Making life easier in the RTT

[The Raven]

I figured I would make a RTT mod thread to have a place for folks to post tips and tricks on making the high tents more pleasant.

My tent is a Autohome Maggiolina Extreme size small. Great tent but has a couple issues.

- It sucks to have a small bladder and getting out of it requires crawling over my wife so I fashioned a transmission funnel out of my door to provide an indoor bathroom. Works OK and does the trick.

-This morning I woke up to find about 40 blood filled mosquitos attached to the inside of the screen. Apparently they found thier way into the opening around the funnel and chowed down on us. So taking a trick from my backpacking, I sprayed the screening and door opening with Pyretherine and Permetherine. Hopefully it does the trick tonight.

 

[vegasjeepguy]

It's nice to have a convenient place to store items you want easy access to getting into or out of the tent (flip flop, toiletries, etc.) so I picked up a couple of "closet organizers" that were perfect for the job. I suspended an aluminum flag pole I had sitting in the garage under the tent with a couple of wire ties and hung the organizers where they were easy to get to.

 

[SAC-CA-Runner]

It's nice to have a convenient place to store items you want easy access to getting into or out of the tent (flip flop, toiletries, etc.) so I picked up a couple of "closet organizers" that were perfect for the job. I suspended an aluminum flag pole I had sitting in the garage under the tent with a couple of wire ties and hung the organizers where they were easy to get to.

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Ohhhh...that is a GOOD idea! I like that! Thanks!

 

[Jeepney]

Both great ideas. I proved that thermacell works to ward off those mosquitoes just waiting for me to open the screen door. My tent comes with a shoe bag but your cubby looks more useful!



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[Rubicon72]

Now I have heard never to spray bug spray in the tent because it will eat away at the water proofing...but I could be wrong. I guess it just really depends on how much deet is actually in the spray.

I do use the thermacell most of the time which does the trick.

 

[Laud]

No pic, (sorry) but another shoe holder option we went with.....single pair shoe organizers fom that big Swedish store, unstitched the Velcro flap and inserted a length of teflon tubing that fits into the side rails of the tent frame. The bottoms unzip to allow for flat folding and need not be removed. It's nice to have flip flops on all the way up and down these ladders. Had one on each side of the ladder, His and Hers. Great place for keys also.

Second mod was a set of under cabinet LED strip lights under the bottom on a dimmer. Made for great ambient lighting. Two switches made for control in and outside.

Third mod, added a foam WallyWorld mattress topper to the existing pad.

 

[Kevin108]

When we got our RTT, I asked my wife how she wanted it to open. She liked the idea of opening toward the back. This is not always the most convenient setup for accessing the rear cargo area with the tent deployed, but it keeps our setup narrow and has allowed us to fit in places we couldn't have otherwise and has made getting level trivially easy. Since we're still running the OEM roof rack, it also distributes the load of an occupied tent better. If I ever come up with $1,200 to blow on a flat rack, I may revisit the rear opening, but for the time being, this is it.

The first mod we did was to make the ladder easily removable when the tent is unoccupied. We used some cheap 5/16" clevis pins.

As we used things more and more, we found that, while the ladder was the perfect length for flat ground, on uneven terrain we sometimes exceeding the maximum possible height for the stock extension ladder. It was easily corrected with rocks or a couple pieces of wood, but a friend wound up with a spare telescoping ladder from Tepui and offered it to us. It was a simple matter of drilling one new hole, and the original ladder can be reinstalled at any time.

My only other tip you can sort of see in the above photo. Whenever we close up the tent, I always run the rear-most bungee cord through the handle loops for the access strap. That ensures that when you open the tent, the straps are at the ladder and easily accessible.

