Scoutman
Explorer
I figured I was getting into this project far enough to post some progress here. The backstory is we had a pop up truck camper for a number of years and it turned into a huge repair project where I worked on it more than I was able to use it. In the end we as a family of 4 felt we were better off going a different direction for a while and wanted to try out a roof top tent. My wife and I have ground tent camped all our lives and our kids (8 and 5) have grown up with a mix of sleeping accommodations. While we really enjoyed the comforts that the truck camper gave, it always seemed to be a challenge to sleep both kids without one of them falling in the floor in the middle of the night and naturally mom never slept well when that was a possibility. We keep feeding them and they keep growing so we knew this situation wasn't going to get any better. We had seriously considered getting a Four Wheel Grandby Shell and building it out the way we wanted but in the end the initial expense and time to outfit seemed too great.
Having sold the TC we had plenty of funding to get just about any RTT we thought would fit us as a family. With the almost daily expansion of brands available the size I wanted for us narrowed it down quickly as only a few offer tents ~8' long. I have a long bed Dodge Ram 3500 so 8' seemed like a good fit and would give us room to grow. In the end CVT won us over and their newly released Summit Series Denali Extended was pre-ordered. I say pre-ordered because the next color coming out for the SS is a gray with black fly. Perfect for my gray truck. It's on it's way across the Pacific as I post this and should be available in September. The goal is to have this usable by Fall Break and OXE-16 in October. :Wow1:
Design ideas. I have a truck toolbox which keeps my fridge locked up and out of the elements and that was something that I wanted to keep. I want to be able to see out my rear view mirror and have clear visibility over my right shoulder (pass side of bed). So most things will be mounted either high, low, or on the left bed side. I want to be able to remove the bed rack with tent attached if I need to haul a 30' gooseneck trailer which I do a few times a year. Since the toolbox stays in place the rack bars had to be high enough to clear the box lid when fully opened. Light, power ports, 3rd brake light, tent power, etc. are also being worked into the design. Stay tuned. :smiley_drive:
Having sold the TC we had plenty of funding to get just about any RTT we thought would fit us as a family. With the almost daily expansion of brands available the size I wanted for us narrowed it down quickly as only a few offer tents ~8' long. I have a long bed Dodge Ram 3500 so 8' seemed like a good fit and would give us room to grow. In the end CVT won us over and their newly released Summit Series Denali Extended was pre-ordered. I say pre-ordered because the next color coming out for the SS is a gray with black fly. Perfect for my gray truck. It's on it's way across the Pacific as I post this and should be available in September. The goal is to have this usable by Fall Break and OXE-16 in October. :Wow1:
Design ideas. I have a truck toolbox which keeps my fridge locked up and out of the elements and that was something that I wanted to keep. I want to be able to see out my rear view mirror and have clear visibility over my right shoulder (pass side of bed). So most things will be mounted either high, low, or on the left bed side. I want to be able to remove the bed rack with tent attached if I need to haul a 30' gooseneck trailer which I do a few times a year. Since the toolbox stays in place the rack bars had to be high enough to clear the box lid when fully opened. Light, power ports, 3rd brake light, tent power, etc. are also being worked into the design. Stay tuned. :smiley_drive:
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