RTT to ground tent any regrets or vice versa

[xlcaferacer]

I have a love/hate relationship with the rtt. I have a Tepui Autana that has the extension with the annex. It is great for the times I stay in a different spot every night. Except when it is windy! Then it sucks! It's noisy, and very uncomfortable in the wind. I also don't like the annex extension. The annex attachment takes a fair bit of time to set up and takes up a lot of room in the truck; even without it, the extra overhang of the extension is just annoying to set up.

If I stay in the same place for 2 or more nights, I use a Kodiak Canvas flex bow tent (I would have bought a Springbar but my brother gave this tent to me). This thing is absolutely luxurious. If you are in a spot where you can get the stakes in the ground; which is almost all of the time, this style tent is awesome!!! It does take a little longer to set up; which is why I don't use it for quick trips, but holy cow it is nice, and spacious! I used it in Moab in a horrible windstorm and slept like a baby. Very tight and very little flapping noise. This same type storm has left me running for a hotel when using the RTT. My small backpacking tent was noisier in the wind than the "big 'ol Kodiak" but still way quieter than the RTT.

I have always had Toyota pickups and my most comfortable setup was sleeping under a shell on a bed platform. When I had this setup, I had an ARB awning off of the back of the shell and used side wind walls to extend the living space. This worked very well, and with the wind walls staked out the awning did very well in the wind.

I can no longer sleep in the back of my truck because I built a flatbed with side cargo boxes. So my camping options are back to "soft side style". I will; without a doubt, use the Kodiak every time I stay in the same spot for multiple nights. The Tepui currently lives on the wife's 4Runner as she loves it! I will be using it for a trip to Moab where we will be camping in a different spot every night for a few days. But in the future for this type of trip I will be adding another ARB awning with two wind walls to my truck and use my backpacking tent at the end of the awning. I figure that this will give me a sheltered living space with walls for privacy and bad weather. It will also give me an area to cook, hang out, and stand up while changing clothes. With the awning lowered a little bit in one corner it will allow me to direct most water runoff away from my tent.

Since nothing is ideal, I am greatful that I have options. But I think my awning/wind wall/small tent idea is going to be my new go fast camping setup. In the end, camping is just fun! Good luck to all in their quest to make it a bit more comfortable.

 

[dcg141]

We started with a CVT to see if we liked the rtt thing and the first night sold the idea. Here on the east coast heavy rain, thunderstorms etc are the norm. The rtt solved the following issues: site selection, skunk encounters, wet, muddy tent storage, time to deploy and pack up, storage volume.

We now have a Baroud space and couldn’t be happier. The minor hassle of climbing up a couple steps is overcome by a quality nights sleep away from the mud, striped “friends”, water, dirt etc.


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Same here I have slept soundly thru many heavy rain storms. Also the window awnings let you keep the windows open during a rain storm and here in the humid south that makes an incredible difference. Anyone that has ever been thru a 2-3 inch overnight thunderstorm in a ground tent can tell you its not much fun. Pick the perfect spot and your ok...pick the wrong spot and it can be a long night.

 

[ducktapeguy]

I have a love/hate relationship with the rtt. I have a Tepui Autana that has the extension with the annex. It is great for the times I stay in a different spot every night. Except when it is windy! Then it sucks! It's noisy, and very uncomfortable in the wind. I also don't like the annex extension. The annex attachment takes a fair bit of time to set up and takes up a lot of room in the truck; even without it, the extra overhang of the extension is just annoying to set up.

If I stay in the same place for 2 or more nights, I use a Kodiak Canvas flex bow tent (I would have bought a Springbar but my brother gave this tent to me). This thing is absolutely luxurious. If you are in a spot where you can get the stakes in the ground; which is almost all of the time, this style tent is awesome!!! It does take a little longer to set up; which is why I don't use it for quick trips, but holy cow it is nice, and spacious! I used it in Moab in a horrible windstorm and slept like a baby. Very tight and very little flapping noise. This same type storm has left me running for a hotel when using the RTT. My small backpacking tent was noisier in the wind than the "big 'ol Kodiak" but still way quieter than the RTT.

I kinda have the same feelings about my RTT. when the conditions are right, they're great. But I'm also looking for other tent options when the RTT isn't practical, and one of the options I have been looking at is the springbar/kodiak tents vs the Oz tent.

I have a bunch of questions if you don't mind. Why would you have chosen the springbar vs the Kodiak? Altogether, how long does it take to setup the Kodiak? I've been watching videos on the tent, but most of them are time-lapse or shows them unpacking the tent then cuts right to the fully erected tent , so it's hard to gauge exactly how much time it takes. Do you store the tent on a roof rack, and is it a problem unloading it? The packed length would necessitate that I store it on the roof rack, and 60 lbs isn't something at is easily tossed up there. Also in one of the videos I saw it look like there are a LOT of stakes to pound in. Are all of them necessary or could you just stake out the corners?

