Interested in Trailer Top Tents?

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schaney

schaney

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Threads
5
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60
Location
Salem, OR
Website
www.cttct.com
My name is Scott Chaney, I own a company focused on compact, lightweight tent trailer solutions of folks with smaller, fuel efficient vehicles.

I’m in the process of designing a side-fold Trailer Top Tent unit and having it available later this year. Pictured is the changing room version, it will also have a rainfly (not in picture). We are also considering a version without the changing area, similar in size as currently available RTTs. This will be a high quality marine canvas tent.

proto-side.webp

proto-door.webp

proto-inside.webp

Does this type of unit look like something folks might be interested?
How tall is the top of your trailer? I’ll need to determine a “normal” height for the changing room floor from the top of the bed.
Would folks be interested in building their own bed platform for the right price differences or prefer to purchase a complete unit ready to bolt-on?

Thanks,
Scott
www.compactcampingconcepts.com
proto-side.webp
proto-door.webp
proto-inside.webp
 
Pricing certainly would be a considerations, but also quality construction to withstand heavy duty use. Your doing your R/D, so your a step ahead, but I'm sure you've also noted that if something it's built well enough this forum isn't afraid to discuss it.
If your going to build the trailer it'll need to be as strong as the ex-military trailers so many guys use......good luck.
 
the height is a tricky question.
You'll find many folks here use military trailers (US 416 or Canadian 101 IIRC the numbering), typically with larger tires. So that's probably the most "standard" height for offroad trailers. And I imagine the commercial offroad trailers are similar. But other than that, it's pretty much all over the place. Mine for example is a utility trailer with a rack on top of the side wall and so is much higher than most. Be that as it may, the changing room is not going to be a major purchase issue I think. Plus it's easy to have them come in 2 or 3 different lengths or to just have a long one that's provided with a tube of glue and have them cut the room to length. Some of the main issues will be waterproofing, wind resistance, heat resistance, type of mount, quality of the cover, sturdiness of the ladder if any etc. Plenty of discussions on those here. Do note that this side users tend to be on the more serious offroading segment, maybe not your targeted market, so take all this with a grain of salt. Glad you asked. Good luck!

Scott, check the trailer section if you haven't already)

(and would be nice if somebody with a 416 would give the gentleman a height, please :) )
 
With original tires my M416A1 is 42" from ground to top of rail. If I take the military box off and put on my "camping" box (complete with water tank, water heater and sink) I am about 50" from ground to top of box. I think providing a few different sizes in 6" - 12" increments would cover most uses. This would also aid in setting up on uneven ground were the changing room may slope down/up from the trailer. Just use some straps to gather up the extra material in several locations to keep everything tight.
 
I've got three M416s/M100s. They all sit at different heights. I don't think you will have much luck finding a "standard" height, width or length for the trailers.

For a serious off road user (as opposed to a road user) I doubt that the changing room would be that big a draw. Privacy is not a major concern where we go. If the stand up area is larger enough to have additional use beyond that, then it might be attractive. Additionally the more air volume contained in the tent, the less the interior will be warmed by body heat of the occupants. All else equal, larger tent is cooler tent.

Full rain fly is a must in inclement weather., Also helps keep the tent warmer.

If you are in the $1000 or greater price range, there are some well established and very high quality product lines that you will be competing with.

There is a larger market for less expensive setups, even at a sacrifice of features.


Mark...
 
I would look into the Car Top Tents similar to Mobassa and a few others for ideas. This is a niche market.

One main reason for a roof top tent is to get you off the ground. This gets you away from wet ground, snow or more importantly (for me) are the poisonous snakes, scorpions etc while camping in the desert or forests.

If I am going to have a tent on the ground, I would continue to use my 5 man dome tent ($89.95) and my cot.

I currently have a 2nd generation Mobassa Car Top Tent on my 60 series but I will be installing it on my SPEN ww2 trailer as time allows.
 
schaney said:
My name is Scott Chaney, I own a company focused on compact, lightweight tent trailer solutions of folks with smaller, fuel efficient vehicles.

I’m in the process of designing a side-fold Trailer Top Tent unit and having it available later this year. Pictured is the changing room version, it will also have a rainfly (not in picture). We are also considering a version without the changing area, similar in size as currently available RTTs. This will be a high quality marine canvas tent.

