Roof Top Tent alternative.

[abrumley]

I've been wanting to buy a RTT for ahile but have held back for alot of reasons price being number one number two i dont want to always have to sleep on top of my truck. So i bought a Tent Cot at Gander Mountain for $269 Comes with a very nice durable carrying case and sets up in like two minutes. The legs end up being 52 inches wide and 74 inches in length. Interior space is 52 wide and 85 long. Its very well built and extremely sturdy. I'm still coming up with a good ladder system but thought i would share my idea with you all. Any input on ladder ideas would be welcomed. Thanks!

 

[bheff]

I like the idea! Now to see on your trailer! lol

 

[abrumley]

trailer? i'm putting this in an old con fer rack with a mesh floor.

 

[Corey]

I have seen one of those mounted to an Xterras roof rack, it turned out pretty good.
I have a photo somewhere of it.

 

[concretejungle]

why do you need a ladder, it's only a foot off the ground?

I have one of those and mounted it on the ARB roof rack. Works really well, just is a total pain in the ass to secure to the rack with ratcheting straps. I had a pic somewhere of it in place and will try to post up when i get home.

It does the job, but not a good RTT.

 

[e9999]

those have been discussed quite a bit.
seemed to me that they are great on the ground if rather bulky and heavy to store, and a bit of a pain to use up there.
But yea, it'll do if you can't afford a RTT or don't want to use up all your roof rack for one. If you want to put it up there the leg configuration would be important to see if you could straddle cargo.
Nice to be a bit above the bears IMO.
I climb on the rear mounted spare and on to the rack but a cheapo ladder from CL or a garage sale, that you won't cry to cut to size would help, except there is the storage bit again. Maybe one of those folding or telescoping ones?

and you did check the width of your rack, right? cuz my big one is like 51" wide with a guard rail...

 

[concretejungle]

here are a few pics of mine rigged to a 3/4 length ARB roof rack with the mesh floor. It slept great! Just was a pain to set up and take down this way.

On the ground especially at the beach, they are awesome! A bit bulky i agree. But if you have a large rack and can throw it up on top easy for travel, they are a nice option.

 

[Beams37]

I think this is a really cool idea. I may have to consider this in the future

 

[concretejungle]

The reason i mounted mine on the rack the way i did is because it's just a few inches too wide to fit between the side rails of the roof rack. So, i turned it sideways. While sideways, the middle two support legs fit on the rack just great, but the outside two do not. So i strapped them to the rack with a ratcheting strap and it held great.

With the fly open and just having the mesh screen, on top of the truck, on top of a mountain it was very comfortable. Nice breeze blowing through! Also on the trip i took the above pictures we had a really bad flash storm come through and it absolutely poured for about 45 minutes. I got in the tent and stayed completely dry.

 

[sirenmoses]

I like the concept, in theory, but it looks like a good way to get flown out, if you forget where you're sleeping and step out for that middle of the night bladder relief.

Any pix of it stowed? How do you access it? Does the rain fly work well without being secured, or do you tie off the front edge to hood/bumper, and back side to??

 

[concretejungle]

I like the concept, in theory, but it looks like a good way to get flown out, if you forget where you're sleeping and step out for that middle of the night bladder relief.

Any pix of it stowed? How do you access it? Does the rain fly work well without being secured, or do you tie off the front edge to hood/bumper, and back side to??

I guess if you are a bad sleep walker and on ambien, you could probably forget you are sleeping in a small tent cot mounted to a roof and accidentally step off and fall on your butt!

I don't have any pix of it stowed... i think, i will look.

I access it pretty easy; step on the slider, then the tire, then on the sliding glass that is open, then into the rack. That's one way, or, slider to tire and then just hop up. Some times i will close my spare tire swing out and step on the bumper onto the spare tire, then up into the rack.

The rain fly works great as i was in mine with a terrible rain storm and stayed completely dry. The fly clips to the legs. It's pretty much self contained. If it were on the ground i'm sure you could rig up some line to stake it to the ground.