 

[xlcaferacer]

I kinda have the same feelings about my RTT. when the conditions are right, they're great. But I'm also looking for other tent options when the RTT isn't practical, and one of the options I have been looking at is the springbar/kodiak tents vs the Oz tent.

I have a bunch of questions if you don't mind. Why would you have chosen the springbar vs the Kodiak? Altogether, how long does it take to setup the Kodiak? I've been watching videos on the tent, but most of them are time-lapse or shows them unpacking the tent then cuts right to the fully erected tent , so it's hard to gauge exactly how much time it takes. Do you store the tent on a roof rack, and is it a problem unloading it? The packed length would necessitate that I store it on the roof rack, and 60 lbs isn't something at is easily tossed up there. Also in one of the videos I saw it look like there are a LOT of stakes to pound in. Are all of them necessary or could you just stake out the corners?

I would have gone with the Springbar for the fact that they are U.S made in Salt Lake City. I feel that it would make it easier to get repairs done if ever necessary. Don't get me wrong, I love the Kodiak as it is basically the same design and the company was started by a dude that use to work for Springbar. I just would have paid the premium to support U.S. made products.
The pack size is heavy but it's not overly huge. Off the top of my head I would say that the tent bag is around 3'x2'x2' give or take and the pole bag is separate and is less than 4' long and smaller in width than a roll of paper towels. My tent has a footprint of 9'x8' I believe.
There are a lot of stakes, but they are the reason it holds up so well in the wind. I've heard of people speeding up the stake out process by using long lag bolts with Large washers and a battery operated impact gun or drill as a replacement for pounding in stakes. I would imagine that this method would also make removal a bit easier.
And to answer the final question; it does take a little bit of time to set up and take down. I can set mine up at a leisurely pace ,by myself while having a cold one in less than 20 minutes. Could probably do it faster but I try not to be in a hurry for anything when I am out camping. But the setup time is why I don't use it unless I am in the same spot for multiple nights. I think the OZ Tent setup time would not be that much faster as you have a lot of stakes to pound in as well if you want it to hold up to wind. I know a guy that has one; and after comparing it to my Kodiak, I am very happy that I didn't spend my money on the OZ tent.
The Kodiak is downright luxurious once it's set up. You can't go wrong with either Kodiak or Springbar, get whichever your wallet can handle. I've met guys at events that inherited their Springbar's from their parents and still look good 20-30 years later. I doubt an Oz tent will last that long.

 

[DCH109]

I would have gone with the Springbar for the fact that they are U.S made in Salt Lake City. I feel that it would make it easier to get repairs done if ever necessary. Don't get me wrong, I love the Kodiak as it is basically the same design and the company was started by a dude that use to work for Springbar. I just would have paid the premium to support U.S. made products.
The pack size is heavy but it's not overly huge. Off the top of my head I would say that the tent bag is around 3'x2'x2' give or take and the pole bag is separate and is less than 4' long and smaller in width than a roll of paper towels. My tent has a footprint of 9'x8' I believe.
There are a lot of stakes, but they are the reason it holds up so well in the wind. I've heard of people speeding up the stake out process by using long lag bolts with Large washers and a battery operated impact gun or drill as a replacement for pounding in stakes. I would imagine that this method would also make removal a bit easier.
And to answer the final question; it does take a little bit of time to set up and take down. I can set mine up at a leisurely pace ,by myself while having a cold one in less than 20 minutes. Could probably do it faster but I try not to be in a hurry for anything when I am out camping. But the setup time is why I don't use it unless I am in the same spot for multiple nights. I think the OZ Tent setup time would not be that much faster as you have a lot of stakes to pound in as well if you want it to hold up to wind. I know a guy that has one; and after comparing it to my Kodiak, I am very happy that I didn't spend my money on the OZ tent.
The Kodiak is downright luxurious once it's set up. You can't go wrong with either Kodiak or Springbar, get whichever your wallet can handle. I've met guys at events that inherited their Springbar's from their parents and still look good 20-30 years later. I doubt an Oz tent will last that long.

I have put up backpacking tents for years, These a 5 poles that go through horrible thin sleeves.
This was a 15-20 minute process with staking and putting the fly on. I have done this in dry, pouring rain, snow and after 8+ hours hiking.
Never once was it a chore as this was my home for the night.

I looked at the Springbar tent and so reminds my of my Grandfathers tent. That was a beat of a tent that never failed.
They, after reading about them have moved up the list to the front 3.

