Issue w\ Roof Top tent: Floor caving?

[jdzl]

Any updates on this? More info from CVT? Has it gotten worse?

 

[meental]

I haven't had my mattress out to look but no ill effects still

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[Cascadia-vehicle-tents]

I do apologize I missed this thread. Yes this is normal on these style of tents. The floor consists of aluminum sheet on the top and bottom then there is a frame on the inside with joists also aluminum. There is foam in between those joists. You will get the aluminum settling over the joists as there is nothing there but foam backing. Any weight will do this. Our tents have a 2 year warranty and they will be covered if something goes wrong. We do stand behind what we sell.
There is no excuse. This is normal in any tent built with this construction.

 

[Bravo1782]

I know this is late in the game, but I was looking for some info in an old post and I found this again, so I figured I'd follow up.

I got in touch with Bobby over at CVT, and I guess there was a handful of Mt. Rainier tents that got shipped out from the group buy I got my tent from that had a few issues. He ended up swapping my tent out and the new one is right as rain! It's defiantly more robust and has held up well with none of the issues I had before! I like doing business with CVT; their reputation of great customer service is defiantly deserved. They stand by their product!

 

[ducktapeguy]

My Tepui does the same thing. I don't know they use in between the aluminum frame but whatever it is doesn't support much of a load in between the supports. I added some interlocking foam pads on mine, not strictly for comfort but the noise of the sheet metal flexing when moving around was annoying me. What tepui (and other RTT manufacturers) should have done is bond the floor covering to the core on both sides. That would make the structure stiffer and feel a lot more robust. I thought about re-sheeting mine but it hasn't bothered me enough yet to go through the effort.

I saw the Yakima Skyrise at REI and one thing I liked about it is the floor seems to be much nicer than the Tepui. They use some type of thicker plastic instead of sheet metal on the floor which make it feel a lot more solid (at least in the dislplay model)

 

[wvracer821]

my Tepui looks just like that. It hasn't gotten any worse in the last 2 years. I'm not sure if its normal or not but it doesn't seem to effect any of the functionality.

 

[rickc]

The distortion of the tent base really is not surprise when you consider the weight distribution; typically, there are only two cross bars that come with the RTT that then mount to whatever base you have on the truck. Add moving/sleeping people to the mix and the newer RTTs construction using relatively thin ally/plastic bases and deflection is almost inevitable. I saw an older, second hand Eezi-Awn RTT recently; it had a pretty thick plywood base that wasn't going anywhere.

It's my turn on Thursday/Friday this week; I'm installing a big Rhino Rack Pioneer platform to my canopy cross bars (ARE CX HD cap) and then placing an ARB Simpson III on the platform; I'm considering not using the ARB cross bars at all, allowing the the platform to support the whole of the RTT base; zero deflection.

 

[gseim]

I'm really surprised at the tacky excuses coming from these tent makers like Tepui and CVT.

It's not "Normal" for a product made to hold a person to dent when a person is on it. My Tepui is all dented the first day. That's not "normal", it's shoddy construction and it's unacceptable of a device meant to hold people. Imagine buying a new car and when the paint starts falling of the dealer says. That's normal, the car still works fine.

Does anyone know what makers use construction methods that won't dent?

 

[rickc]

gseim: I feel and acknowledge the reasons behind your pain. These tents are designed to put people in, not on and the Tepui picture is misleading although I doubt that there was any mal-in"tent" (pun intended). I'm curious as to why you need to crawl on the thing to put the cover on in the first place; I've never heard of any one doing this before. My RTT is on a platform about 6'2" or more off the ground and I'm 6'1". I can manage to put the cover on from the sides without crawling over the top but I will confess that a small, lightweight step ladder is really handy. I can do it without the ladder; it's just a little harder.

 

[gseim]

I Dunno Rick. I see little difference between in and on. They are making these tents so that the floors cave. That does not seem acceptable under any reading. In my case I emailed rack outfitters who I bought it from and they are making excuses too.

Our express van is pretty tall and wide. More than 6'2 for sure. It would be pretty tough to get the cover on without getting up there. Not sure about CVT but at least Tepui said they can handle before I bough it and even posted photos of the same. if the material is too light they should use sturdier materiel or add supports inside. I was really excited about the idea of getting into RTT. Now I'm getting this disturbing feeling that they are junk that won't last and the reason is "it's normal".

 

[ducktapeguy]

I also climb onto my tent to put the cover on, because the top of the tent is close to 8' tall and I can't even reach the ladder even when standing on the tires, so being on top is the easiest way to stow it.

