Tepui Tent RTT

[NatersXJ6]

What does it take on average for you to close your Tepui tent? I've got an Autana 3, and while it's quick to pop up, I can't seem to get the entire thing closed by myself in <7-9 minutes. Would love to see what others have thought of to reduce tent closure time. I end up with a lot of extra material hanging out that I need to shove into place.

I just shove it into place, if I want to close up quickly, I shove quickly ?.

I’ve tried different variations of shock cord and tools to help with this, but in the end, a small 2-step aluminum ladder is the only thing I use... or I make my kids do it while I drink coffee and bark commands and then the time doesn’t feel wasted.

 

[rgallant]

I have an Ayer so smaller tent and it takes about 5 to 6 minutes but I take my time. Getting the front facing bits in place is the challenge, I found a hockey stick works great for that. I can use the stick to tuck the tent in place, and protect the fabric while I pull the zipper. Mine in on top of a LR Discovery II so I can not reach across the front closure without an aid.

What does it take on average for you to close your Tepui tent? I've got an Autana 3, and while it's quick to pop up, I can't seem to get the entire thing closed by myself in <7-9 minutes. Would love to see what others have thought of to reduce tent closure time. I end up with a lot of extra material hanging out that I need to shove into place.

 

[Jarred]

What does it take on average for you to close your Tepui tent? I've got an Autana 3, and while it's quick to pop up, I can't seem to get the entire thing closed by myself in <7-9 minutes. Would love to see what others have thought of to reduce tent closure time. I end up with a lot of extra material hanging out that I need to shove into place.

I have the Ruggeized Grand Sabana and pretty much do the same as you do.

After folding it over, I tuck as much loose stuff under each flap/pole divided area on the long side of the tent.
Once this is done, I sit on top and cinch it down with the four side straps (I have an additional 2" foam mattress in it).

All in all it takes a little less than10 min to put it all away and back under the cover.
I really don't think there is a much faster way, but tucking is key.

 

[NatersXJ6]

@rgallant: I love the hockey stick idea! It makes sense and is very Canada. I’m guessing there aren’t many people looking around the garage in SoCal and coming up with hockey stick as an ad-hoc solution.

I wonder if rope(s) tied inside of the tent and fed out through the hinge area could make tucking easier or better? Fold then pull.

The first tents I had included bungee cords that were supposed to help collapse the tent, but they didn’t seem to pull in the right or best places and were a huge PITA, so I dropped them early.

 

[rgallant]

What can I say hockey sticks are pretty much adhoc multi-tools. But I find the back side, that is easy to get to, tends tuck well on the fold. The front does not, I have some ideas but none them will really speed things up, just might make the zipper part easier.

 

[KhakiStinger]

Due to my spirited off road driving I had to reinforce my RTT rack and the RTT rail attachments. I almost lost the RTT on my last trip, it was being held on by just two bolts.

Instead of two rails, i went with four.

Mounted

Ready to hit the dirt!

Did you bolt the new rails right through the bottom or what method did you use? I want to mount one without using the mounting rails so curious what you did.