it are in order. You go up the ladder, and through an opening almost 3 feet wide, so easy to lean into and roll onto the floor. You can use the stout tent structure to hold onto getting in and out, so not like entering a flimsy fabric tent - feels safe. It's tall enough to sit in a slightly hunched position, which makes it comfortable enough for changing clothing, reading while propped up by pillows, digging through a backpack, etc. But versus a true rooftop tent, there is no excess height here. It is roomy enough to encourage hanging out in, to have some gear with you, etc. On my side I had two full size pillows, a hardcover book, headlamp, large bear spray, sweatshirt for morning cold, large combo CamelBak/gear pack, reading glasses and spare socks. My son had less gear. Never had stuff under or bothering me. We were swarmed with mosquitos every night, and the fine screens kept them all out. The zipper pulls glow in the dark. Huge screened doors on the sides, and a huge window in each end for ventilation and the entire tent is drum tight even with just the screens. Not like some tents where they're only tight when the solid fabric door is zipped and I think this is due to the steel floor perimeter frame. We got rained on one night, and not a drop. A neat benefit is when you arrive at the top of the ladder, you can take off shoes and socks and lay them on the platform under the tent where they remain sheltered from rain. You could put anything there like a shotgun, a big flashlight, or anything you want to be able to just unzip and reach down for - yet keep it dry. Getting out of the tent is drama free as the opening is huge and you can easily see the ladder, get a foothold and the strong wiggle free steel frame gives a sure handhold while doing this. If you look closely in the photos you'll see I stuck an LED light on each C pillar to light the ladder at night as an experiment. You reach down at night and slap it to turn it on, then the ladder is illuminated for safety. Slap it off on the way down. Worked great.
So, what I did was Ubolt a leg to the platform such that they hold the tent up there for driving. When open, all 4 legs are U bolted. The front leg is #1, next #2, #3 and the rear leg #4. To collapse it, I remove the U bolts from legs 1, 3, and 4. Fold up the front end, and the rear end (tent folds in thirds onto itself) and now the tent is standing on legs 2 and 3. With 2 anchored, push the tent forward and the #2 leg collapses down to the plywood. Then swivel the #3 leg under and the tent is flat on the plywood, but still bolted on. A piece of rope over the tent squishes it down further, and prevents the wind sucking it open. Thought I'd need to worry about flapping canvas, but there is simply nothing to flap - it's all folded and presents only the structurally tight tent bottom to the wind. Literally toss the ladder in the now huge empty space at the rear of the platform, tie it down, and drive off. By the last night, I timed myself at 34 minutes from engine shutoff to a vehicle waiting for 4 people to lay down. That included pulling all the gear out, folding the jump seats, preparing the two beds in the LandCruiser, putting up the thermal panels in all windows, opening the roof tent, and putting everyone's duffel on their waiting bed. I did it alone so I knew the time for one person to accomplish, and I got the vehicle interior set up so the girls could have total privacy in it while I worked outside on the roof tent, etc. Interestingly, I carried a toilet along and it fit perfectly behind the third row underway. I wanted it along as camping in some wilderness areas requires a sanitary system.
So, the project worked out way better than I had dreamed.
Edit: Forgot to mention that I can get the plywood up myself just by laying it there and sliding into position. 5 minutes later its ready for the tent. It's a little awkward but I can also get the tent up there by myself. Slide it into position, put the two U bolts on the #2 leg and 15 minutes of total time I'm ready to drive off. I use a heavy freezer bag to keep track of the U-bolts both on the trip and when the kit is in the garage. Carry a couple spare wingnuts - easy to drop while securing the tent at night.
DougM
Then I got a pair of these nice Cabela's self inflating foam sleeping pads at $70 each: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camp..._l=SBC;cat104795280;cat104712480;cat104484780. Woah, that's a long link. These fit PERFECTLY and fill the roof tent wall to wall, end to end literally as if they were made for it. Very high quality and really nice sleeping cush though you can sleep in the tent without them as the floor is essentially a really tight flat canvas sling.