I think what probably wasn't mentioned in the advertisements is the floors are designed to have a distributed weight of a person lying down on it, not concentrated load from standing or kneeling. It's possible to walk on the tent just fine, IF you stay on the aluminum frame portion of it. In between the frame is just foam support isn't going to take much weight at all. The normal covering is really thin, I wouldn't even call it sheet metal, it's more like roof flashing, so it definitely can't take any type of load. I suppose it would be nice if they used a stiffer and stronger material, but that comes with a weight penalty which a lot of people probably aren't willing to compromise. I guess that's why they came out with their ruggedized versions.

 

[Box Rocket]

gseim, I understand your concerns. I responded in your other thread on the topic. Hopefully it sheds a little light onto the subject. I'm confident that you'll find that your tent is not, in fact, "junk" and will only last a season. There are thousands of users here on the board that are proof to the contrary. Yes, if you're not aware of this aspect of the tents it can be a surprise and cause concern, but all will be well. Also consider how you're putting weight on top of the tent. A person lying down inside the tent is a load spread over a large area. This isn't going to cause the floor to collapse. The smaller the pressure point, the more likely it is to cause a dent, like a knee in your case. Similarly if you poked the base with a nail it would take far less pressure than what you weigh to puncture the sheet. Someone else mentioned that standing on it is less likely to cause a dent than kneeling on it. I've found this to be true in my own experience. I regularly stand on top of my tents and they have rarely dented from that, but kneeling has caused dents. The Ruggedized models have a heavy duty base of aluminum diamond plate that won't suffer from this if you even felt the need to upgrade. But honestly, in spite of what you are seeing you're tent will last for years.

 

[gseim]

I guess what really frustrates me Box is that I feel misled. I asked about this before I ordered a tent that cost as much as a used car. I was not informed that I would need a ruggedized if I wanted to avoid denting and I don't think it's reasonable to anyone to expect denting or caving as in this thread to be normal. I have thousands into my roof rack and had I been given honest info I likely would have just bought the ruggedized. I take care of my gear and am willing to pay for gear that lasts. I have no doubt as a tent it will work fine, but I did not want just a tent. I wanted quality that showed. That's why I chose Tepui over a generic model like the Smitty.

Thanks for the replies anyways.

 

[teotwaki]

Because someone brought this thread back to life.... :sombrero:

My Camping Labs tent is probably 7 years old now. It needs a new rain fly but is otherwise doing great.

Hey guys,
Maybe you can chime in on this issue too...when I first got my Mt Rainier I noticed sometimes when I opened up the tent the aluminum extrusion on the bottom that mates the two halves of the tent wouldn't line up. If I put a little pressure on the bottom it would "pop" back into place and then it was fine. I talked to Bob down at CVT and he said that was pretty normal in the 3+ RTT's.

Recently, I've noticed that when I climb up in the RTT and get to moving around a little that the mating extrusions will pop out of place with just a little pressure. Even if I fix it, it'll still easily do it again. I talked to Bob down at CVT briefly and he seems to think the angle that I have the ladder set will fix that, but that doesn't make much sense to me. Anyone else seeing this?

Do I just have a cheap, badly made RTT? What do you guys think? Anyone else with a 3+ RTT having issues?

Mine does it sometimes if I have the ladder too high.

Same here, I would try kicking your ladder base out another 4-6 inches. That will let the unsupported side a little further down before the tongue and groove engage along the middle. Should keep it from popping out.

Before pulling the tent open ensure that your mattress is not going to get caught in the tongue-and-groove gap as the tent halves fit together. Every so often I inspect the two aluminum pieces and wipe any dirt or debris out. Next I'll wipe the aluminum down with a silicone based lubricant. When deploying the tent I recommend you pull on the ladder enough to unfold the tent but don't extend the ladder at first. Let it hang in the air and go underneath the tent and make sure the tongue-and-groove halves are fully mated. Then set your ladder to a good angle and height.

 

[Theoretician]

I guess what really frustrates me Box is that I feel misled. I asked about this before I ordered a tent that cost as much as a used car. I was not informed that I would need a ruggedized if I wanted to avoid denting and I don't think it's reasonable to anyone to expect denting or caving as in this thread to be normal. I have thousands into my roof rack and had I been given honest info I likely would have just bought the ruggedized. I take care of my gear and am willing to pay for gear that lasts. I have no doubt as a tent it will work fine, but I did not want just a tent. I wanted quality that showed. That's why I chose Tepui over a generic model like the Smitty.

Thanks for the replies anyways.

Seconded. Well said.