What justifies the expense for a rooftop tent?

[Crusader]

To play the devils advocate and to stir the pot a little , you question the expense of a rtt but want to spend a lot of extra money for a gladiator compared to buying a base model truck of another brand . They both will get the job done but a lot of that decision is personal taste .

You're on to something. I want to join a local Jeep club and get with people here and do trips with them, but I have another motive for getting the Gladiator. I was about to buy my wife a new Jeep when I found out that she has been cheating on me. The divorce is almost over and I'm taking it to her financially. Texas has "at fault" divorce and I'm using it. I miss my old Jeep, but rubbing a new Jeep in her face is a big motivation. I don't mind spending money on my Jeep, but I try hard to look at the practicality of my expenses. I'm considering a full size bed rack because it can double as a lumber rack when I build my house next year. I work insane hours as a field engineer from my vehicle. A DC fridge would be nice all the time. Etc...... I'm just trying to find justification to spend big money on a RTT and I can't find it, yet. Maybe as I get into overlanding more and have better storage capabilities for equipment my views will change.

 

[grubworm]

You're on to something. I want to join a local Jeep club and get with people here and do trips with them, but I have another motive for getting the Gladiator. I was about to buy my wife a new Jeep when I found out that she has been cheating on me. The divorce is almost over and I'm taking it to her financially. Texas has "at fault" divorce and I'm using it. I miss my old Jeep, but rubbing a new Jeep in her face is a big motivation. I don't mind spending money on my Jeep, but I try hard to look at the practicality of my expenses. I'm considering a full size bed rack because it can double as a lumber rack when I build my house next year. I work insane hours as a field engineer from my vehicle. A DC fridge would be nice all the time. Etc...... I'm just trying to find justification to spend big money on a RTT and I can't find it, yet. Maybe as I get into overlanding more and have better storage capabilities for equipment my views will change.

damn...sorry to hear about your divorce. i've been thru a few and even if i wasn't emotionally devastated by them....i was financially!
i was thinking this earlier and divorces and taxes have REALLY changed how i justify spending money. i've pretty much always made a good bit of money, but usually stay frugal and then end up marrying women crazier than me. say for example i have $100K in the bank and i'm doing fine financially. i see an RTT for $2K i'd really like to get, but i'm hesitant to spend the money because i'm saving and planning for the future, etc. well....i end up going thru a divorce and right off the top, the ex gets $50K and then i'm stuck with alimony because the lazy ass didn't work, expensive attorney bills and the like. my $100K is now down to nothing and i no longer have a house to sleep in.....

I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE RTT WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!

so now, after multiple divorces....EVERYTHING is justifiable!

 

[Smileyshaun]

You're on to something. I want to join a local Jeep club and get with people here and do trips with them, but I have another motive for getting the Gladiator. I was about to buy my wife a new Jeep when I found out that she has been cheating on me. The divorce is almost over and I'm taking it to her financially. Texas has "at fault" divorce and I'm using it. I miss my old Jeep, but rubbing a new Jeep in her face is a big motivation. I don't mind spending money on my Jeep, but I try hard to look at the practicality of my expenses. I'm considering a full size bed rack because it can double as a lumber rack when I build my house next year. I work insane hours as a field engineer from my vehicle. A DC fridge would be nice all the time. Etc...... I'm just trying to find justification to spend big money on a RTT and I can't find it, yet. Maybe as I get into overlanding more and have better storage capabilities for equipment my views will change.

If you work in the field you could possibly actually right off the rooftop tent as a work expense and use it to sleep and if your company gives you a Perdiem for a hotel pocket that money. Have buddies that do that and it doesn’t seem like much but if you spend 10 weeks out of the year gone well adds up to a nice little chunk of change.

 

[Kozysnack]

Looks great. I bet you could set up camp in 30 minutes off of that trailer. I hate to invite you there to work. I'm on call 24/7 and can't guarantee I will be there to work. Once the place is built, I'll invite people out or maybe host a regional overnight meeting so we can camp to get ideas from each other and maybe help each other with vehicle projects in my shop. I'd better get busy soon.

