Eezi-Awn Globetrotter on a AT Horizon - My selection and install

[Romer]

I recently bought a used Adventure Trailer Horizon Model used from someone in Wyoming. It came with a really nice Overland RTT

And it fits nicely in my garage

I bought it knowing I wanted to swap out the roof Top Tent. Probably sounds silly that I wanted something more comfortable on a trailer and I was willing give up my pop up camper to get it.

I first looked at RTTs with Changing rooms like the ARB Simpson. The reason a standard RTT like the ARB Simpson won't work well is the platform unfolds about shoulder high and the majority of the changing room you would not be able to stand in except right were the ladder is. Plus there would be extra material and the door would require stooping into. This is because the tent is designed to on top of a tall vehicle.

The reason I like the changing room is I want more than just the bed area. An area I can change in, sit in a chair and read a book or watch videos. Have more than just me in the tent if the weather is bad or have the option of having the girls go with me, but I know they would get the bed and I would get a cot to sleep in the other room, thats why for me, a changing room must be big enough for at least one cot.

I then found two models with Changing Rooms that work on trailers.

The Serengeti from Camping Lab (Fernando) and the Eezi-Awn Globetrotter from Paul May. I found the customer service from both parties to be exceptional in answering all of my questions.

The Serengeti from Camping Lab provides a very large Changing room. Trailer top loft 57X83" - Bed area
Ground room 80X83"

Big enough for a couple of cots or 4 chairs. Room for the girls if they come, or just a place to chill. A nice compromise between a RTT and my camper. I wanted something in the middle

This tent is great for a family as there are lots of options for sleeping and being able to have room inside during poor weather. Fernando is also a great guy who I have dealt with before

I then looked at the Eezi Awn Globetrotter. Paul May answered all my questions on the Eez-Awn.

The Eezi Awn Globetrotter Trailer tent is brand new for 2009. It has all the features and quality you have come to expect from Eezi Awn, but with a unique design that sets it in a league of it's own. The Globetrotter is designed for use on a trailer or vehicle roof with a height of no more than 1.5 meters, or 59". It measures 83"x63"x8" when closed, and weighs in at approximately 110 pounds. What makes the Globetrotter so unique is that the tent opens over the edge of your trailer or vehicle to create a roof line you can add walls to and create a dual level enclosed structure. The bed is the entire platform, roughly the size of a queen size bed. The mattress is a new, thicker 3" single density foam. A marked improvement in comfort. A short ladder is provided to enter the bed area, and can be attached at several locations along the interior side. The bed area is enclosed by a vertical panel that stretches from the tent base to the top of the roofline, and offers a mesh window for viewing the ret of the tent area. The room off the side of the vehicle measures 83"x63". the roofline of the room is angled at a 30 degree slope from the tent base to provide a door entry height of more that 6 feet. Encased in the roof line, in it's own duck cloth case, is a Series 1000 awning the stretches the width of the tent and spans out 67" from the far roof line edge. This, in effect, creates a shaded area of 83"x130", or 75 square feet, between the two rooflines. The awning rolls up and easily stores in the Globetrotter roof.

 

[Romer]

I was first leaning towards the Serengeti, but many of my fellow club members helped review the choices with me and it came down to the fact that I would be using this by myself most of the time and with the Serengetti, you always have the changing room. The Eezi-awn provides flexibility to not have the changing room or awning and just have the basic RTT with an awning over the ladder portion. I can also put the Eezi-awn on my vehicle, but would need a different ladder to do that
Paul May was great to deal with and I was also happy to give business to a Cruise Moab Sponsor.