Then I paid $55 for a full sheet of 3/4" oak plywood, after wobbling the various choices at Home Depot. Easy to figure out which material is stiffest - grab a corner and wobble it up and down until you find its resonant frequency (when you are wobbling at the same speed it rebounds). Fastest frequency = stiffest variety they happen to have. Oak won and I couldn't feel a weight difference. Painted it with two layers of whatever outdoor oil based paint I had on hand which happened to be white. Drilled 18 holes in it to accept the U-bolts that hold it to my Thule rack. Each coat of paint took 15 minutes. Drilling took about 4 minutes after 10 minutes of measuring. After you drill, use a Q tip soaked with paint to get paint in each hole so the plywood is sealed protectively. Oh, and I cut off about a foot as it was excess to the length of the tent base - another 10 minutes. Really a simple project.
Got the 9 U-bolts and wingnuts at Fasteners Inc for about $13. Bought a 16 foot ladder at WalMart for $74 and spent 3 minutes drilling out a couple rivets so I can separate it into 2 ladders. Some of you wondered about having two ladders. The reason is that I wanted the kids to be able to get in and out without one crawling over the other. When we are camping, sometimes one will be tired and want to lay down and the other wants to read for a bit, etc. This way the each have their own ladder and make use of the excellent design of this tent's whopping THREE entrances.
So, what's that - $532 including the $140 pads? The $140 pads are usable for our other camping, or for sleeping in the back of the LandCruiser. Or you may already have some. And interestingly, the roof tent is usable by itself on the ground as intended, etc.
We got back last night from 3 nights in its first trip. We went to the Banff, British Columbia area including Lake Louise. Total driving was around 550 miles and I literally could not feel the weight of the stuff on the roof. I was really pleased about that. Estimated weight up there is 53lbs for tent, 8lbs for sleeping pads, 40lbs for plywood, and 15lbs for ladder = 116lbs. Totally undetected. I found that if you open the valves on the sleeping pads, folding the tent will squeeze air out and they can be left up there.
Here's us in Cranbrook, BC where we ate at an amazing German restaurant just out of view:
You can see the thing folds to about 8" high, and that's the ladder behind it across the vehicle. At 8 feet, the ladder is narrower than the 8'6" allowed for everyday trailers. It was surprisingly normal looking - not like you'd think an 8 foot ladder slung across would look. Plus it's about 7 feet off the ground. Doesn't look like much up there, eh?
Here it is set up for camping later that night down a scary remote road east of Radium Hot Springs later that night:
Scary because this is serious Grizzly country and the local advice we got for this stop was spot on. Totally remote, near a creek, lots of brush. And of course we arrived at night and being Canada I had no firearms with me. Felt like there were eyes on my back the whole time I was setting things up by headlamp. Without saying anything in front of the kids, we opted for me to sleep up with my son while the girls slept in the LandCruiser behind steel and glass. Tracks everywhere. I'll never camp there again.
Here we are in the Tunnel Mountain campground in Banff National Park:
Here is a closeup of the platform showing how it simply attaches to the Thule cross bar in 4 spots, and you can see a smaller pair of wingnuts that hold the legs onto the platform in 5 spots:
It felt rock steady up there. Absolutely no flexing or movement and I'd feel perfectly safe up there in heavy wind. My intent was for it to be sturdy enough for a full on storm. It is attached to the platform with essentially 10 solid bolts (two per U bolt), and the platform is attached to the Thule with 8 larger bolts (larger U bolts). This would also work with no changes on a Yakima rack as I chose U bolts big enough in case one of my buddies wanted to borrow it. Cabela designed it to be a bombproof shelter for a professional guide and it shows. The floor has a full perimeter steel frame, and when open 2 heavy steel arches hold up the roof/walls. No attempt at lightness here - thick steel tubes are the order of the day.
