RTT storage

[CPick]

Hi all. Just a question for you RTT owners. How do you store your tents, when you are not planning on using it for awhile? Being in FL, I don't like camping much in the heat of summer. I don't leave the tent on top of my rig. Do you leave the mattress in the tent? What about your sleeping bags? I keep the tent in my garage and was just concerned with it getting mildew.

Thanks!

 

[Biker Eagle]

I live in south Louisiana and just like you have a high humidity environment. My RTT stays in my garage as well, and so far has been no problem. But if humidity is really bad you could do a couple of things to mitigate that situation. 1) Open your garage frequently to air out and turn on a box fan to circulate the air. 2) put a dehumidifier in your garage during seasons of extreme heat/humidity. 3) Take your tent out and set it up from time to time just to air out. and 4) Don't store your bedding with the tent, mattress not a problem.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kevin108]

The sleeping bags should come out and be stored loosely somewhere so you don't damage the insulation by having it permanently compressed. I'm bad about doing that myself.

My original plan was to remove the tent when not using it, but it's a pain in the ass, so it's just lived on the roof for 3 years now.

 

[HEYElliott]

I live in south Louisiana and just like you have a high humidity environment. My RTT stays in my garage as well, and so far has been no problem. But if humidity is really bad you could do a couple of things to mitigate that situation. 1) Open your garage frequently to air out and turn on a box fan to circulate the air. 2) put a dehumidifier in your garage during seasons of extreme heat/humidity. 3) Take your tent out and set it up from time to time just to air out. and 4) Don't store your bedding with the tent, mattress not a problem.

Hope this helps.

Really good suggestions here; if you plan to take it off I would follow these recommendations.

I definitely dont have the same level of humidity so I dont know the whole situation but I plan to leave my RTT on at all just so I can be ready for any spur of the moment trip. That and they are a bit of a pain in the ass to remove...

 

[CPick]

Thank you both for the suggestions. My 4runner is not my daily driver so it's kept it in my garage. Only problem is it won't fit with the tent on top. I'll definitely take the sleeping bags out and will open it up from time to time to air out.

 

[Tim N Michele Davis]

I went to Harbor Freight and bought to furniture dollies and stood the tent up on them. It fit perfectly and you can roll it around to wherever you want easily.

 

[CPick]

I have the Yakima Skyrise tent which is pretty light weight and has quick disconnect clamps. Makes it pretty easy to load and unload and move around by myself. Furniture dollies are a great idea though.

 

[CWu21]

I'm curious how you guys get the Tent off. Is it a two man job or does anyone make something to easily remove. I want to get one but don't want to keep it on top of my rig

 

[AWD_Jeff]

I'm in the same boat as well. Luckily I have an engine hoist.

 

[HappyOurOverlanding]

Hi all. Just a question for you RTT owners. How do you store your tents, when you are not planning on using it for awhile? Being in FL, I don't like camping much in the heat of summer. I don't leave the tent on top of my rig. Do you leave the mattress in the tent? What about your sleeping bags? I keep the tent in my garage and was just concerned with it getting mildew.

Thanks!

After a trip, I take my Maggiolina RTT off and open it full, strip the sheets off, clean the exterior/interior, and leave it open for a day to air out. I live in the high plains desert so don't worry too much about humidity (though I do miss it at times ). After it's aired out, I hoist it up to the garage ceiling via the Racor ceiling lift to keep out of the way until the next trip.

As for getting the tent on and off my 4Runner, it is a definite two person job. Since I can't lower the RTT on my roof, I built a 12 foot ramp to push the RTT onto the roof rack.

 

[Tim]

I'm curious how you guys get the Tent off. Is it a two man job or does anyone make something to easily remove. I want to get one but don't want to keep it on top of my rig

I’ve been trying to find a solution to that too. There is a winch system you can fit to say the roof of your garage or anything you can get your vehicle under. I don’t have that option. I have seen this: Sputnik https://tuff-trek.com/sputnik-system.html which means you could even use your RTT off the vehicle. It’s not cheap though.


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[Tim]

Different scenario for us. Ours gets stored during the winter. All the bedding comes out except the mattress. I also make sure it’s clean and dry first. I then wrap the whole thing in another tarp. I’m actually a bit concerned about small critters like mice finding their way in and nesting in it!


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[CPick]

It is an easy two person job, lifting the tent on and off the vehicle, but moving it around the garage by myself is not a big deal. I'm def picking up some furniture dollies like was suggested earlier.

 

[Dcwn.45]

I use 2 bike /canoe hoists from fleet farm to hoist it up to my garage rafters
I was concerned that the weight with the bed rack was too much for 1 hoist as they are only rated for canoes and bikes
It works great and I can do it alone
I can load it on or off the truck or lower it to the ground

 

[GPsGeeps]

I had previously DESTROYED my back trying to unload the RTT with wife and daughter. Out of commission for 2 weeks. Unbelievable how painful a strained hip flexor is. Prior to that I had wanted to try some simple 2x4 ramps that I saw on the internet. You would not believe how easy this made solo loading and unloading. Roll RTT over on a furniture dolly and slide up. In place and ready to be bolted down in under 2 minutes!

 

[phlfly]

that's a great solution.

View attachment 57543

I had previously DESTROYED my back trying to unload the RTT with wife and daughter. Out of commission for 2 weeks. Unbelievable how painful a strained hip flexor is. Prior to that I had wanted to try some simple 2x4 ramps that I saw on the internet. You would not believe how easy this made solo loading and unloading. Roll RTT over on a furniture dolly and slide up. In place and ready to be bolted down in under 2 minutes!

View attachment 57544

 

[HappyOurOverlanding]

View attachment 57543

I had previously DESTROYED my back trying to unload the RTT with wife and daughter. Out of commission for 2 weeks. Unbelievable how painful a strained hip flexor is. Prior to that I had wanted to try some simple 2x4 ramps that I saw on the internet. You would not believe how easy this made solo loading and unloading. Roll RTT over on a furniture dolly and slide up. In place and ready to be bolted down in under 2 minutes!

View attachment 57544

Smart. Did something similar...made a 12 foot ramp so the wife and I could push our hard shell RTT on top of our 4Runner.