It came yesterday and I installed it last night
It can be just a RTT and you can enclose the sleeping area

 

[Romer]

Then you can deploy the additional awning

Then add the Changing room

The tent is made of great materials and should be a lifetime investment and I enjoyed doing business with Paul May. Mario and Martyn from AT also provide a lot of great advice and I utilized their taller Roof Racks for the mount. The reason they are taller is so the RTT can clear the side box when you open the top

There are only two issues I have right now. My trailer is a bit taller than it was designed for. This is only an issue when the changing room is attached. It reaches the ground and I could stake it. The PVC material is suppose to be on the ground completely. I may end up getting more material from the manufacturer and lengthening it 6 inches. Should be OK the way it is though

The other is its awkward to setup the first time. Other RTTs can be setup by pulling the ladder. Can't do that with this one. Tried the way in the manual and it was real awkward. Contact Paul and he told me to stand on the tire and pull on the strap stepping down as you go. That worked real well.

I am really happy with the purchase. Had I had kids at home like 10 years ago, the Serengeti would have been a better choice for me. With my daughters both adults, we can still camp in the Globetrotter, they will get the bed, while I sleep down below

 

[Romer]

On other thing is that I will have to move the awning mount farther out to fit. I had to take it off the mount the tent. It should still work though oncfe monted a bit farther out. I remember Martyn posting about this

 

[Romer]

Relative to the length of the materil on the walls, The bag had some very long stakes that go through the eyeholes near the bottom. Those look like they may work without needing additional material. Can't really tell in my garage

 

[haven]

Ken, thanks for the nice write-up!

I have a question about the tent's stability when deployed without
the vertical poles, like this:

Please let us know how the tent behaves in a moderate wind when
set up like this. Thanks!

 

[Romer]

Ken, thanks for the nice write-up!

I have a question about the tent's stability when deployed without
the vertical poles, like this:

Please let us know how the tent behaves in a moderate wind when
set up like this. Thanks!

There are ropes in those small green bags you can see that can be staked to the ground.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Very nice write up indeed. I'm going through the same choices right now. We only have one child, and he's only 14 month now, but I'm trying to figure out the space concerns. I'm still leaning towards the Eezi-Awn though. Its seems like the setup time would be quicker. Do you agree?

How easy do you think it would be to keep the changing room walls attached when you stow the tent? I would almost always want the room attached having the kid, and have read that it's possible, but am wondering which is more of a pain, storing and erecting the tent with the room attached, or attaching and detaching the room on each setup.

For what it's worth, I'd have to lengthen the tent base as well, but I just planned on using some marine fabric, like Sunbrella, since I have a buddy that does that type of stuff on the side.

Anymore pictures would be nice too as you get used to the tent and use it. I'd like to see the poles you were talking about that strengthen the tent and the other side how the tent fly stakes out.

Thanks,

Don

EDIT: Also, how do you envision the changing room floor working? Would there be any way to have it sit on top of the tarp edges on the changing room walls, and still get it to stake down to prevent movement? Or would you have to lay the floor down first and then place the walls on top. Just trying to think through making the changing room water/vermin proof.

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[Romer]

The poles I was talking about (Edited out of my post) were for the windows not the awning.

Paul May told me (He has same tent and a Chaser) that he always stows it with the room attached. I haven't gotten there (Stowing) yet. Also will likely be Spring before I try it out unless I get the Heater setup AT is selling. Waiting for some installed pictures on that

The setup may be longer for the Serengeti (dont know) based on using the larger rainfly and having to take care of that. Maybe with the smaller rainfly it would be about the same

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Thanks for the info... In case you didn't see my additional question above, since I edit-ed it in at the same time you replied, I'll put it here also:

Also, how do you envision the changing room floor working? Would there be any way to have it sit on top of the tarp edges on the changing room walls, and still get it to stake down to prevent movement? Or would you have to lay the floor down first and then place the walls on top. Just trying to think through making the changing room water/vermin proof.

One thing I dislike about the Sarengeti, is the possible ware on the tent floor. I like the idea of it being replaceable/removable, but just have a hard time thinking of how it would work.