View attachment 166133

View attachment 166134

View attachment 166135

Does this type of unit look like something folks might be interested?
How tall is the top of your trailer? I’ll need to determine a “normal” height for the changing room floor from the top of the bed.
Would folks be interested in building their own bed platform for the right price differences or prefer to purchase a complete unit ready to bolt-on?

Thanks,
Scott
www.compactcampingconcepts.com
Click to expand...


Ideally for my uses it would be nice to have an optional attachable ~ 10'x10' vestibule/room add-on that would attach to the 'door' side of the RTT. This would allow: Privacy when needed, additional protection when getting in/out of the sleeping area during inclement weather and also to serve as a sheltered place for dining, etc., when, again, the weather was inclement. This accessory is what is missing from virtually all the current RTT offerings. Or if they do offer one they are too heavy, take too long to assemble and/or not very compact.
 
Thanks for the feedback and comments.

Based on feedback from a number of sources we're looking at modularizing the tent. Having the trailer top portion and changing room separate units that zip together. Then we can built a bottomless version of the changing room (like a Mombasa's changing room) and height variations aren't a issue. Also a version with a full bottom our on road trailers.

Price is still in flex, $1000 does seem to be the magic number where the potential customer base start to shrink. Shopping the tent for a manufacture has been a very interesting learning experience.

Thanks again,
Scott
www.cttct.com
 
Hi,

Per feedback we have modularized our tent design. The sleeping and changing area will be separate units. This will make it easy to deal with the various floor heights. You could also get just the sleeping portion.

proto-nchg-bed-door-open.webp

Right now pricing looks like $700-800 for the sleeping portion in a high quality marine canvas. Expect to have first tents available Feb-Mar '08 timeframe.

What do people think about the sleeping and changing areas being separate units?

--
Scott
proto-nchg-bed-door-open.webp
 
Hi Robert,

The canopy / awning hanging over the side, is part of the tent /sleeping portion. The changing room attaches around the awning, down the diaginals and across the bottom of the tent. We plan on having the changing rooms available with or without floors.

--
Scott
 
spressomon said:
Ideally for my uses it would be nice to have an optional attachable ~ 10'x10' vestibule/room add-on that would attach to the 'door' side of the RTT. This would allow: Privacy when needed, additional protection when getting in/out of the sleeping area during inclement weather and also to serve as a sheltered place for dining, etc., when, again, the weather was inclement. This accessory is what is missing from virtually all the current RTT offerings. Or if they do offer one they are too heavy, take too long to assemble and/or not very compact.
Click to expand...

x2

Jack
 
One thing I really like about the idea of a changing room is that during winter camping you could use a small catalytic propane heater and put it down on the ground in the middle of the area. It would be a reasonably safe place to put it and still heat the tent. For that reason it would be nice to see a fire resistant canvas. On the other hand It would be nice to just have something light weight and cheap. Another thing to think about is if these are used on roof tops it would be nice to have a door to the inside so that you go from the tent to the vehicle without going outside. This would also allow you to heat the tent from the vehicle.

Another thing to think about would be a double folder. So that it extends over both sides of the trailer. It'd probably take more complex structure, but it may be nice to have a little extra room. Also that would allow you to distribute the weight more to the legs and less on the trailer or vehicle.

Living in Utah now, It really doesn't get cold here, so something light weight would be nice as an option too. Similar to a light weight dome tent on a platform. Could probably build one under 100 lbs total? Just some ideas. Good luck, keep us posted on the progress.
 
Thanks for the additional feedback.

Add-on rooms are on the list to look at, but in reality it won't be until next winter.

The standard canvas we plan on using does have a fire rated version available, although it adds a bit of cost. Still not sure if we're going to make them all out of it or offer it as an option. We're also exploring other light weight fabrics for a "casual camper" 1/2 season version.

Because many changing rooms will need to be built-to-order with the variation in tent mounting height, it will be easy to add zipper access doors as needed.

Yes, there might a folding tent in the future.

Thanks,
Scott
 
Would seem that a higher tech fabric with a "rain fly" built in would be more efficient than a canvas material. I don't know about cost so that may be why your going with canvas. Have you slept in a small volume canvas tent in the winter? It gets wet and frosty on the inside, canvas does not breath. I've been curious as to why so many RTT products are made out of canvas?
 
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