 

[Model97]

I'd rather not ... but good to have choices.

 

[cactusjk]

I like my Jet Tent and tend to use it over the Eezi Awn 1200 RTT on my FJ.

 

[kdeleon]

I'd rather not ... but good to have choices.

We use three Gatorade bottles between me and my two boys. The wife has to deal with her issues though...

 

[ducktapeguy]

I would have gone with the Springbar for the fact that they are U.S made in Salt Lake City. I feel that it would make it easier to get repairs done if ever necessary. Don't get me wrong, I love the Kodiak as it is basically the same design and the company was started by a dude that use to work for Springbar. I just would have paid the premium to support U.S. made products.
The pack size is heavy but it's not overly huge. Off the top of my head I would say that the tent bag is around 3'x2'x2' give or take and the pole bag is separate and is less than 4' long and smaller in width than a roll of paper towels. My tent has a footprint of 9'x8' I believe.
There are a lot of stakes, but they are the reason it holds up so well in the wind. I've heard of people speeding up the stake out process by using long lag bolts with Large washers and a battery operated impact gun or drill as a replacement for pounding in stakes. I would imagine that this method would also make removal a bit easier.
And to answer the final question; it does take a little bit of time to set up and take down. I can set mine up at a leisurely pace ,by myself while having a cold one in less than 20 minutes. Could probably do it faster but I try not to be in a hurry for anything when I am out camping. But the setup time is why I don't use it unless I am in the same spot for multiple nights. I think the OZ Tent setup time would not be that much faster as you have a lot of stakes to pound in as well if you want it to hold up to wind. I know a guy that has one; and after comparing it to my Kodiak, I am very happy that I didn't spend my money on the OZ tent.
The Kodiak is downright luxurious once it's set up. You can't go wrong with either Kodiak or Springbar, get whichever your wallet can handle. I've met guys at events that inherited their Springbar's from their parents and still look good 20-30 years later. I doubt an Oz tent will last that long.

Thanks for the info. I thought Kodiak and Springbar were both made in Utah, but looks like you're right. The packed size doesn't seem that bad, I got the specs of the Kodiak confused with the OZ tents that I was looking at which were almost 7ft long packed.

I've been spoiled by freestanding tents for so long that the idea of pounding in a dozen stakes doesn't sound appealing to me anymore.

 

[DCH109]

Well after camping in my FJ60 over the summer (inside) or my F150 I found a great deal on a Maggiolina Extreme med RTT that I am picking up this weekend.
I had been looking at ground tents and ideally if I went RTT (which I had ruled out until I struck this deal) I wanted another Maggiolina as it was a solid RTT. My original one, an Adventure model (long sold), was one of the first ones that AutohomeUSA brought into the US and was very old yet looked like new inside. The Extreme I am getting is older but again looks great inside. This is a testament to how well they are built. I am still looking at a smaller ground tent or the change room from Maggiolina , more for change room, bathroom area, and outside storage.

As I am planning a 3 week trip throughout the Canadian Maritimes next summer, Being able to stop and park and pop the tent fast is ideal. When with the kids the ground tent will be perfect for extra storage and as mentioned other things.
So I will end up with something above ground an on ground so it will be the best of both worlds.

 

[reaper229]

That's my problem now,I am from ground tents,kifaru and seekoutside tipi style with wood stove, really awesome tents,I bought an rtt hardshell for my Taco and now I don't like the drive,it feels heavy,this thing catch the wind like crazy when on the highway, debating to keep it or sell it....with the rack and rtt I am 300lbs heavier on the back.

Any thoughts for helping me decide my move?

Envoyé de mon Pixel 4 XL en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[Smitty619]

That's my problem now,I am from ground tents,kifaru and seekoutside tipi style with wood stove, really awesome tents,I bought an rtt hardshell for my Taco and now I don't like the drive,it feels heavy,this thing catch the wind like crazy when on the highway, debating to keep it or sell it....with the rack and rtt I am 300lbs heavier on the back.

Any thoughts for helping me decide my move?

Envoyé de mon Pixel 4 XL en utilisant Tapatalk

I don’t understand why tipis aren’t more popular here. Seems like they’ve got a lot to offer for car campers/overlanders. I thought I wanted a RTT, but after giving it some more thought, they just seem...cumbersome I guess.

I’m going to order the Seek Outside Redcliff soon for a CO trip we’re planning for this summer.
Id be curious to hear anyone’s feedback on tipis, too.
I spend more time backpacking so I do look for stuff that can double duty.
My other tent is a Zpacks Duplex and I’ve got a Dutchware Chameleon hammock.