Don

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[Romer]

Thanks for the info... In case you didn't see my additional question above, since I edit-ed it in at the same time you replied, I'll put it here also:

Also, how do you envision the changing room floor working? Would there be any way to have it sit on top of the tarp edges on the changing room walls, and still get it to stake down to prevent movement? Or would you have to lay the floor down first and then place the walls on top. Just trying to think through making the changing room water/vermin proof.

One thing I dislike about the Sarengeti, is the possible ware on the tent floor. I like the idea of it being replaceable/removable, but just have a hard time thinking of how it would work.

Don

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Don,
I will have to leave that question to someone who has camped already. I did not lay the floor down in my garage. I thought it was pretty cool I could set it up there. I barley made it past the ceiling

 

[Romer]

I had to take the awning off to get the tent on.

I had to trim the metal bracket to make a notch to make it fit. It just barley clears when installed as far passenger as you can get it. I used one of the old holes and drilled new for the rest.

I put tape on the bottom of the old holes and filled them with JB Weld. I love that stuff.

As you can see when you open the top, there is still two inches of clearance.

If AT makes these brackets in the future at 5 instead of 7", I will get a set. (Hint Hint)

Now back to it's place in the garage

 

[pygmyowl]

Cool to see your GT set up Roamer. I also have a GT on my Horizon since September, having sold my EA 1800 and replaced it with the GT.

I can't say it was a easy swap out. At least from what I can discern, the GT was developed for mounting on a South African overland trailer, not the North American AT type species with our larger tires and sophisticated suspensions where you end up with a taller trailer. After I bought the GT I discoverd that the ladder that comes with the GT is way too small and I had to buy an extension and rivet this into place. Also the wall panels that hang down from the extended roof line are way too short - I had to go to a canvas shop and have them sew on an additional 10" so that cold air didn't come spilling in and I'm only running 31 1/2 in tires. I did get the tent to fit with my old Fiammia awning in place but it was a huge hassle, and I ended up cutting down the custom rack that AT sent me to replace my old rack, but it finally works perfect now and the tent is centered within 1" of the center of the Horizon and opening the lid works flawlessly, but I sure put a lot of time into getting it to work.

Couple of my observations having been out in it for about 1 week in cool autumn WX:

PROS:
>As soon as you pull the tent up you have a nice sheltered area under the extended roof line, where you can access your side boxes and cook out of the weather -pretty ingenious in this regard
>Typical EA high build quality
>The ladder doesn't support any tent structure (ie not weight bearing) and therefore can be moved, set aside and/or repositioned
>Very comfortable bed
>Wall panels quite easy to set up, though you may need to stand on a pelican box, etc to reach up high to attach some of the panels, especially with sloping terrain
>Very easy to heat (one of main reasons I bought it), and bringing heat in heats the little room plus your sleeping area - I use an Espair diesel fired heater , see:
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25653&page=4

CONS:
>Ladder and wall panels too short for North American type overland trailers - also cord integrated in roof so tent doesn't blow closed in a gust has to be replaced as it is too short
>Somewhat awkward technique required to initially pull tent open- I'm still getting used to this
>There are gaps on the side of the tubular steel tent frame, on the sides of the entrance that seals up your sleeping room, that only have fabric flaps to seal out bugs, and I can guarantee you will get eaten alive in Canada with out making further modifications to this

Hope this helps,

Scott MacButch

 

[adventureduo]

Thanks for the detailed writeup. Im glad both of you have posted up. This is the tent i want for our Horizon and it looks like a little more work and mods are needed if i go this route that i didn't know about initially.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Thanks for posting your review. It's nice to see multiple opinions in one thread.

Those CONS don't seem too bad. I like that you can heat the tent well. That is a big deal to me. The one thing I don't like, is that there are air gaps that bugs/insects can get into the tent through. It seems that all of the EA's have this issue with either the hinge area or the door area. Doesn't seem like it'd be something that hard to remedy either by the company, or by the end user, but still it's been a common complaint in a lot of reviews I've seen.

Don

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