Some years ago, I bought a MT. Rainier RTT from Cascadia Vehicle Tent in Oregon.
I used it one weekend with the family in Vermont, and it was of a pain in the ass.
It definitely sucked wheeling with it, makes your rig that much higher, and top heavy.
It's really not as easy to set up and take down as I thought it would be. To install the wire supports for the awnings, I had to climb around my truck like a little monkey, standing on the sliders, tailgate, and hanging onto the rack. In the morning, when we were packing it up, my wife was helping and slipped off the tailgate, between the open swingout, and the truck itself. I thought she broke her leg.
Packing it up is no fun either. I found it a pain to make sure every loose bit was tucked in, before zipping up the rain cover. I was extra careful when installing the cover and still managed to catch some fabric in the zipper. There's more about it that annoyed me, but I think I purposely blocked it out of my memory...
The clincher was this:
I had it all packed up, and realized I left my glasses hanging on one of the rods. A friend had started to pack up his big ground tent at the same time I started to unzip the rain cover...he finished packing up before I even started to put the cover back on...I said "never again, sell it!"
Sold it to some dude in NJ, he mounted it on a trailer, and loves it.
I did pick up a hardshell RTT a few years ago, thinking it would be good for when I go out West, but have still not used. I do have plans on getting a rack for the Tundra, and installing the RTT on it, but have not done that yet either...
So, for now, I mostly just sleep in the back of my truck.
I used it one weekend with the family in Vermont, and it was of a pain in the ass.
It definitely sucked wheeling with it, makes your rig that much higher, and top heavy.
It's really not as easy to set up and take down as I thought it would be. To install the wire supports for the awnings, I had to climb around my truck like a little monkey, standing on the sliders, tailgate, and hanging onto the rack. In the morning, when we were packing it up, my wife was helping and slipped off the tailgate, between the open swingout, and the truck itself. I thought she broke her leg.
Packing it up is no fun either. I found it a pain to make sure every loose bit was tucked in, before zipping up the rain cover. I was extra careful when installing the cover and still managed to catch some fabric in the zipper. There's more about it that annoyed me, but I think I purposely blocked it out of my memory...
The clincher was this:
I had it all packed up, and realized I left my glasses hanging on one of the rods. A friend had started to pack up his big ground tent at the same time I started to unzip the rain cover...he finished packing up before I even started to put the cover back on...I said "never again, sell it!"
Sold it to some dude in NJ, he mounted it on a trailer, and loves it.
I did pick up a hardshell RTT a few years ago, thinking it would be good for when I go out West, but have still not used. I do have plans on getting a rack for the Tundra, and installing the RTT on it, but have not done that yet either...
So, for now, I mostly just sleep in the back of my truck.
