Mounting: Platform vs Bars

[spagthorpe]

I'm still in the research phase, and looking at a couple of tents. I don't know how much of a difference there is regarding hard shell vs flip tents with mounting, but I wanted to get an experienced opinion on mounting. I have a Rhino Rack, and a Pioneer Platform currently. I had thought about using this to put a tent on, but it's adding 70lbs to the weight of the tent on top of the vehicle, and I'll probably have to drill holes in it to mount a tent. Most tents see to mount to bars easily enough, but I was wondering how much of a difference is there is in how solid the tent will feel on the platform vs bars. Do you feel the floor flex when moving around in the tent? I'm guessing some of the "ruggedized" models have a beefier floor. The tents I was primarily looking at was James Baroud for hard, and 23 Zero and Howling Moon for soft. Open to others, but those are the ones I've seen so far. I could even cheap out and get a Smitty just to use for the winter, and then figure out what I like or don't.

 

[BobsCreek]

Bolted tot bed rack and a bit of a fat ***, non ruggedized, tent feels solid.

 

[Dozer Dan]

I have my James Baroud mounted to 3 front runner roof bars. It's as solid as can be.
Much lighter and much cheaper than a full rack. I can't think of any cons compared to a full rack.
When I got the bars I measured carefully and got bars 2 sizes lower than standard for my truck. That way the tent is mounted as tight to the roof as humanly possible.

 

[spagthorpe]

I have my James Baroud mounted to 3 front runner roof bars. It's as solid as can be.
Much lighter and much cheaper than a full rack. I can't think of any cons compared to a full rack.
When I got the bars I measured carefully and got bars 2 sizes lower than standard for my truck. That way the tent is mounted as tight to the roof as humanly possible.

I had thought of making my own bars. Some stainless square tube and welding on some pads to hit the Rhino Rack mounts. It seems like you still have to get to the bolts on the underside though looking at this picture. https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...6de4b0a4da20811850/1404327542134/IMG_5746.JPG I can see the bolts could be cut down, but I have to wonder why they didn't make the bottom plate curved, so you could get everything flusher.

Main reason I can see a full rack would be to be able to easily mount side awnings, etc. It is a lot of weight though, and unfortunately cost a fair bit.

 

[Dozer Dan]

I also fabricated my own brackets so the bolts I have are shorter. I don't have enough room to access the bolts with the bars on. The tent mount to the bars and then the whole package onto the roof. It works for me, it's the way I like it. My tent is permanently mounted though, it neeever comes off.
You can have a look at this post and you'll get the idea with the brackets
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/129799-James-Baroud-RTT-s-In-Action!?p=2156356#post2156356

 

[Ovrlnd Rd]

Luckily I have a friend that is a great welder and pretty good at fabrication work. We built an aluminum tube rack for my Titan. We used the tie-down brackets for clamping points to connect it to the bed. Rack by itself weighs about 20-25 pounds and the tent is about 140 (although when we mounted it felt lighter). I don't really notice any difference in handling but haven't had it off camber yet.

The tent is a Gordigear Explorer Plus. The tent is very high quality but a little more reasonably priced than some of the others you mentioned.

 

[rickc]

spagthorpe: Mounting a conventional RTT to a Pioneer rack is easy; a quick trip to Home Hardware to buy four steel plates about 6"x 1" predrilled with four holes, drill-out the outer two on each to 8mm and then use these as the underside clamps for the RTT bolts. I also covered the plates with electrical tape to stop them scuffing the underside of the rack planks. I set my RTT up to flip backwards as an awning for the tail gate and reversed the cover so that it flip open away from the hinge end. I leave it on and roll it up on the front side of the exposed Pioneer rack (not shown in the picture) . I went the Pioneer Rack route because I use my truck for other things when the RTT is not aboard. Your concerns about extra weight is very valid; way too many pics on the Internet of grossly overloaded truck tops.

 

[Crazy Schooner]

I bolted a CVT to a pair of Front Runner load bars, and I really had no issues with this setup the few times I took it out. I just used the front runner tent brackets.

I even had a hard shell Hannibal Impi mounted to those bars while I was transporting it. Granted this seemed to move around a tad more up and down, but held up fine. I switched back over to a bed rack, mostly due to the newer hard shells length. I could have ran this awkard setup no problem long term.

Priot to both those setups, I ran a rocky mountatin outdoor tent mounted to front runner slimline rack. I used their regular tent brackets (not the taller version) and while the setup was sturdy. I found the edges of the rack had pressure points on all four corners. I didn't keep this setup past winter, but with lower brackets it would have eventually did some damage to the fibreglass. I really don't see you having this sort of issue with a pioner tray. This was the sturdiest (but tallest option)

 

[jjohnson1892]

I have a Rhino Rack, and a Pioneer Platform currently. I had thought about using this to put a tent on, but it's adding 70lbs to the weight of the tent on top of the vehicle, and I'll probably have to drill holes in it to mount a tent.

I run this setup with a JB Explorer and didn't have to drill holes into the platform. The JB mounts straddle the thinner cross/support bars under the larger platform decking, if that makes sense.

FWIW, I love the setup. I've considered going to racks instead of the platform, but I don't know if there'd be enough of a noticeable difference in weight savings for the cost. Especially because I don't mind the weight up there right now, I did some pretty good crawling a few weeks ago and, while I had to be smart/conservative in line choice occasionally, the tent and rack didn't force me to pass on anything I wanted to hit.

 

[80t0ylc]

I'm still in the research phase, and looking at a couple of tents. I don't know how much of a difference there is regarding hard shell vs flip tents with mounting, but I wanted to get an experienced opinion on mounting. I have a Rhino Rack, and a Pioneer Platform currently. I had thought about using this to put a tent on, but it's adding 70lbs to the weight of the tent on top of the vehicle, and I'll probably have to drill holes in it to mount a tent. Most tents see to mount to bars easily enough, but I was wondering how much of a difference is there is in how solid the tent will feel on the platform vs bars. Do you feel the floor flex when moving around in the tent? I'm guessing some of the "ruggedized" models have a beefier floor. The tents I was primarily looking at was James Baroud for hard, and 23 Zero and Howling Moon for soft. Open to others, but those are the ones I've seen so far. I could even cheap out and get a Smitty just to use for the winter, and then figure out what I like or don't.

Pretty sure your Rhino Rack would be fine for a RTT. Only concerns I would have would be 1.) the side rails (if you have them) might interfere and 2.) the room between the rack and your roof might make it difficult to get to the mounting hardware. Most RTTs are designed to mount to either bar system or platform. I've had my CVT hard shell on 3 bars for 5 years now, with no complaints for sleeping support.