An interesting concept to improve your roof top tent.

[Rando]

A friend pointed me to this concept to get around many of the annoyances of the roof top tent while maintaining the comfort and convenience:
http://www.hitchnpitch.com/

It is an interesting idea, and I particularly like the ability to disconnect the tent and leave it set up at your campsite. Breaking/making camp everyday is a real pain if you are base camping.

 

[Theoretician]

What's the advantage of this over a ground tent, beyond not worrying about flooding? A tailer seems like a much better solution to the basecamp problem if a ground tent isn't your style.

 

[Rando]

What are the advantages of a RTT over a ground tent in general?

You don't really loose any of the benefits of an RTT with this (comfy mattress, quick set up with bedding inside, flat ground not required etc), but you gain the ability to leave it pitched, no ladder to deal with in the middle of the night, easy to install/remove, and easier to set up.

 

[Airmapper]

Interesting yes. Would be useless for me as my departure angle is bad enough with just the stock hitch itself. (But at least it's strong enough I can drag on it if necessary....) Part of what makes a RTT attractive for me is it keeps my vehicle relatively clean for off pavement travel. It has proven to be an issue sometimes in vertical clearance though.

If I had to have that hanging off my vehicle, I'd rather be pulling a trailer as I think a good articulating hitch would be better than having a fixed object sticking out that far. Same reason hitch carriers are not popular with most in this user group.

But you got to give props to ingenuity, although I think it's solving one problem with another problem. Might work for those who do not travel on any rugged trails.

 

[Hoghead]

It said price was expected to be about what a RTT cost, $1k + seems like a lot. Interesting concept though.

 

[stingray1300]

Kudos for innovation! But the first thing that crossed my mind, based on where we end up camping (fairly often): bears. I know 6ft off the ground isn't fool-proof, but it's 5 more feet than this contraption. (keeps honest bears honest :sombrero Also, no room for an annex.
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Also, after leaving part of my trailer hitch stuff on a trail somewhere on Engineer Pass in Colorado, I made my own bumpers. The rear one has the hitch receiver incorporated IN TO the bumper instead of hanging below it (like most do). This new gizmo would also get in the way of my tailgate kitchen.
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But hey, it just might fit someone's needs/situation...
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Moved the lic. plate:

 

[rickc]

I wonder how the tent is attached to the mounting part? On any RTT, the tent base-to-ally extrusions has to be the weakest part; on my ARB Simpson III the tent base mounts to two aluminum extrusions using 2 bolts and two tiny screws per extrusion. As has already been discussed at length (don't kneel on your tent base), the tent base material on many RTTs is quite weak. I can't help wonder what happens to an RTT mounted vertically when stored to a hitch mounted frame; it must be subject to significantly more stress than one simply bolted flat to a roof rack. The Hitch'n'Pitch website doesn't show details.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

The tent cot is a much cheaper and useful option, why on earth would anyone buy this other contraption that blocks rear visibility and decreases departure angle?

 

[Cletus26]

I wonder how the tent is attached to the mounting part? On any RTT, the tent base-to-ally extrusions has to be the weakest part; on my ARB Simpson III the tent base mounts to two aluminum extrusions using 2 bolts and two tiny screws per extrusion. As has already been discussed at length (don't kneel on your tent base), the tent base material on many RTTs is quite weak. I can't help wonder what happens to an RTT mounted vertically when stored to a hitch mounted frame; it must be subject to significantly more stress than one simply bolted flat to a roof rack. The Hitch'n'Pitch website doesn't show details.

That's a very valid point. The tent and or the mounting channels would be very easily damaged or come loose with the dynamic load the tent has on itself in that vertical orientation.

 

[F350joe]

He maybe on to something with this concept. A hitch mounted foldaway tent is a good idea. Many advantages over roof mount.

 

[Justine55]

I even didn't heard about this tent before. Can you describe a bit about this one?

 

[Kerensky97]

As others have said I try to avoid anything sticking out of my hitch when offroad. Kills departure angle. I've dragged just the hitch receiver through a few river banks on water crossings, I can't imagine the stomach turning feeling hearing the back drag on something and knowing it was my $1200 tent, not just a few scratches on a beefy receiver.

 

[ennored]

I've thought about something like this for use on my motorhome, since my wife vetoed putting it on the roof with a trapdoor to get up to it (would have made a way cool bunkroom for the kids). Tricky to figure a way to take the tent, bikes, and still tow a trailer/vehicle though.

 

[Utah KJ]

It's just so silly.

 

[Rando]

It's just so silly.

Why is that? Obviously it is not for everyone (but neither are roof top tents), but I am not seeing why this is any more silly than a regular roof top tent.