Weight management

[rayra]

"a roof top tent"
found your weight problem.

RTTs are the most perfectly aimed marketing arrow evar. A minimum of 5x the price, 5x the weight of an 8-person ground tent / freakin' pavilion. Too small for a family with growing kids, much less pets. Negotiating a tiny ladder in the dark to take a pee. Yet somehow the illusion that you are adventuring on the African savannah where a dingo might eat your baby is complete. Many is the time newb here open with the idea of STARTING with an RTT before they even know if their family can stand camping at all.

Then there's all the impedimenta of 'glamping'.

 

[NorthbyNorthwest]

"a roof top tent"
found your weight problem.

RTTs are the most perfectly aimed marketing arrow evar. A minimum of 5x the price, 5x the weight of an 8-person ground tent / freakin' pavilion. Too small for a family with growing kids, much less pets. Negotiating a tiny ladder in the dark to take a pee. Yet somehow the illusion that you are adventuring on the African savannah where a dingo might eat your baby is complete.

Why are you assuming I'm a "newb" buying into the marketing hype? I live in bear country and am under no illusion that being six feet off the ground will stop me from becoming a midnight snack.

We started looking at RTTs when the combination of pack up and Tetris with a smaller vehicle than we have now started becoming cumbersome enough to slow down our travel partners. We will didn't pull the trigger until after a very unfortunate weekend camping on river rocks with our tent collapsing on us because there was no place to stake our (massive, pavilion) ground tent, and a really uncomfortable night's sleep.

I'm aware of the cost and weight compromises of the tent, but until I'm ready to go to a trailer of some form, it will stay. Even so, if it's not a RTT, it's another weight problem - second battery, 75 lb fridge, 500 lbs of bumpers and skids. Heck a typical JK has what, 2 lbs of payload? Unless you have access to a 70 series Cruiser, no manufacturer really offers a platform in North America with appropriately suitable payload capacity, marketing hype not withstanding.

I am acknowledging that the "magazine builds" are all way over weight, but so are 90% of the "normal" builds, and trying to get productive strategies for keeping weight within the realm of the reasonable.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

 

[BobsCreek]

Rayra would love my truck, with 2 RTTs (ok, only one now, but the 2nd is coming)

Weight is a well known issue and for those of us who are well loaded for extended travel, it's a real juggling act. Try figuring out 2 RTTs, fuel & water storage, battery, fridge, tools, camping gear, food storage, recovery, and some armor...