dman93
Adventurer
^^ Thanks ... a very clever idea and execution. Not sure if there's enough room for this with a 5' bed and 4' tent, without a lot of rear overhang, but will take a look.
Pro's and con's of mounting RTT below cab height?
- Thread starter dman93
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^^ Thanks ... a very clever idea and execution. Not sure if there's enough room for this with a 5' bed and 4' tent, without a lot of rear overhang, but will take a look.
pray4surf
Explorer
I recognized you didn't have the bed length, but hopefully caused you to think 'outside the box'. A vertical lift mechanism would/could work. Look for Box Rocket's trailer build in the trailer section for some ideas.
Good luck.
Mine is mounted on a 13" all pro rack perfect height imo. Low enough for simple set up but still high enough for decent driving visibility I would hate any sort of fold over rtt mounted higher if I was forced to go above cab height I would go with a style clamshell rtt.
Pros are ease of set up lack of wind resistance and I can get it in my garage. Cons are exposed gear in the bed of a pickup I have a drawer system and that helps. Like anything there pluses and minuses to each every solution creates a new unique problem that you may not have thought about. Decide what's most important to you and work around that the best way you can.
Secure gear storage or tent height? Mine was tent height and after 20k miles as a daily driver I couldn't be happier but it has been quite the project.
Pros are ease of set up lack of wind resistance and I can get it in my garage. Cons are exposed gear in the bed of a pickup I have a drawer system and that helps. Like anything there pluses and minuses to each every solution creates a new unique problem that you may not have thought about. Decide what's most important to you and work around that the best way you can.
Secure gear storage or tent height? Mine was tent height and after 20k miles as a daily driver I couldn't be happier but it has been quite the project.
dman93
Adventurer
Good summary - thanks. Are the drawers water and dust tight? Most drawer systems I've seen rely on a shell/topper for that function, though I guess a tonneau might work too.
Yeah I have a magnum truckvault with the line x. I love the drawers they perform exactly as advertised they just don't hold enough gear and remember I have the magnum drawers these give me 11" or interior height. I basically had to rethink all my gear get to fit in the drawers or store it on top of the truckvault anything on op of the truckvault is going to be somewhat exposed, not secure and block driving visibility if it's big enough. Again everything has pros and cons I'm somewhat on the fence on the drawer system if I had a do over not sure I would do it again.
I'm 36 and I get up 3 times a night to use the facilities.
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Last year I moved the RTT (Tepui Autana) from a Toyota FJ Cruiser to a Ford F150. Had a rack build for the back of the truck. As you can see in the photos below, the top of the tent is slightly higher than the cab of the truck, but a lot lower than it used to be on the FJ. Some photos that will show how high/low the tent sits:
I think a lot of the pros and cons have been mentioned already, so probably some not-so new stuff in here:
Pros:
Privacy is not an issue - tent is still high enough that people can't look inside without having to climb on something.
As usual, the pros and cons depend to a large extent on how you use the RTT. I also think that some of them become more/less important if you can play a bit with how high you mount the tent. I decided not to mount the tent directly on the truck bed railing, as I wanted access to the truck from the sides, but that means it sits slightly higher than the cab of the truck. Same for the decision how far to the front/back of the bed it sits, further to the back will probably allow you to use all windows, especially on a larger size bed.
I think a lot of the pros and cons have been mentioned already, so probably some not-so new stuff in here:
Pros:
- Ease of setting up the tent and taking it down - there is big difference. I can do everything just walking around the car (it probably helps that I am 6'8" - but my wive only needs to climb to get the zipper thingy to the other side of the truck behind the cab). Compared to having to climb on wet/muddy tires of the FJ to zip/unzip the cover, remove the cover, grab the ladder, open the windows, etc. this is way better.
- Lower height gives a lower CG, allows for easier parking (it does work in some parkades) and better fuel efficiency (never measured, as I never had it high on the F150, but should be the case with the lower profile).
- Access to the truck bed is limited, so less risk of stuff "disappearing".
- visibility - I can just check the road behind the F150 in the rearview mirror, but having the tent any lower would take this away. Even now I wouldn't drive without the side mirrors. Everything is better than an FJ when it comes to visibility, so for me an improvement
- cover - I have enough space to cook on the back of the truck while staying dry if necessary, and just enough space for the two of us to use a camping chair and sit dry under the overhang at the back.
- storage - works for me - the tent is currently sitting just high enough to access the bed and pull some stuff from a box from the side of the truck. To remove the box, I will have to take the ones at the back of the bed out. Truckbed is covered with a soft cover that I can roll up. I have it set up so that the stuff I need on a daily basis can be accessed at the back of the bed or in the backseat area of the cab and the stuff i don't need that often is in the front of the bed.
- using the rods - i have the RTT set up opening to the back, so the only issue is the front window, which is one we don't use often in the first place and can be used without the rods if it gets to hot in the tent (which is not too often, considering I do most of my camping in British Columbia
). I also realized that if I had put the tent about 5 inches further to the back (which can be done easily), I would have been able to use the rods on the front window without any issues. I didn't care enough this year to move it back, but will keep it mind when putting it back on the truck next year. I would argue the issue of not being able these two rods is more than offset by how much easier it is for the other windows. Not having to climb onto tires, etc is great.
- can't carry large items in the box - don't have any, so not an issue for me.
- annex - i never used it, so don't care, but suspect that if you need it for people to sleep in, it will be a struggle. I
Privacy is not an issue - tent is still high enough that people can't look inside without having to climb on something.
As usual, the pros and cons depend to a large extent on how you use the RTT. I also think that some of them become more/less important if you can play a bit with how high you mount the tent. I decided not to mount the tent directly on the truck bed railing, as I wanted access to the truck from the sides, but that means it sits slightly higher than the cab of the truck. Same for the decision how far to the front/back of the bed it sits, further to the back will probably allow you to use all windows, especially on a larger size bed.
nickys68chevy
New member
I used a MaxxHaul ladder rack ($229) and cut the legs down to 9 inches to fit it in the garage.
works for my application, fits in garage, doesn't kill my mpg
works for my application, fits in garage, doesn't kill my mpg
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