Sure-Fire Ways to Improve Your Roof Top Tent
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I didn't read the entire 52 pages so if this has been covered already, my apologies. I've been using these lights (linked below) while out camping with a huge degree of success. In my case, rechargeable AA batteries are used and the orange glow mode is simply awesome. I'm not a fan of the harsh white LED lights even though these things do have two modes of harsh white light on top of the two modes of orange glow.
One of these things live in the RTT full time and a handful of them can be attached to trees, awnings, upper hatches, roof racks etc for a nice, warm orange glow at night. I highly recommend them.
An interesting tip: set the lights out on sun and expand the rubber cover thing. These things will absorb sun's rays and put out a nice, green glow all night. This is especially helpful for those of us needing to climb down a ladder at 3am for mother nature call and need just enough light to unzip the tent and fall out. Er, I mean "climb out" of the RTT.
Maybe Santa will toss them in your stocking this year
Disclaimer: I am an electrical engineer but tend to follow the KISS rule closely. I don't have a strong desire to run wires willy nilly to the awning, RTTs, etc if I can simply get away with rechargeable lights. I tend to complicate things as it is anyway. ?
One of these things live in the RTT full time and a handful of them can be attached to trees, awnings, upper hatches, roof racks etc for a nice, warm orange glow at night. I highly recommend them.
An interesting tip: set the lights out on sun and expand the rubber cover thing. These things will absorb sun's rays and put out a nice, green glow all night. This is especially helpful for those of us needing to climb down a ladder at 3am for mother nature call and need just enough light to unzip the tent and fall out. Er, I mean "climb out" of the RTT.
Maybe Santa will toss them in your stocking this year
Disclaimer: I am an electrical engineer but tend to follow the KISS rule closely. I don't have a strong desire to run wires willy nilly to the awning, RTTs, etc if I can simply get away with rechargeable lights. I tend to complicate things as it is anyway. ?
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I got the hinges and was able to cut the u shaped bar to work. So far it works great, but I've only tested in my garage. I got some PVC ($5) to make a test bar and prove the theory before I cut the actual bar. I then used a hack saw to cut the supports in half and take off a little less than an inch from the total length due to the added material from the hinges. I then riveted the end of the new poles to the frame and used some paracord to tie the lock piece to the bar, similar to the video in my original post. This was a very easy mod and fixes one of my main complaints about setting up/tear down. The bar does double over itself so takes up a little more room on the sides than normal, but I still have an extra inch or so of additional height from the cover. When its full of pillows/bedding it won't interfere since its just material on the sides. I didn't bother with trying to affix it to the existing canvas as it doesn't really seem necessary, but may consider it later.
I've only tested in my garage but setup seems to be much easier than pulling out the bar and fitting in place. Folding up may be a little more work due to having to stuff the canvas in when folded (I used to push the overhang into the door to prevent it from puffing out and still could since I didn't permanently attach the canvas to the new bar).
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ducktapeguy
Adventurer
I've been thinking about doing this ever since I got my tent, that's been one of my major annoyances when setting up. Thanks for being the first. Do you have a link for the hinges?
See my post: #763. I linked Amazon, but ended up finding them a little cheaper on ebay. Any 1" marine hinge should work, but check your tent in case its a different diameter than mine.
ducktapeguy
Adventurer
Thanks. I was originally looking at using these type of hinges with a short piece of sliding tube to lock them in position, but I like the ones you used a lot better. For the bottom of the poles where did you get those hinges? Mine has a plastic connector I could just glue to pole into but a metal hinge seems like it would hold up better. Also, do you think cutting the support bar in half is the best spot to put the hinge, or would it be better to offset the pipe hinges to push the bar further into the tent when folded? Those were the things I was looking at but I should probably mock it up with PVC like you did.
I looked into the telescoping tubes first (the new 23zero tents work that way), but I couldn't get it to fit. For my tent I would have to telescope the pole to less than half the height of the pole to make it work, which isn't possible. I don't know if the new design adjusts the frame to allow more fabric there to give more room for the pole to fold or if there's another trick to it. And I would have to get a new base hinge for the smaller telescoping pole so it ended up being worth the trouble. Using the hinges I did made it much simpler for me.
The base metal hinges came on the tent so I didn't buy them, but you could still rivet into plastic if you don't want to glue it or just use a screw/bolt. For the place to cut the pole, I adjusted mine a couple of times with the a test PVC pipe to get the bar where I wanted it. Mine is offset about an inch (bottom portion is an 1" longer than the top) to pull the bar in slightly. The only reason I did it was in case I was off on my measurements it would still fold up, but I don't think there is any benefit to pulling the bar in since you still have the deal with the fabric and other poles there when folding down. If I did it over again I would just cut it in the middle. I think I had about 2 inches extra space in the fabric that would allow the hinges to sit in a little further, so you don't have to exact (but test in case yours is different).
Also remember that the hinge adds about an inch of total length, so you have to cut the pole down before you measure your mid-point.
Rbertalotto
Explorer
Rbertalotto
Explorer
Added new ratchet straps.....Now there are four! A lot less flapping around....
Picked up four pack of ratchet straps at Horrible Freight......$12
I'm liking the Harley Davidson color combination
Made up some aluminum attachment points
Picked up four pack of ratchet straps at Horrible Freight......$12
I'm liking the Harley Davidson color combination
Made up some aluminum attachment points
Ok I give. Old post, but how is the heater attached to the aluminum plate? I can’t see a damn thing with the red hue to everything.
I have a James Baroud Explorer RTT and would like a cover for it. I store the trailer it's on outside and was hoping someone knows of a company that makes or can make a cover. I use a tarp now but it would be nice to have something that fits well and doesn't have to have a bunch of rope/straps holding it on.
Thanks
Thanks
So I have tried to research this best I can and read all the post but there are a lot here, so i have a rooftop tent that does not have the cover that goes over the ladder area, has anyone successfully added a cover to that area? I have tried to even look at just replacing the entire canopy but the manufactures are very stingy with the sizes of their canopy's and won't let me know if they will fit.
OnBeechRoad
Observer
Sorry that the red hue rattles you so much. There are 2 bolts threaded through the plate that the heater hangs from. If you look on the back of the heater there are 2 keyhole slots.