Love my trailer, hate my tent. Anyone have a Bundutop?

[JCDriller]

Hey guys, my wife, son and I are on a month long adventure with our Turtleback trailer with CVT Denali summit extended RTT (SEE SIG FOR BUILD THRED). We love the trailer, but hate the clamshell tent design. This is our second one (first was mounted on a Jeep) and we like the room, but dread tear down and set up. It keeps us from using it for quick overnight stays, however the space is hard to beat.

The solution we've come up with is a Bundutop, it can't get any easier than pushing a button. As a bonus its also prewired for a 300w solar panel on the roof and can be had with an optional annex room that can be used for longer stays or we could add a CLAM shelter that can quickly be thrown up if additional space is needed.

Does anyone have any experience with these tents? I know they are spendy, but I'm looking for convenience and speed.

 

[Dozer Dan]

If you check out Donegal Overlanding on YouTube there are 3 guys there with the Bundutop.

The Bundutop is fast up and down. It has a very nice mattress (4"). Completely dark inside. Excellent hot weather performance.

The downside is the build quality and the quality assurance. Every single Bundutop we have come across have has very serious problems from factory. Ranging from the stitching not being waterproof (common one) to sharp metal poking holes in the fabric (also common). The tent being crooked, not closing straight making it difficult to close. Not all the hardware is stainless so for instance the eyelets in the fabric for the lifting mechanism rust.

It's on its 3rd generation or so but it looks and feels like a prototype. You will probably put up with that but when you pay that much money for a tent you expect a bit more.

 

[JCDriller]

If you check out Donegal Overlanding on YouTube there are 3 guys there with the Bundutop.

The Bundutop is fast up and down. It has a very nice mattress (4"). Completely dark inside. Excellent hot weather performance.

The downside is the build quality and the quality assurance. Every single Bundutop we have come across have has very serious problems from factory. Ranging from the stitching not being waterproof (common one) to sharp metal poking holes in the fabric (also common). The tent being crooked, not closing straight making it difficult to close. Not all the hardware is stainless so for instance the eyelets in the fabric for the lifting mechanism rust.

It's on its 3rd generation or so but it looks and feels like a prototype. You will probably put up with that but when you pay that much money for a tent you expect a bit more.

Wow, that is really sad to hear. I assumed the quality was high due to the price tag, but dang guess not. I’d love to see one first hand. How are you running across them??

 

[Dozer Dan]

Well, 2 friends have them so I've seen them up and close many times. Another mate had one, was unhappy with it and got the Alu-cab instead.
They have some good ideas but he quality really is shocking.
They have stopped offering their awning to the European market because they can't make it waterproof. It's the only awning I've ever heard of that has this problem. All other manufacturers, even the cheap-o Chinese ones manage to at least make their awnings waterproof.

To be fair, One friend absolutely loves his, despite all the flaws. No tent I've seen is perfect and I think every manufacturer have some good ideas. It you are willing to take a gamble then it's still a good tent. I'm a bit put off by the fact it looks like something a kid made in school but that mightn't matter to you.

 

[JCDriller]

I reached out to them to see if any corrections have been made. They are about 7 hours from me so I’ll likely drive out to have a look at them. They can make a custom size tent which appeals to me to maximize the size that my trailer will support.

 

[Outside somewhere]

Cant speak to the bundu tent but if it's like their awnings and customer service I'd look for other options.