While on this, a brief description of the tent and what it's like sleeping in it are in order. You go up the ladder, and through an opening almost 3 feet wide, so easy to lean into and roll onto the floor. You can use the stout tent structure to hold onto getting in and out, so not like entering a flimsy fabric tent - feels safe. It's tall enough to sit in a slightly hunched position, which makes it comfortable enough for changing clothing, reading while propped up by pillows, digging through a backpack, etc. But versus a true rooftop tent, there is no excess height here. It is roomy enough to encourage hanging out in, to have some gear with you, etc. On my side I had two full size pillows, a hardcover book, headlamp, large bear spray, sweatshirt for morning cold, large combo CamelBak/gear pack, reading glasses and spare socks. My son had less gear. Never had stuff under or bothering me. We were swarmed with mosquitos every night, and the fine screens kept them all out. The zipper pulls glow in the dark. Huge screened doors on the sides, and a huge window in each end for ventilation and the entire tent is drum tight even with just the screens. Not like some tents where they're only tight when the solid fabric door is zipped and I think this is due to the steel floor perimeter frame. We got rained on one night, and not a drop. A neat benefit is when you arrive at the top of the ladder, you can take off shoes and socks and lay them on the platform under the tent where they remain sheltered from rain. You could put anything there like a shotgun, a big flashlight, or anything you want to be able to just unzip and reach down for - yet keep it dry. Getting out of the tent is drama free as the opening is huge and you can easily see the ladder, get a foothold and the strong wiggle free steel frame gives a sure handhold while doing this. If you look closely in the photos you'll see I stuck an LED light on each C pillar to light the ladder at night as an experiment. You reach down at night and slap it to turn it on, then the ladder is illuminated for safety. Slap it off on the way down. Worked great.
So, what I did was Ubolt a leg to the platform such that they hold the tent up there for driving. When open, all 4 legs are U bolted. The front leg is #1, next #2, #3 and the rear leg #4. To collapse it, I remove the U bolts from legs 1, 3, and 4. Fold up the front end, and the rear end (tent folds in thirds onto itself) and now the tent is standing on legs 2 and 3. With 2 anchored, push the tent forward and the #2 leg collapses down to the plywood. Then swivel the #3 leg under and the tent is flat on the plywood, but still bolted on. A piece of rope over the tent squishes it down further, and prevents the wind sucking it open. Thought I'd need to worry about flapping canvas, but there is simply nothing to flap - it's all folded and presents only the structurally tight tent bottom to the wind. Literally toss the ladder in the now huge empty space at the rear of the platform, tie it down, and drive off. By the last night, I timed myself at 34 minutes from engine shutoff to a vehicle waiting for 4 people to lay down. That included pulling all the gear out, folding the jump seats, preparing the two beds in the LandCruiser, putting up the thermal panels in all windows, opening the roof tent, and putting everyone's duffel on their waiting bed. I did it alone so I knew the time for one person to accomplish, and I got the vehicle interior set up so the girls could have total privacy in it while I worked outside on the roof tent, etc. Interestingly, I carried a toilet along and it fit perfectly behind the third row underway. I wanted it along as camping in some wilderness areas requires a sanitary system.
So, the project worked out way better than I had dreamed.
Edit: Forgot to mention that I can get the plywood up myself just by laying it there and sliding into position. 5 minutes later its ready for the tent. It's a little awkward but I can also get the tent up there by myself. Slide it into position, put the two U bolts on the #2 leg and 15 minutes of total time I'm ready to drive off. I use a heavy freezer bag to keep track of the U-bolts both on the trip and when the kit is in the garage. Carry a couple spare wingnuts - easy to drop while securing the tent at night.
DougM
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nice exhaustive description
glad it's working out for you!
what I like about this also is that you can use most pieces elsewhere if you'd like.
did you find out more about the need to waterproof and dustproof it for transport?
