ThundahBeagle
Well-known member
Not specific to you Thundabeagle, but there's been a running discussion in this thread about RTT and Ground Tents, and I don't want to derail things further but it seems relevant to OP's question as he decides on how he'll build his rig. As a fella whose used both for a really long time (RTT in our 4x4, ground tent on any of my motorbike trips), I will say that the RTT provides for an all-round cleaner experience in the wet and mud. The nature of the ground tent means that mud and debris is constantly being splashed against the walls of the tent during the storm, and if there's any overland flooding of water and the ground tenter failed to make a water trench, the floor of the tent can get quite muddy. When packing the tent up, it's almost a necessity that it will be on the muddy ground a fair bit as you wrestle it into it's sack. And then, all the wet muddy bits end up in the same stuff sack as anything that did manage to stay dry and clean, so by the next evening the whole thing is wet and dirty. With the RTT, all of that is avoided. I have put away my RTT in frog-strangling rain, and while it wasn't as pleasant as doing it in the dry, the contents of the tent stayed dry and things stayed clean.
It does provide limited animal protection in that the odds are good an animal would not reach the level of the tent without alerting the occupants - it's less that they cannot reach me, and more that I would have a few moments notice before they did. I've never been eaten by a mountain lion or a bear in either my RTT or my ground tent so the jury is still out on this anecdote but I have had bear run ins and the RTT provided a feeling of security that the ground tent does not.
And finally, it allows for a much more versatile camping platform - roots, rocks, anthills, critter nests - these all become irrelevant in an RTT. All that matters is that the tires are roughly level (and I mean "roughly" - I've had visible angles to the vehicle that I didn't notice when sleeping) and you'll have a place to stay for the night. Most RTTs spend the majority of their time folded on the roof and ruining gas mileage for the aesthetic because of the marketing hype I mentioned in my other comment, but they are also pretty versatile and my preferred lodging when travelling.
Hi Chasing. I think I agree with you that you avoid mud and certain critters with RTT. And to your point, roots, rocks, and ant hills too, sure. You're right about all that.
I'd like to try one sometime, but I guess I'm really supportive of the fiberglass topper idea and comparing it to that. On a Subaru, sure, go RTT. With a truck that literally and figuratively has a "bed" in the back, I guess I just find the Leer topper bed camping hard to beat for the money. I may have to shuffle my cooler around nightly, but it works for me. Just my own experience and opinion.