Roof Tent Mounting Options

[tele'n]

i run a Hannibal RTT on my canopy and used gutter mounts on the side and a Yakima rack to support it. inside the canopy i made some reinforcements that run from the bed rail vertical to the back-side of the gutter mount. i just did this on one side as i have the tent hinging on that side so it has a bit more of the load on it when we are up there.
i would like to have a bed rack but you lose all that cargo room when you do that. i've opted to stay with the canopy setup and it has worked very well for us. i haven't had any issues with it cracking... about 5yrs. now but i primarily stay to FSR and such when we are loaded up. if it becomes really rough i just slow down.

 

[mjohns2]

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[Mike S]

Does anyone have any longterm experience with this? Has there been any fatigue cracking in the fiberglass from having so much weight on the shell and no rigid frame support?

Many of our customers have the tent-on-the-campershell arrangement. I have heard no negatives with quality fiberglass shells. I have used this arrangment on my F350 and ARE cap. I will have this vehicle at Expo - come take a look.

Does anyone have any photos of the type of setup. I have a DC Tacoma with a shell. I am not sure the load capacity, so this may be the best/most conservative option in regards to the cab rooftop load capacity vs the cap.

Go here: http://www.autohomeus.com/gallery/ford.php

 

[Mike S]

i run a Hannibal RTT on my canopy and used gutter mounts on the side and a Yakima rack to support it. inside the canopy i made some reinforcements that run from the bed rail vertical to the back-side of the gutter mount. i just did this on one side as i have the tent hinging on that side so it has a bit more of the load on it when we are up there.
i would like to have a bed rack but you lose all that cargo room when you do that. i've opted to stay with the canopy setup and it has worked very well for us. i haven't had any issues with it cracking... about 5yrs. now but i primarily stay to FSR and such when we are loaded up. if it becomes really rough i just slow down.

Suggestion -- if you haven't already, check ut the Thule Xsporter rack - mounts to the bed rails, adjustable for height. A very good solution for many people.

 

[YotaPilot]

i run a Hannibal RTT on my canopy and used gutter mounts on the side and a Yakima rack to support it. inside the canopy i made some reinforcements that run from the bed rail vertical to the back-side of the gutter mount. i just did this on one side as i have the tent hinging on that side so it has a bit more of the load on it when we are up there.

Do you have any pics of the supports? I would love to see this setup.

 

[pennieslj]

Suggestion -- if you haven't already, check ut the Thule Xsporter rack - mounts to the bed rails, adjustable for height. A very good solution for many people.

We use the Thule rack and have really liked it.

 

[mjohns2]

Does anyone know how to mount a RTT like this person did. I like the added security of the tent being low and covering any items inside the bed of the vehicle.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Looks to me like its mounted to Thule load bars which are directly mounted to the bed rails. Would be a very simply install method. Downsize is the height of the Tacoma bed is very limiting in terms of storage as your standard cooler won't slide underneath.

 

[mjohns2]

You're right, I would like the RTT a bit higher, but I'm not finding many options for mounting over the bed of a truck that aren't custom made. Is there a special adapter that attaches the RTT to Toyota's deck rail system?

Also, I'm assuming the special adapter rest of the top end of the bed of the truck to be able to support that type of weight.

 

[mattspaeth]

Does anyone have any pics of a Tacoma with a Maggiolina mounted on an XSporter rack? I'm wondering how close you can get the tent to the roofline of the cab since the XSporter can't lower very much on Tacomas (at least the Double Cab version, which I have, because the wheel wells are in the way).

 

[Lemsteraak]

Here is a picture of my old med Columbus on a Tacoma extra cab so you can get a sense of scale.



This was the first Variant, even though it was the old green fabric, so the shell size is about the same size as the new Maggiolinas. The xSporter system is really strong and well crafted, the tent didn't flex at all up there. I always had the tent in the xSporter's up position, which just cleared the top of the cab. If you wanted to change to the down position, it would require moving the tent back a few inches, never tried it though, seemed to be pretty aerodynamic up there. You will need to ask for larger mounting brackets for the tent, the factory ones are designed for the small Thule and Yakima bars. Oh, and the other thing that may be a little tricky is that the front of the tent is so close to to roof the front latches on a Maggiolina may hit the roof and not open completely. The AirTop has no problem with that, if you want the more conventional ones like the Extreme, you can "flip" the front latches so they open up instead of down and clearance isn't a problem. Takes about twenty minutes with a drill and a rivet gun if you need to do that.

 

[pyrate]

got a bigger picture?

 

[mike r]

yeah, Have you got any bigger photo's?

 

[Lemsteraak]

Sorry, larger photos are on my old server which is in storage. I've been traveling for the past few years.

Here are a couple photos that are still too small but are a bit better.

 

[mike r]

Thank you,
How you are enjoying your travels