Awning room as a primary tent?

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reznunt said:
1 - Yes, the RTT is easy to set up and take down once it's on the truck. The main issue I'd have is getting it on the truck myself and then taking it off myself for every trip... even overnighters. Setting up and taking down an awning room or roof top tent to break camp and explore would definitely take an extra 10 minutes or so... but it would take me longer to install and remove a RTT.

2 - The awning room is tall enough for me to use during the day as a bug/element free room as I please. If I can find a large enough tent that offers me this, and is cheaper than $175 then I would absolutely forego the awning room.
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1- Point was RTT offers the advantage of quick moves. Awning room does not have that versatility. Since you are giving up the versatility of quick moves why not gain the option of a fixed camp?
2 - You can find tents with similar head room for around $200. These are not a tents that will last a life time, ie Ozark Trails etc. Since you are not planning on camping in harsh weather a cheap tent will do fine.

Based on my experience with small kids camping you are not going to want to spend as much time moving as you do camping. We always found a creek or pond or something and camped for a couple of days in the same location with short trips to other interesting places. The more time you let the kids have to run around eating bugs, getting dirty and stuff the more they will enjoy and want to camp in the future.

Indoctrinate them now and they will be happy and willing to go with you even into their teen years.
 
rusty_tlc said:
1- Point was RTT offers the advantage of quick moves. Awning room does not have that versatility. Since you are giving up the versatility of quick moves why not gain the option of a fixed camp?
2 - You can find tents with similar head room for around $200. These are not a tents that will last a life time, ie Ozark Trails etc. Since you are not planning on camping in harsh weather a cheap tent will do fine.

Based on my experience with small kids camping you are not going to want to spend as much time moving as you do camping. We always found a creek or pond or something and camped for a couple of days in the same location with short trips to other interesting places. The more time you let the kids have to run around eating bugs, getting dirty and stuff the more they will enjoy and want to camp in the future.

Indoctrinate them now and they will be happy and willing to go with you even into their teen years.
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1 - I understand the point you are making, but I would not leave a fixed camp to go wheeling anyway. If I were to go wheeling then I would camp at the next destination. I agree with your experience with camping and small kids... I would probably spend more time camping and less time moving. This makes me want a fixed camp site, whether it be an awning room or a large ground tent.

2 - And since I'm not planning on camping in harsh weather, wouldn't an awning room provide the same, if not more benefits over a large ground tent?

Since ruling out a RTT for my needs, I probably should now ask "fixed ground tent vs awning room?"
 
reznunt said:
SNIP
Since ruling out a RTT for my needs, I probably should now ask "fixed ground tent vs awning room?"
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My experience shows that the main advantage to a vehicle-supported awning or tent is that it does help in high wind situations. The purpose-designed awnings depend on the truck for stability and in that generally have a steady stance that's very difficult to achieve in a stand-alone fixed ground tent (assuming a high wall, spacious configuration as with an awning/awning room.)

But our cheap awning did just fine attached to the truck near the shore on Superior. Nothing special about the awning, that's for sure, in terms of stability or strength. It was all about being attached to 3 tons of Land Cruiser.
 
reznunt said:
1 - I understand the point you are making, but I would not leave a fixed camp to go wheeling anyway. If I were to go wheeling then I would camp at the next destination. I agree with your experience with camping and small kids... I would probably spend more time camping and less time moving. This makes me want a fixed camp site, whether it be an awning room or a large ground tent.

2 - And since I'm not planning on camping in harsh weather, wouldn't an awning room provide the same, if not more benefits over a large ground tent?

Since ruling out a RTT for my needs, I probably should now ask "fixed ground tent vs awning room?"
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Since you plan on a ground tent as a backup, wouldn't it be awning room and ground tent vs ground tent?

2 - Mobility is still the advantage. Day trips to the beach, park exhibits, country store for ice cream, or whatever.

Just my opinions, you seem pretty set on the awning room but you did ask for opinions.
 
rusty_tlc said:
Since you plan on a ground tent as a backup, wouldn't it be awning room and ground tent vs ground tent?

