Sure-Fire Ways to Improve Your Roof Top Tent

[Lucky j]

Yep, that's what they are for. Left mine on position since I only open the tent for the light pictures. Closed it right after.

 

[grnhornetcustoms]

Yep, that's what they are for. Left mine on position since I only open the tent for the light pictures. Closed it right after.

I had had never used them before but it was windy when I was folding my tent down. They helped a lot. I wondered if that was the intended use. I guess they were included in with the RTT for some reason.

 

[Lucky j]

That is what they are for. But I have never seen instruction about it. Even my girl freind's autohome have them, but no instruction. I had to show her what they were for.

Tinghten them up a bit will help even more with some of the windows open to let the air out when it fold.

 

[parapyropig]

Proper tensioning of the annex will usually prevent pooling of rainwater on it's roof.

I'm toying with the idea of adding a pair of 1" straps along the ceiling to increase the rigidity of the roof there & keep the angled roof support in its proper place.

 

[Rattler]

Proper tensioning of the annex will usually prevent pooling of rainwater on it's roof.

I'm toying with the idea of adding a pair of 1" straps along the ceiling to increase the rigidity of the roof there & keep the angled roof support in its proper place.

I used to work at an upholstery shop. My old boss loves checking out the RTT. He does mostly boat canvas work now. I should see what he thinks about a cure for the puddling on there.

 

[teotwaki]

Maybe not a surefire improvement. Anybody heard of these mattresses? No affiliation...blah-blah

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/rvs/5185864441.html

Roof top tent mattress manufacturer. This is not a foam rubber sponge mattress. It is built around NanoCoil technology and is very similar to what you sleep on at home. Sold by the square foot. Example price: Short Queen size 60" X 74" X 2.75" thick. $170.00. Comes with 7 day trial period. If you are don't agree that this is the best mattress in its class I will buy it back and pay the shipping both ways.

The closest competition to my mattress is in a hotel room.

Coastline Manufacturing Company

 

[teotwaki]

My Camping Labs / Mombasa tent (and many other RTTs) have four elastic cords that clip into the interior to pull in the sides as the tent is collapsed for storage. My cords have lost their "stretch" and two broke. After running around to all of the hardware stores and coming up short I went online and ordered this for $7.99:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161301826699?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

1/8" x 50' Premium Jet Black MFP Cover Bungee / Shock Cord / Made in the USA!

1/8" x 50' Jet Black

MFP Sheath Bungee Cord

Premium Grade

Metric: 3.2mm x 15m

Made in the USA

Stretch: 12" stretches to 24"

High Tenacity Bungee / Shock Cord

Multi-Filament Polypropylene (MFP) Cover over a rubber core

Strength: Good
Resistance to abrasion: Fair
Resistance to chemicals: Gas/Oil-Very good; Acids-Excellent
Sunlight resistance: Fair
Shock load: Very good
Seal ends with heat
Light weight
Resistant to mildew

 

[Box Rocket]

My Camping Labs / Mombasa tent (and many other RTTs) have four elastic cords that clip into the interior to pull in the sides as the tent is collapsed for storage. My cords have lost their "stretch" and two broke. After running around to all of the hardware stores and coming up short I went online and ordered this for $7.99:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161301826699?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

1/8" x 50' Premium Jet Black MFP Cover Bungee / Shock Cord / Made in the USA!

1/8" x 50' Jet Black

MFP Sheath Bungee Cord

Premium Grade

Metric: 3.2mm x 15m

Made in the USA

Stretch: 12" stretches to 24"

High Tenacity Bungee / Shock Cord

Multi-Filament Polypropylene (MFP) Cover over a rubber core

Strength: Good
Resistance to abrasion: Fair
Resistance to chemicals: Gas/Oil-Very good; Acids-Excellent
Sunlight resistance: Fair
Shock load: Very good
Seal ends with heat
Light weight
Resistant to mildew

The idea behind these was a good one (to keep the tent material pulled in when packing the tent). However, Tepui has stopped using them on all their tents, and it's probably the same for any brand, that these bungees can put too much tension on the seams of the tent walls where they attach and cause separation of the waterproofing tape and/or seams which can lead to leaks. Just a "PSA" for anyone using these. I'm not saying you can't use them but be aware of the problems they may cause.

 

[Rattler]

The idea behind these was a good one (to keep the tent material pulled in when packing the tent). However, Tepui has stopped using them on all their tents, and it's probably the same for any brand, that these bungees can put too much tension on the seams of the tent walls where they attach and cause separation of the waterproofing tape and/or seams which can lead to leaks. Just a "PSA" for anyone using these. I'm not saying you can't use them but be aware of the problems they may cause.

I still use them in my Mombasa. No problems after 8 years. The bungees are pretty weak at this point though.

 

[teotwaki]

The idea behind these was a good one (to keep the tent material pulled in when packing the tent). However, Tepui has stopped using them on all their tents, and it's probably the same for any brand, that these bungees can put too much tension on the seams of the tent walls where they attach and cause separation of the waterproofing tape and/or seams which can lead to leaks. Just a "PSA" for anyone using these. I'm not saying you can't use them but be aware of the problems they may cause.

My tent is over 5 years old and has no separation problems. If somebody or some company used shock cord that was pulling too hard then they may have caused the problem themselves.

 

[teotwaki]

The only RTT problem that I have is that the fabric around the window zippers will shrink a little if I don't store the tent with the zippers more than 2/3 closed. If not kept mostly zipped up it gets a bit hard to close the zippers up along the top

 

[Dragos28]

The idea behind these was a good one (to keep the tent material pulled in when packing the tent). However, Tepui has stopped using them on all their tents, and it's probably the same for any brand, that these bungees can put too much tension on the seams of the tent walls where they attach and cause separation of the waterproofing tape and/or seams which can lead to leaks. Just a "PSA" for anyone using these. I'm not saying you can't use them but be aware of the problems they may cause.

Tepui has stopped?
I just received my Gran Sabana and it has them, and my buddy just bought his Kukeman ruggedized and it still has them....

 

[AlanLoshbaugh]

my "couple month old" kukenam sky doesn't have them...fwiw

 

[hicntryflyguy]

Would you be willing to sell a set of your brackets?

I have the CVT Mt Rainier. We had a really bad rain storm and I found the large section of the rain fly that covered the ladder collected ALOT of rain and could have caused some damage to the tent. I made some connectors at work and bent a piece of conduit that connects to the existing support bar.

 

[OneFastGeek]

Would you be willing to sell a set of your brackets?

I'd be interested too, please.