(as an aside, I'm also very keen on being on the roof in bear country, but realistically, that notion is likely a bit overoptimistic -safety wise- given that a bear probably would not have that much trouble climbing on the hood first and then on the roof if it would like a closer acquaintance with us... So, to be safe, I would not make too much out of that as a major safety precaution. Still better than ground level, of course... But no doubt you know more about grizzlies than I do.)
glad it's working out for you!
what I like about this also is that you can use most pieces elsewhere if you'd like.
did you find out more about the need to waterproof and dustproof it for transport?
(as an aside, I'm also very keen on being on the roof in bear country, but realistically, that notion is likely a bit overoptimistic -safety wise- given that a bear probably would not have that much trouble climbing on the hood first and then on the roof if it would like a closer acquaintance with us... So, to be safe, I would not make too much out of that as a major safety precaution. Still better than ground level, of course... But no doubt you know more about grizzlies than I do.)
- Thread starter
- #30
Shhh, don't tell my wife and kids. Agree the roof top location would delay an attacking bear all of oh,,, 1.2 seconds? Heh. Actually, I think it is waaaay safer than being on the ground where a curious bear will paw at tents, etc but it's all theory and animal behavior is random. We also have wolves, raccoons, etc and the feeling of being up there on the roof is relaxing. Something I've thought through is a strategy if the kids are up there and an aggressive animal does appear. I've purposely oriented the tent such that they can bail directly into the LandCruiser through the sunroof. One end of the tent (I've put this forward) has a door inches from the opening, so they can simply bail.
On the rain and dust proof. I did nothing but close it and we got rained on heavily underway once for about an hour. An hour of dry driving later, we stopped for dinner and I opened it in the parking lot to let it dry (just loosely opened it in 3 mins, didn't secure it open). That evening, there were a few drops in a couple folds. But you make a good point. The tent came with a heavy cover that completely surrounds it and zips shut which I can't use since one pair of legs is bolted down. I am planning to modify it so I can slip it over the tent up on the roof - a couple slits to let me slip it over the leg that's "permanently" secured under way, etc. Also, in a convoy of offroad vehicles on a dusty trail I would be curious how much dust would get in the tent and whether a minute of blowing the dust out of it by slapping a towel around once set up would clean it, or what. Good question and something I'll be squaring away.
On the rain and dust proof. I did nothing but close it and we got rained on heavily underway once for about an hour. An hour of dry driving later, we stopped for dinner and I opened it in the parking lot to let it dry (just loosely opened it in 3 mins, didn't secure it open). That evening, there were a few drops in a couple folds. But you make a good point. The tent came with a heavy cover that completely surrounds it and zips shut which I can't use since one pair of legs is bolted down. I am planning to modify it so I can slip it over the tent up on the roof - a couple slits to let me slip it over the leg that's "permanently" secured under way, etc. Also, in a convoy of offroad vehicles on a dusty trail I would be curious how much dust would get in the tent and whether a minute of blowing the dust out of it by slapping a towel around once set up would clean it, or what. Good question and something I'll be squaring away.
Nice outcome especially for $ invested! I like the shoe/gun/etc... storage under tent on platform while in it! When you mentioned dust if on a dirt road in a convoy of rigs, I think my CVT RTT would not fare much better. The seal between halves is not that tight and seems like it would allow more dust in than I would want. However, the outside of the tent fabric would keep most dust out, I believe. As for dealing with bears or aggressive wild animals, elevation is an advantage. The RTT concept was developed in Africa, to deal specifically with this problem. How it translates to Grizzilies remains to be seen. I hope I don't end up being an example of why "lions and tigers and bears" are like apples and oranges when you get down to it. 
You interested in the tent cot setup go to Expeditionportal/jkbuild, Kevin has the ultimate setup here.
