Done with ground tent

[MOAK]

This last tour I ended up falling and fracturing a rib in the first week of our 4 week trip. Even though my wife did most of the work, packing up and then setting up camp became a painful chore. When we were younger we could pack everything up and be rolling within an hour. Set up about the same. We aren’t younger any more, so just double the set up and tear down time. Not to worry, even as painful as the nights could be, we still had a great time. So, this old curmudgeon is now shopping for an RTT. It needs to be at least as good a tent as our Oztent Jet tent 25x. I’ve settled on the Tepui Explorer Autana 3. Thule Tepui Explorer Autana 3 with Annex
They make an even better tent, the Expedition series, but I’m thinking we don’t need the heavy duty features or the additional 50 lbs. any and all thoughts are welcome. Thanks-

 

[Kindred.Wanderlust]

I would recommend a hard shell. Seems to be easier on set up and packing away.

A friend has a James Baroud and loves it. There are some other manufacturers too.

Hard Shell Roof Top Tents Archives — James Baroud USA

.

www.jamesbaroudusa.com

 

[pcstockton]

SUPERLITE ROOF TENT – Go Fast Campers

gofastcampers.com

Light. inexpensive and good brand.

 

[RoarinRow]

SUPERLITE ROOF TENT – Go Fast Campers

gofastcampers.com

Light. inexpensive and good brand.

Even though I have not seen this tent in person, just the design and light weight has me sold and I don't even need a RTT lol.

 

[genocache]

I suggest what ever you want to purchase find something nearby in a combination near to what you want, RTT on a 80series(?) or on your homebuilt trailer. Then set it up and down a couple of times and climb in and out, see if that is something you and the Missus want to/can be doing on the trail. In my case the RTT was 7' off the ground and required 3 climbs on the roof to set up or take down. I sold it and got an OZ tent RV3. I can also sleep inside my Land Rover.

 

[JimBill]

I have major issues with my back and at times hips. Late August we took a trip to central and eastern Oregon. My hip was in bad shape, and when prepping for the trip I could not put much on the roof of the vehicle without seriously straining the injury, so we ended up borrowing a 1/4 ton Jeep trailer to haul the roof load. But we were still ground based for the tent.

Setup and takedown of the tent wasn't fun. Usually I set it up while she preps for dinner and take it down while she puts together breakfast. Works well for us. But this trip we reversed roles after the first day since due to the pain it took me a very long time to deal with the tent and so on. Her first comment was "I never realized how much work this all was". So that is a point to support a rooftop tent.

However, doing anything while in pain isn't fun, including working things above your head and climbing up and down a ladder, and rolling around in a tent you can't stand up in. I cringe when I see people having to climb up on their roof rack to tie down or otherwise work their gear. No fun in the rain, while in a hurry, and as we get older, no fun when the body doesn't work like it used to. One slip and things will get worse very quickly. So that is a point against a rooftop tent.

Sorry to be long winded. The point is doing anything above your head while in pain can be as difficult as doing things at ground level. The rooftop tent may be a total positive game changer, or not! My suggestion is to get with somebody that has a RRT and go through the motions of setup, in and out a few times (try it blindfolded and half naked like a 3 AM pee run), and takedown. See if it is ok for your body before committing to the change.

 

[FishinCrzy]

I have major issues with my back and at times hips. Late August we took a trip to central and eastern Oregon. My hip was in bad shape, and when prepping for the trip I could not put much on the roof of the vehicle without seriously straining the injury, so we ended up borrowing a 1/4 ton Jeep trailer to haul the roof load. But we were still ground based for the tent.

Setup and takedown of the tent wasn't fun. Usually I set it up while she preps for dinner and take it down while she puts together breakfast. Works well for us. But this trip we reversed roles after the first day since due to the pain it took me a very long time to deal with the tent and so on. Her first comment was "I never realized how much work this all was". So that is a point to support a rooftop tent.

However, doing anything while in pain isn't fun, including working things above your head and climbing up and down a ladder, and rolling around in a tent you can't stand up in. I cringe when I see people having to climb up on their roof rack to tie down or otherwise work their gear. No fun in the rain, while in a hurry, and as we get older, no fun when the body doesn't work like it used to. One slip and things will get worse very quickly. So that is a point against a rooftop tent.