 

[Billy Hung]

Helloo! My first post here. Just getting into the overland scene. So I have a RTT mounted on a rack, on top of a truck topper so its pretty high up. I believe the tent sits 7" 2-3 inches up in the air? In any case I got it up by flipping it onto the tailgate and then flipped again onto the roof with a blanket for protection. It works, but its still a lot of strain on my back. In comes to the solution.. a HME game hoist. I looked into the maxxhaul one too, which seems way more robust, but does not meet the height requirement. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but I am hopeful. Here's a video of a guy using the method lifting a boat onto a van.

 

[Kevin108]

Stop taking the tent off and just camp more. Problem solved!

 

[ArkansasDon]

I replaced the original RTT mattress with a Exped Duo 10 Queen size XL XW self inflating mattress. This mattress is a huge difference in comfort, night & day. http://www.exped.com/usa/en/product-category/mats/megamat-duo-10-lw-ruby-red

2nd is the Compact Camping Concept Shoe Hammock, far better than the original shoe bag (1st photo)

3rd RTT Insulator by Tepui this size I have fits my Smittybilt model 2783 RTT like a glove. This turns my RTT into a actual 4 season tent. Huge difference in warmth. I purchased this from Compact Camping Concepts too. (2nd photo)

 

[BlueLineOverland]

It's nice to have a convenient place to store items you want easy access to getting into or out of the tent (flip flop, toiletries, etc.) so I picked up a couple of "closet organizers" that were perfect for the job. I suspended an aluminum flag pole I had sitting in the garage under the tent with a couple of wire ties and hung the organizers where they were easy to get to.

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WOW, That's amazing. Definitely using this !!!! Thank you!!!!

 

[BlueLineOverland]

I replaced the original RTT mattress with a Exped Duo 10 Queen size XL XW self inflating mattress. This mattress is a huge difference in comfort, night & day. http://www.exped.com/usa/en/product-category/mats/megamat-duo-10-lw-ruby-red

2nd is the Compact Camping Concept Shoe Hammock, far better than the original shoe bag (1st photo)

3rd RTT Insulator by Tepui this size I have fits my Smittybilt model 2783 RTT like a glove. This turns my RTT into a actual 4 season tent. Huge difference in warmth. I purchased this from Compact Camping Concepts too. (2nd photo)
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Picking up this Insulator, I had no idea this even existed. How is the condensation with this? Any issues?

 

[ArkansasDon]

there is some condensation no way around it. But it is nothing that removing the insulator liner (3 minutes) & wiping down the walls, running a 12v. fan helps it dry quicker about 30 minutes in 40 degree weather.

 

[BlueLineOverland]

Fantastic! Thank you for posting this!!! Where in the Ozarks are you from? I'm in Ozark

 

[vegasjeepguy]

Seems to be an Arkansas thing going on...I just relocated to Gravette but the vegasjeepguy screen name is staying.

 

[BlueLineOverland]

Seems to be an Arkansas thing going on...I just relocated to Gravette but the vegasjeepguy screen name is staying.

Nice! I lived in Vegas for a while. Air Force brat, so stationed at Nellis. Hope to see you on the trail sometime!!!

 

[jeepers29]

I replaced the original RTT mattress with a Exped Duo 10 Queen size XL XW self inflating mattress. This mattress is a huge difference in comfort, night & day.

2nd is the Compact Camping Concept Shoe Hammock, far better than the original shoe bag (1st photo)

3rd RTT Insulator by Tepui this size I have fits my Smittybilt model 2783 RTT like a glove. This turns my RTT into a actual 4 season tent. Huge difference in warmth. I purchased this from Compact Camping Concepts too. (2nd photo)
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Don, I am looking for a solution to our RTT mattress issue. It is like sleeping on cement. Do you store your expedition in the tent when folded? Thanks for any info.

 

[ArkansasDon]

yes I store it in the tent. I pull open the deflate valve & start closing the tent letting the weight of the tent in the folded position push the air out. After the air is remove from the Exped Duo 10, I'll start tucking the tent into itself. Our bedding is stored with the Exped Duo too. What is nice is that the CVT anti condensation mat prevents the mattress getting pinched between the 2 halves when opening.