- Thread starter
- #34
OK found it. He's done something I wouldn't have with the tent cot. He removed the legs and had expensive brackets fabricated which then replace the legs. While it lowers the tent, it was much more complicated than painting a piece of quality plywood and making a secure platform. With the tent cot down on his roof, the canvas floor may then be touching the floor instead of slung tightly as designed for comfy sleeping. Dunno. His works well for a single guy, but I needed the largest model to sleep two. I also like how the platform's bonus is having a large stowage space for shoes, etc that is out of the weather. And we can use the platform to put a couple lawn chairs up there for great viewing of public events, concerts, parades, etc.
DougM
DougM
Found the page (I think):
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...er-JK-build-(Pic-heavy)?p=1038941#post1038941
and some general pictures:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...driver-JK-build-(Pic-heavy)?highlight=tentcot
Doug, I prefer your design for the reasons you mentioned. Looks good!
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...er-JK-build-(Pic-heavy)?p=1038941#post1038941
and some general pictures:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...driver-JK-build-(Pic-heavy)?highlight=tentcot
Doug, I prefer your design for the reasons you mentioned. Looks good!
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Doug,
Nice work as always. I could have linked you to some pics and description of my old set-up. I used the tent cot mounted on my ARB rack. Only issue is with the side rails on the rack, so i had to mount it sidways where some of the tent hung off the side. Still worked great. Only downside was that it took me FOREVER to set the darn thing up. After unpacking it, setting it up, putting it on top of the rack, ratcheting it down for stability, i was in over 45 minutes! It was a major PITA.
So, i opted to just sleep in the back of the truck until i could get a real RTT.
Nice work as always. I could have linked you to some pics and description of my old set-up. I used the tent cot mounted on my ARB rack. Only issue is with the side rails on the rack, so i had to mount it sidways where some of the tent hung off the side. Still worked great. Only downside was that it took me FOREVER to set the darn thing up. After unpacking it, setting it up, putting it on top of the rack, ratcheting it down for stability, i was in over 45 minutes! It was a major PITA.
So, i opted to just sleep in the back of the truck until i could get a real RTT.
Wow, concretejungle, how did you get in and out of that? I'm asking 'cause I'm almost 60 yrs old (no spring chicken
) and even with my ladder that came with my RTT, getting up in the middle of the night, as guys of my age almost have to do several times, is touch and go.
) and even with my ladder that came with my RTT, getting up in the middle of the night, as guys of my age almost have to do several times, is touch and go.
Here is a Jeep with your tent cot solution
HTTP://www.expeditionportal.com/forumthreads/72945-expo-daily-driver-jk-build-(pic-heavy)
really a cool setup
HTTP://www.expeditionportal.com/forumthreads/72945-expo-daily-driver-jk-build-(pic-heavy)
really a cool setup
Wow, concretejungle, how did you get in and out of that? I'm asking 'cause I'm almost 60 yrs old (no spring chicken
Well, to be honest that's one of the reasons i decided to ditch it. It was just too difficult and i didn't feel like carrying a ladder around. I could basically step up on the rear bumper, step on the spare tire and up onto the roof rack.
- Thread starter
- #40
Tom,
I'm sure the younger guys will get a chuckle but I have tried both peeing from the tent, and using essentially a bed pan (shallow bucket) that I slide under the tent on the platform. Latter works best. There is about a 10" high space under the tent where I stow shoes. No big deal in our family, as we also use a night time bucket when sleeping on our boat as the toilet is noisy.
Heh, somewhere I also have a little thing I had to pee into when I had a kidney stone. It is well made, and simple, and spill resistant. Might bring that on the next trip as it is also compact.
DougM
I'm sure the younger guys will get a chuckle but I have tried both peeing from the tent, and using essentially a bed pan (shallow bucket) that I slide under the tent on the platform. Latter works best. There is about a 10" high space under the tent where I stow shoes. No big deal in our family, as we also use a night time bucket when sleeping on our boat as the toilet is noisy.
Heh, somewhere I also have a little thing I had to pee into when I had a kidney stone. It is well made, and simple, and spill resistant. Might bring that on the next trip as it is also compact.
DougM
