Bed Cover with roof top tent?

[TEETS]

I am picking up a roof top tent today and am trying to plan how best to mount it. I do not really want to go full topper was just looking at getting a bed cover and then doing a rack to run the tent at roof line. Had anyone done this? and how did you go about it? I have a 2005 double cab short bed tacoma but would think this would apply to any truck.Soft topper is close to me and I was thinking about seeing if I built a tube structure if they could wrap it in canvas but looking for opinions as most bed covers will not work with thule cross bars or the like over the bed.

 

[brianjwilson]

Am I missing the point? Why do you want to do this? Why have the empty space between the bed and the rack that would then be unusable?
If you're mounting at the roof line I'd figure it makes sense to just use a full canopy/topper so you have usable space at least.

The backflip extends onto the bed rails minimally, but I'm not sure which (if any) prefab racks would work with it.

 

[TEETS]

The top of the tent when folded would be at roofline


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[aaen]

I've actually been looking at the same thing and is the only reason I haven't bough a RTT yet, the CC is out and sitting on the desk, just waiting for the dealer to be called so I can swing by and pick it up. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a rack that will work and I am thinking I am going to have to go custom to get it done. Although I did like the Thule rack option as it is height adjustable, but I tend to camp a lot alone on my trips as others are not able to get the time off so figured lifting it on the four corners would be a royal pain in the butt.

The reason I want this option is so I can still have a secure cargo area, yes a topper will provide this but I do not want the tent sticking up over the cab of the truck when packed away. The reason I want the secure cargo area is I tend to travel with a lot scuba diving gear (rebreathers, scooters, tanks, etc) in the back of my truck, which is fine for local diving and heading home but on the road which we are a lot and we explore towns, etc, it is nice to be able to leave the truck and not be constantly worrying someone is going to take off with one of my camera's or HID lights by reaching into the bed.

I've been debating doing a hinged model that would lift up and out of the way on either a gas strut or a bar I just installed at the front of the bed so I could easily get access to all my gear. OR maybe just installing a bed slide underneath my existing tonnes cover to give easy access to my gear, hmm and perhaps mount an ARB fridge to it.

Steve

 

[wreckdiver1321]

I have my RTT mounted on a short rack above the bed, and I plan to add a tonneau cover later on. That way I can have dry storage.

 

[aaen]

Wreckdiver, what type of rack are you using. We are both thinking along the same lines I believe and I am guessing you pack a lot of the same gear that I do.

 

[TwoTrack]

I've thought about this too and was planning on doing this on my Ranger. I had a Access roll up cover than mounted to the inside of the bedrails and I then planned on adding a rack that mounted to the top of the bed rails. I sold the truck before making the rack.

 

[Rattler]

I have a bedrack that puts the tent about level with the Bajarack on my Tacoma. I am thinking about having my old boss (I worked at an auto upholstery shop) sew up some sort of canvas cover for it. Kinda make it look like a Softtopper/Canback. It won't have to be weather tight. Just keep most of the rain and dust off things back there.

 

[Chandlerdoom]

I was in the same boat. I didn't want a RRT up in the wind while traveling far, and I wanted it kind of hidden. So I used a Autana Ruggerized (nice size tent), softopper (not besttop), and 4x innovations flush mount bars.

Here it is deployed (softopper gets tucked into the side of the bed, opposite side)


What it looks like underneath the topper, close fit but it works


And how it looks all tucked away driving around

 

[pray4surf]

There have been a few attempts building custom racks that allow for transporting the RTT at/below cab height, yet provides for raising the RTT when ready to deploy. I'm one of these crackpots... BoxRocket has/had a version for his trailer and there is a San Diego guy on Tacoma World which uses compressed air. BoxRocket's and mine use gas-charged struts.

How these would work without intruding into the bed box remains to be seen. With my contraption, the only intrusion into the bed box are the two gas struts...

Short of designing and fabricating a custom rack, if you wanted a 'hard' tonneau cover you could probably reinforce the cover and mount the RTT to the top of the cover. With stronger gas struts you should be able to lift the cover for bed access...

Good luck!

 

[Rattler]

]Here is mine. I thought it went higher but I am happy with it where it is.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Wreckdiver, what type of rack are you using. We are both thinking along the same lines I believe and I am guessing you pack a lot of the same gear that I do.

Yakima Control Towers, Landing Pads, and crossbars. You can see it over in my build thread. Keeps it only 6" off the bed. I've currently got a better looking solution in the works though.

 

[aaen]

that is what I'm leaning towards right now(yakima towers), keeping my bakflip cover and installing a bed slide for access to my dive gear.

The towers and bars will also allow me to mount the bike beside the tent for the short hauls around. Anything longer and I'll turn the handlebars sideways and tuck it under the bakflip ontop of my gear.




Steve