RTT Regrets

[carbon60]

I've been rained on in Upstate New York, Vermont, the Southern Arizona Mountains, and now western Washington in my Tepui Kukenam Sky. Never gotten a drop of rain inside the tent. The Sky feature was especially nice during my brief tenure in AZ. Just my $0.02.

I should clarify my previous comment: I mean that less zippers and seams means the tent will stay weatherproof longer. I'm sure these tents are waterproof in the first place. Depends on how often you camp, and how careful/abusive you are with your gear.

My gear all looks like crap after a single season!

A.

 

[bmwags]

Don't let me rain on your parade but I spent 2 months this summer in a Tepui Gran Sabana RTT. Comparable to the CVT Mt Ranier.

It was big and spacious, pretty cool for the most part. However.. It did not suit my needs terribly well.

Pros:
-The giant sleeping area and huge annex was awesome. Spent a rainy day in the annex with plenty of space.
-Opening the tent and getting in takes 5 minutes.

Cons:
-The annex and everything else takes a while to set up. Same with packing away.
-Expensive for what it is.
-Its stuck to your vehicle so you can't just drive away.
-Tent materials simply do not match actual expedition quality tents. (I.e.: Hilleberg)

I sold my tent after my trip and will replace it with a 3 person Hilleberg Keron ground tent for the spring/summer/fall and a Snowtrekker 3 person canvas tent for the winter.

Price is the same as the tent plus Thule rack but are serious expedition equipment.

RTTs are cool and a huge attention getter/convo starter, and will suit some people well but weren't serious or tough enough for what I wanted to put it through.

 

[carbon60]

The zillions of available RTT brands are all of varying quality, so choose wisely. I've really only seen 4 and the canvas material was completely different.

 

[Box Rocket]

Don't let me rain on your parade but I spent 2 months this summer in a Tepui Gran Sabana RTT. Comparable to the CVT Mt Ranier.

It was big and spacious, pretty cool for the most part. However.. It did not suit my needs terribly well.

Pros:
-The giant sleeping area and huge annex was awesome. Spent a rainy day in the annex with plenty of space.
-Opening the tent and getting in takes 5 minutes.

Cons:
-The annex and everything else takes a while to set up. Same with packing away.
-Expensive for what it is.
-Its stuck to your vehicle so you can't just drive away.
-Tent materials simply do not match actual expedition quality tents. (I.e.: Hilleberg)

I sold my tent after my trip and will replace it with a 3 person Hilleberg Keron ground tent for the spring/summer/fall and a Snowtrekker 3 person canvas tent for the winter.

Price is the same as the tent plus Thule rack but are serious expedition equipment.

RTTs are cool and a huge attention getter/convo starter, and will suit some people well but weren't serious or tough enough for what I wanted to put it through.

For others reading this thread for research purposes, the standard Tepui models (such as the Gran Sabana mentioned here) use 260g poly/cotton ripstop material. If you need a higher level of durability for extreme conditions I suggest looking at the Tepui Ruggedized models with several upgrades from the standard models including 320g HD poly/cotton ripstop material.

 

[bmwags]

I should emphasize my Tepui was of good quality. Customer service was also great.

In summary: just wasn't for me.

 

[Softwaremom]

This is an old thread but I thought I would update. I live in New Mexico. I have a New Tepui Autana 4 with Annex. The Annex leaks in several places.. I am very disappointed. This was a gentle downward rain.. no side to side rain. It got my sleeping pad wet in several places as well as my cot. I could handle the leaking at the bottom along the zipper but the leaking on the sides does not seem right. I do not think it was condensation because nobody was in the tent and there was a lot of water. I have had condensation in my ground tents during rains and am familiar with that. I am returning to REI.. Really disappointed about this.. Neither of my ground tents have leaked in similar storms. Actually put up my Nemo Wagontop ground tent midway through the day to dry out my bedding and it was fine all day long. I am really glad that I brought along my backup tent.

 

[Regcabguy]

I have the CVT Mt. Cayley and the sky option has a see through plastic rain fly over the skylights, so you can open it and not worry about moisture.


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Your avatar shows a poptop. I would think an RT would flap you to death in stiff Baja winds.