Sure-Fire Ways to Improve Your Roof Top Tent

[teotwaki]

As Teotwaki stated, great thread. I don't have a RTT perse but it is close. Are these heaters safe inside? Where does the toxic gas go? How long is the burn time? On two recent trips some sort of heater inside would have been nice.

I also need some help, cough cough Jim, getting my lights hooked up. I have the same Ikea set up but the color changing ones. Definitely need to get them installed.

I can get you some cough drops!!

Anyhow..... we should talk on the phone about your setup. I'm guessing you want to end up with the 12volt cord something like mine, depending on how your truck is arranged

There is a thread somewhere here on tent heaters and I ended up buying a Mr. Heater "Little Buddy" at a great price through Gander Mountain. With the propane heaters the need for venting is critical, both for oxygen and to vent the moisture byproducts. I've only run mine to pre-heat the tent for the family before sacking out or before getting up. I just strapped it to one of the vertical supports to keep it from tipping or touching things.

 

[wjeeper]

MaxVent:

No more condensation under the mattress.

That stuff looked familiar to me for some reason.. Was thinking heavy duty prefilter on a large air handler unit for a while.. Finally found that stuff, but it was to dense..

Finally found it.. It's the matting that is put behind masonry walls to give an air space for moisture to evap.. You should be able to get two 4ft wide strips long enough to cover the bottom under a matress for about $15. Should be able to find it at most masonary supply houses..

I have been really interested in the matting that helps keep mattress moisture down. It has always been my biggest gripe about my RTT. I looked into the maxvent stuff but just about died when I found what it costs. I looked into Token's solution but was unable to find anyone that carries it locally. (the local masonry supply looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language)

Does this stuff http://www.stucoflex.com/rainscreen_drainage_mats.htm look like it would do the job?

 

[HenryJ]

...Does this stuff http://www.stucoflex.com/rainscreen_drainage_mats.htm look like it would do the job?

IMO, No. It is just too thin to offer much airspace. 7/16" was the thickest I saw.
Check the link I posted for the Maxvent. I am notorious for wanting the best bang for my buck and I found it to be affordable. Maybe Froogle another supplier and see if you can find a better price on the same product?

 

[Steve UK]

Hi,

Is this any good?

http://drymesh.net/index.php

 

[JeepTreeHouse]

(the local masonry supply looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language)

hahaha that happened to me too at the local supply store around here. I thought I was the only one. I'm still looking for a cheaper alternative to $12/ foot, or $68 from the link above this post.

 

[wjeeper]

IMO, No. It is just too thin to offer much airspace. 7/16" was the thickest I saw.

Farther down the page I thought they had some that was 3/4 thick, which I would think would be about minimun.

hahaha that happened to me too at the local supply store around here. I thought I was the only one.

Yeah they were really confused, I wonder how confused they would have been if I told them it was for a RTT on a Jeep:elkgrin: I talked with the mason doing the brick on my uncles house and he actually had several samples of it in his trailer!. He had some that was bonded to a permiable backing and I am 100% convinced its the same and they just buy it, snip it and make their $$.

The only sample that had contact info on it was made by cavclear http://www.cavclear.com/mason/masonrymat.htm and it comes in 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1 3/4 so it ought to be plenty thick. Called a distributer here in Utah and they can get it.......kicker to get it in a size thats wider than 18" you have to order a 50-100 foot roll.....also requested a sample from the manufacturer, we will see where it goes.

FYI its apparently called: "masonary drainage mat" and it is more common in the southeastern states.

 

[Steve UK]

hahaha that happened to me too at the local supply store around here. I thought I was the only one. I'm still looking for a cheaper alternative to $12/ foot, or $68 from the link above this post.

I think this is as good as it gets, Autohome sell the same stuff for $165

http://www.autohomeus.com/accessories/underMattress.php :Wow1: :Wow1:

 

[Mike S]

I think this is as good as it gets, Autohome sell the same stuff for $165

http://www.autohomeus.com/accessories/underMattress.php :Wow1: :Wow1:

The product that we sell is not at all the same as the Masonry Matt product. It is similar to the dry mesh product from the UK and and is made in Europe.

We have now located a USA supplier and are working with samples to determine whether the quality and ventilation properties are good enough to include in our product offering. If so, you may expect to see us offering the USA made product at more reasonable prices.

 

[Corey]

Sounds good Mike, I would like to pick one up later for my medium AirLander.

 

[Steve UK]

The product that we sell is not at all the same as the Masonry Matt product. It is similar to the dry mesh product from the UK and and is made in Europe.

We have now located a USA supplier and are working with samples to determine whether the quality and ventilation properties are good enough to include in our product offering. If so, you may expect to see us offering the USA made product at more reasonable prices.

Sorry Mike I meant the 'dry mesh is same/similar to the Autohome product, I didn't see the previous post. Written at the same time!! what are the chances of that

Where the Autohome product looks better is the compression stress is quoted as 1 ton/sq m :Wow1: and the dry mesh is 250kg.

Steve

 

[Mike S]

Sorry Mike I meant the 'dry mesh is same/similar to the Autohome product, I didn't see the previous post. Written at the same time!! what are the chances of that

Where the Autohome product looks better is the compression stress is quoted as 1 ton/sq m :Wow1: and the dry mesh is 250kg.

Steve

No problem.

Crushability is the major factor in assuring air circulation under the mattress. The material we offer is about 7/16" thick, is not readily compressed, and does not take up much space in the tent. In order to function properly it must not crush down. This is one factor that we look at - suitability for the application, durability (these are plastic, after all), and cost.

We have been on the hunt for a couple of years, so we'll see what comes from talking to the US supplier.

 

[Lemsteraak]

AutoHome's ACS mat has a really nice feel to it. My acid test was to put it in a marine environment on the wood bunks aboard my 65 year old wooden racing sailboat. The boat is always wet being in San Francisco and anything put on the bunks after a sail would just sit and mildew, it was bad. Doesn't happen anymore and my wife even took a nap on one of the mats alone and said it was really comfortable even though it is like half an inch thick.

The ACS mat is made by a fairly small company in Germany. I chased them down and even talked with their rep here in the US. It is just a really expensive product partly because of shipping, you are shipping pretty much just air. If you can get them to make it here in the US it would probably halve the cost.

Even though the mat is really expensive, I highly recommend them. Probably the best accessory that AutoHome has. They really make sense if you use your RTT a lot or camp in nasty conditions.

 

[bakerj]

I added a fan / led combo from Coleman that runs on 4 D batteries. Hook it onto the middle support with a paracord loop, it has a built on carabiner.

 

[coastie kyle]

This is my best RTT mod. I made a hard basket for shoes.

 

[Wyowanderer]

12 Volt Electric heating pad pinned to the mattress. It can flatten a battery in one or two nights but its better than the soggy condensation from a propane heater.

These are great for warming the bed while driving down the road. I had one in my old Red Dale, and I plugged it in about an hour before I arrived at camp (night driving). Pull into camp, crawl into a warm bed; wonderful.
I never used one during the night, though.