2 - Mobility is still the advantage. Day trips to the beach, park exhibits, country store for ice cream, or whatever.

Just my opinions, you seem pretty set on the awning room but you did ask for opinions.
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Semantics... but the goal is to use an awning room as the shelter. The ground tent would be an optional backup used the small percentage of the time really bad weather rolls in. So I guess you are right. You could say both or and and.

For my use (geared towards family camping trips as opposed to wheeling around a base camp) I feel the mobility benefits of a RTT do not outweigh the cons I noted in my original post.

Thanks for your opinions/input! They are greatly appreciated.
 
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Wont try swaying you towards either type, but I will tell you what my decision was.
I really like the awning with the room attached but what if
#1 your in a beautiful spot, all set up and you realize you need ice, beer, bologna or anything the little country store 8 miles from camp will have. You have to tear down completely to go to the store.
#2 you get to camp, get all set up, your buddy, who has had a noise develop in his rear axle finds the source of the noise and needs a ride to town for parts. You have to tear down camp. ( This has actually happened to a couple of my buds.
#3 You twist/tear up an ankle through the day, make camp early thinking enough beer and ice and all will be better ( this I actually did ). Now your 4'9" wife has to take down camp because your to sick from to much beer and the pain has got to the point of puking non stop ( yeah I did that too ).
We went with a quick popup tent made by bushnell. Its a well made tent that stood up to some very impressive rain and wind.
Good luck searching.
 
gandrimp said:
Wont try swaying you towards either type, but I will tell you what my decision was.
I really like the awning with the room attached but what if
#1 your in a beautiful spot, all set up and you realize you need ice, beer, bologna or anything the little country store 8 miles from camp will have. You have to tear down completely to go to the store.
#2 you get to camp, get all set up, your buddy, who has had a noise develop in his rear axle finds the source of the noise and needs a ride to town for parts. You have to tear down camp. ( This has actually happened to a couple of my buds.
#3 You twist/tear up an ankle through the day, make camp early thinking enough beer and ice and all will be better ( this I actually did ). Now your 4'9" wife has to take down camp because your to sick from to much beer and the pain has got to the point of puking non stop ( yeah I did that too ).
We went with a quick popup tent made by bushnell. Its a well made tent that stood up to some very impressive rain and wind.
Good luck searching.
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All very good points... thanks! I'm currently searching for tents as we speak. I think from the feedback in this thread we will start off a season or two using the awning room for a tent. If I find I have to continue to pack up to break camp for whatever reason, I'll stay with a ground tent as the primary shelter. I'm not sure how well this will work so I'll be sure to report back with my opinions/experience.

I'll look into a RTT again when my baby boy is old enough help me install and remove it or when I'm blessed with an 8'+ garage height. A RTT is still the ultimate goal.
 
reznunt said:
Got any pics of your 8-ft awning installed? I was considering it but not sure how it looks installed being so long. Still deciding between the 6-ft and 8-ft and I'll be leaving it on the truck year around.
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Here's the only side shot I have with the awning on.

The angle of the pic is a little bit deceiving. The way I lave it the awning runs from the top front of A pillar to about 6" past the top of the C pillar.


I decided against the 6' because the shade patch gets even smaller than the awning size as it moves along, and rain at an angle can easily go across 3 to 6 feet without that much wind.












Phone%20on%20Beach-%20Fall%20040.jpg
 
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JCruse said:
Here's the only side shot I have with the awning on.

The angle of the pic is a little bit deceiving. The way I lave it the awning runs from the top front of A pillar to about 6" past the top of the C pillar.


I decided against the 6' because the shade patch gets even smaller than the awning size as it moves along, and rain at an angle can easily go across 3 to 6 feet without that much wind.



Phone%20on%20Beach-%20Fall%20040.jpg
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Thanks for the pic! 6" isn't that bad at all. I think it's worth the extra shade and the extra floor space in the awning room.
 