Sorry to be long winded. The point is doing anything above your head while in pain can be as difficult as doing things at ground level. The rooftop tent may be a total positive game changer, or not! My suggestion is to get with somebody that has a RRT and go through the motions of setup, in and out a few times (try it blindfolded and half naked like a 3 AM pee run), and takedown. See if it is ok for your body before committing to the change.

I use a telescoping boat hook to do things like open and close my RTT and pull stuff out of the bed. Doing things usually alone one has to innovate. I'm in pretty good shape for 67 but working harder is not part of the plan.

 

[PonoAdventures]

Definitely look into a hard shell for ease of setup. Soft covers are nice and affordable, but the up down to zip up the cover may be annoying for you. If you can see them in person and try before you purchase, I would recommend that.

 

[pcstockton]

Def hard shell. A "normal" RTT is WAY more difficult to tear down than any ground tent. And good luck getting that cover zipped back on when cold.

 

[Billiebob]

i'm further down that road of "this old curmudgeon"... for me the choice is a towed Square Drop. Zero setup/packup.

Park in the dark, roll into bed. Wake up to rain, roll out of bed drive away.
No dry everything out when you get home. No set up no packing.
Park the trailer, plug in the cooler on Monday.
Unplug it and drive out of town Friday,
Buy some groceries and keep going.

The days of "camping" are long gone memories for me.
It hurts just looking at this pic from 40 years ago lol.

 

[MOAK]

I have major issues with my back and at times hips. Late August we took a trip to central and eastern Oregon. My hip was in bad shape, and when prepping for the trip I could not put much on the roof of the vehicle without seriously straining the injury, so we ended up borrowing a 1/4 ton Jeep trailer to haul the roof load. But we were still ground based for the tent.

Setup and takedown of the tent wasn't fun. Usually I set it up while she preps for dinner and take it down while she puts together breakfast. Works well for us. But this trip we reversed roles after the first day since due to the pain it took me a very long time to deal with the tent and so on. Her first comment was "I never realized how much work this all was". So that is a point to support a rooftop tent.

However, doing anything while in pain isn't fun, including working things above your head and climbing up and down a ladder, and rolling around in a tent you can't stand up in. I cringe when I see people having to climb up on their roof rack to tie down or otherwise work their gear. No fun in the rain, while in a hurry, and as we get older, no fun when the body doesn't work like it used to. One slip and things will get worse very quickly. So that is a point against a rooftop tent.

Sorry to be long winded. The point is doing anything above your head while in pain can be as difficult as doing things at ground level. The rooftop tent may be a total positive game changer, or not! My suggestion is to get with somebody that has a RRT and go through the motions of setup, in and out a few times (try it blindfolded and half naked like a 3 AM pee run), and takedown. See if it is ok for your body before committing to the change.

Agreed, our son in law has one on their trailer. We’re gonna give it a close look very soon... it’ll be on the trailer, open it up, then crank it up to 6 ft. Lower it back down to fold it up and pack

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

This last tour I ended up falling and fracturing a rib in the first week of our 4 week trip. Even though my wife did most of the work, packing up and then setting up camp became a painful chore. When we were younger we could pack everything up and be rolling within an hour. Set up about the same. We aren’t younger any more, so just double the set up and tear down time. Not to worry, even as painful as the nights could be, we still had a great time. So, this old curmudgeon is now shopping for an RTT. It needs to be at least as good a tent as our Oztent Jet tent 25x. I’ve settled on the Tepui Explorer Autana 3. Thule Tepui Explorer Autana 3 with Annex
They make an even better tent, the Expedition series, but I’m thinking we don’t need the heavy duty features or the additional 50 lbs. any and all thoughts are welcome. Thanks-

Sorry to hear about your injury. I broke one in an auto accident 5 years ago and punctured a lung too. Takes awhile to get over our injuries as we age. I'm not a fan of RTT's because it requires climbing a ladder and needing to potty (3-4 times a night) on my knees dosent sound like fun. Anyway to each his own, I wish you a quick recovery.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I have major issues with my back and at times hips. Late August we took a trip to central and eastern Oregon. My hip was in bad shape, and when prepping for the trip I could not put much on the roof of the vehicle without seriously straining the injury, so we ended up borrowing a 1/4 ton Jeep trailer to haul the roof load. But we were still ground based for the tent.

Setup and takedown of the tent wasn't fun. Usually I set it up while she preps for dinner and take it down while she puts together breakfast. Works well for us. But this trip we reversed roles after the first day since due to the pain it took me a very long time to deal with the tent and so on. Her first comment was "I never realized how much work this all was". So that is a point to support a rooftop tent.

However, doing anything while in pain isn't fun, including working things above your head and climbing up and down a ladder, and rolling around in a tent you can't stand up in. I cringe when I see people having to climb up on their roof rack to tie down or otherwise work their gear. No fun in the rain, while in a hurry, and as we get older, no fun when the body doesn't work like it used to. One slip and things will get worse very quickly. So that is a point against a rooftop tent.

Sorry to be long winded. The point is doing anything above your head while in pain can be as difficult as doing things at ground level. The rooftop tent may be a total positive game changer, or not! My suggestion is to get with somebody that has a RRT and go through the motions of setup, in and out a few times (try it blindfolded and half naked like a 3 AM pee run), and takedown. See if it is ok for your body before committing to the change.

As we age we have to change with our health conditions. I agree with most of what you say because I am in the same boat only doing it solo. I think I have solved most of my camping problems by buying equipment I can handle like the T3 tent which is a snap to put up and take down. Then once set up I will syay in one location as long as I can and keeping my rig mobile as I may need to use it. Obviously I'm talking disbursed camping.

 

[Graeman]

You said that you have an OzTent and that it is difficult to setup and take down? Is it not like the rest of the OzTents? 30 sec setup is pretty easy- yes I know the 15 minutes to stake it all down and set up the awning is a major pain. It is much easier to get in/out of a ground tent at 3am, than a rtt. Plus when up on top of a TLC that makes for a difficult setup of the cover.

 

[MOAK]

You said that you have an OzTent and that it is difficult to setup and take down? Is it not like the rest of the OzTents? 30 sec setup is pretty easy- yes I know the 15 minutes to stake it all down and set up the awning is a major pain. It is much easier to get in/out of a ground tent at 3am, than a rtt. Plus when up on top of a TLC that makes for a difficult setup of the cover.

It is the Jet Tent 25x. It does “pop up” in 30 seconds, once everything is aligned. It is a two person job. Staking it out? All told including the window/vents/awning - 20 stakes- which is ok in the “perfect” site. Don’t get me wrong- we’ve used this tent in all four seasons, high winds, driving rain. blowing sand. It is a great tent. And we will keep it, just in case. However, So much of what we plan to be doing will be one stop overnighters and spending 3-4 hours each day setting up and tearing down gets old really quickly. We’ve also been to a lot more than a couple of great places where setting up a ground tent was impossible and we just had to leave. Getting up and down a ladder to the top of our trailer? Fortunately we are both in excellent condition and have no qualms about ladders.

 

[Killer1954]

I'm 66 y/o with bad hips. I had an Autohome Columbus Variant hard shell for a while. It was claustrophobic. I sold it for a CVT RTT. Loved it. I had it on top of a steel camper shell on my 1985 Toyota Xtra Cab. 5 years ago I bought an M416 trailer and put a steel lid on it and moved the RTT to it. The tent is not difficult to put away at all. Of course, it sits way lower on the trailer than it did on the pickup. I literally just walk around it, unzipping or zipping as I go. The cover is no problem.
However, I am now considering something like a Hiker or Runaway Venturist trailer. I'm fine on ladders now, but I worry as I get older.

 

[astroflashjones]

I had a Teupui Autana for about 6-7 years. Not a bad tent at all, having the annex is an excellent addition. Its been great to have a sheltered area to change and cook, especially in the winter. Inital setup is pretty quick but it does get annoying putting in the window rods and attaching the annex. The mattress that came with ours was pretty comfortable. I recently saw a 23zero tent in person that had the exact same design but better build. They used the blackout fabric, better zippers, pulls, etc. I have no experience with 23zero other than that.

 

[MOAK]

Great conversation everyone and thanks for your input and personal stories.. Tues I orderered the Tepui Autana3 Ruggedized. A lot of coin for sure, but we learned some tuff lessons over the years, especially about tents. We went through 4 cheapo tents before we finally got a good one. Then after freezing our tails off in a good two season tent, we got ourselves an excellent three and a half season tent. I don’t want to be playing that game with an RTT. Considered the hard shell, but prefer the roominess of the soft shell along with being able to climb down into the annex instead of open air.

 

[Atc210]

I am ground pounder, definitely pros and cons between the 2.

 

[MOAK]

I am ground pounder, definitely pros and cons between the 2.

That’s why we’re keeping the Jettent 25x, the three man tent, the buyers cots, air mats, etc, just in case the pros & cons don’t work out for us.