I have the ARB awning and man it's stout once setup. Just ordered the room to ice the cake.
To me this is a good value over the same foot print of a RTT. Plus I saved a couple grand to buy gas $$$ LoL
 
I sometimes use the CVT awning room off my teardrop trailer. No issues once its all staked out. Ill sleep on my cot inside and let the wife and kid have the trailer. I just removed my RTT. Done with it! Pain. I just picked up an Oztent RV-5. Ill be using that now when family camping. When by myself or with just the fellas, I use an Oztent Bunker. The RV-5 reallty is a 30 second tent. Now staking it out will additional time, but a million times better and easier than the RTT. So sick of the RTT cover and climbing all over to set it up and pack it away.
 
I've used several of the setups mentioned above. The awnings rooms just don't seal up like a real tent, and setup can take a little while, making sure you slope the awning properly. RTT's can be a pain in the neck, but for daily setup and teardown, they're so fast. You pretty much will still need an awning with an RTT so you can actually camp and setup all your gear and have a place to hang if it's raining.

My ideal setup is an Oztent (buy the biggest you can afford and fit) and an awning with mosquito net room. That's what I had and traveled for a week with the kids settling up and down during the summer in Montana and found it gave us everything we needed.

The awning tent rooms do serve their purpose for a lot of people, but I think a mozzie net and a ground tent would be a better long term purchase. Everyone needs an awning though!!
 
always had this idea of everyone sleeping in the rrtt/annex combo that i got a while ago. in reality, only the RTT has been used and sometimes the awning with it or separately if i moved it from the truck to the van. now that the RTT's been put away in storage, it makes more sense to make the awning work, lol. it WILL work and it will get the job done. it just depends on the likelihood of all the factors already mentioned.

my plan is to have it as a back up shelter or main shelter for winter camping (if say we go to an electric/car camping site). we can run a heater to it and blast it with heat. plus you can always reinforce it with some tarps. was thinking of adding a sheltered boot room/vestibule out of tarp so that only socks go in with a moving blanket on the floor, then sleep pads/bags on top (no cots). IF we were to stay put, and if the weather was nice (more snow vs lots of rain/wind), sure it'll be fine.
 
We had a RTT and annex room that fit a family of five with room for changing and such. Great setup for long stays. For mobility though, not the best option. Setup or teardown was a good 30-40 mins. I'm in the hunt for the OZtent style. Definitely see the advantages of that setup over a RTT.
 
all these talks about Oz tents and annex/awning rooms made me think of one solution. since the awning is easily removable, why not unbolt it and suspend it off a tree trunk or thick overhanging branch? peg down the frame from behind with adjustable straps to keep it steady and roll out the awning/room? now you can leave camp! problem solved and you have a hacked Oz tent!

definitely going to try this.

Screenshot_2017-01-05-21-37-41.webp
 
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I've had all the same reservations about a rtt. I'm leaning more towards an oztent or a springbar type tent with the awning attached to the tent. Then you can back the Cruiser up to the awning and make use of the tailgate and or rear drawers/kitchen. The problem I have with the awnings is they come off the side of the truck when everything you need is accessed from the back. I purchased an auto awning from kirkhams. It works pretty well to shelter from sun or rain the back of the truck.
 
Is there anyone offering a knock off version of the larger rv5 oztent? They are so expensive. Maybe they are worth it though. Idk.
 
IMHO, the Springbar tent is the duck's nuts (or is it the bee's knees?) and I always keep an eye out for a small, 3 person used Springbar tent. Depending on the size of the tent, four cots + family pet + table + chairs can all fit inside one of these bad boys. They're expensive and heavy but as a base camp for the weekend, I can't think of anything better. Made in USA to boot!
 
I'm thinking about 3 separate roof rack awnings that can be used together or in any combination. The kitchen can wrap the perimeter or can be set up on whatever side is needed. The rear awning designed to allow back lid to open or close without having to rerig. Sleep in a nice try sturdy spring bar tent with the kids or unroll a futon mattress in the back (fits perfect in my 60).
 
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