I will have the slab and metal building installed and finish out the insides myself. My dad framed custom homes and I worked with him as a teen. I'm a field engineer and work on industrial power equipment for a living, so electrical is no problem. My best friend installs internet and security cameras for hotels for a living. Another buddy offered air conditioning at wholesale prices and he will help me install it for free. Plumbing is the only thing I need to learn, and pex doesn't look too hard to learn. I would have done this years ago, but I couldn't get the wife to agree to the hardship of roughing it while we build. Now I won't have to rough it much. My brother lives 30 minutes away and has a 5 br house I can live in while I build in my spare time. I'll camp there on my weekends to decrease commute time. My buddy put solar on his shop for $11lk and paid $67 for the first year's electricity. My place will be half the size of his. If I make too much electricity, I'll get an electric car for the free fuel around town or find an electric tractor for projects. I might even try to go off grid entirely. I sometimes get free used batteries from work. (deep cycle VRLA) I plan 1200sf living and 1200sf shop under one roof with a 60x10 porch down the North side of the building.

Pex is awesome and simple, Shark bite will be your friend to tie into a water line and then you can pex the rest. The large clamp that likes like a lock cutter is the best without buying into battery driven crimper, but some places let you rent them so think about that. Get extra rings and stoppers and we have used a cut-off wheel on a small dremel to remove rings we failed with.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

I used to think RTTs were expensive and silly. But that was over 10 years ago and my thinking has evolved drastically. There's a reason these things are popular and it's not instagram likes (Okay, at least not entirely instagram likes though I know it is for some people!).

Room nights and ease of doing what you enjoy are what justify the price for us.

I do not like fighting with tent poles in the dark, using my headlamp to spot roots and rocks, and then having to spend the 5 minutes on the tent, the 5 minutes on unpacking the sleeping bags, another 5 minutes getting the interior of the tent set up for sleeping, etc. That's assuming I can find appropriate ground to begin with. Add snow or mud and the ground tent puts me on the fence of "I'd rather stay home than mess with this with two dogs and a baby". The teardown of camp takes even longer as I have to re-pack the sleeping bags into stuff sacks, have storage for that stuff in the vehicle, pack everything away, etc. and it's just a hassle that takes time out of the day.

OP hit the nail on the head - we move every day usually, so for us the 5 minutes of RTT setup and teardown is strongly preferable to a ground tent option, as it allows us the flexibility to camp anywhere we park, from the middle of nowhere to a Walmart carpark and everything in between.

We try to set up our vehicles to "live" out of -- not to camp out of, but to live our lives while travelling. Imagine being at home and having to spend to spend 30 minutes every day getting into bed, and another 30 minutes every morning getting things packed away before you head to the office, and having it be a dice-roll in terms of sleep quality every single day. Pretty quickly you'll look for solutions...like box springs, frames, and mattresses! I see an RTT as a similar solution for a mobile application, because we don't travel to mess around in camp. We travel to see things, meet people, and have experiences, so the more efficient we can make our setup/tear down of our "mobile home" the better.

In terms of room nights, someone has already mentioned this -- the ease of the RTT means more nights out and about. We've had two now and I think we are under $10/night given our usage and our cost (I've lost track of room nights but we are well into the hundreds). We are looking at upgrading to a hard shell to shave a few more minutes off of packing up, though if I had to choose between a soft tent and a ground tent, it'd be a no brainer. RTT all the way.

 

[Crusader]

damn...sorry to hear about your divorce. i've been thru a few and even if i wasn't emotionally devastated by them....i was financially!
i was thinking this earlier and divorces and taxes have REALLY changed how i justify spending money. i've pretty much always made a good bit of money, but usually stay frugal and then end up marrying women crazier than me. say for example i have $100K in the bank and i'm doing fine financially. i see an RTT for $2K i'd really like to get, but i'm hesitant to spend the money because i'm saving and planning for the future, etc. well....i end up going thru a divorce and right off the top, the ex gets $50K and then i'm stuck with alimony because the lazy ass didn't work, expensive attorney bills and the like. my $100K is now down to nothing and i no longer have a house to sleep in.....

I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE RTT WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!

so now, after multiple divorces....EVERYTHING is justifiable!

"At fault" divorce is awesome. I would likely be forced to pay her $25k/year (after I pay the taxes on it) for 10 years as alimony. Because I have proof of her affairs (and it is brutal), I will be paying no alimony. I only have to give her $4k on the day of the divorce. Since she moved in with her sister 5 months ago, I've been paying her car insurance, health insurance, phone bill, etc..... Since she no longer has access to my paycheck, I've saved thousands of dollars per month in that 5 months. She will get 45% of the house and went out and got a job at Buccee's. She's eager for me to take her back because her boyfriend across the street decided that they should make up with their spouses. It's not going to happen and I'm aiming to finalize the divorce on Tuesday. That will be our 30th wedding anniversary. I also gave my wife's phone records to my neighbor's wife for her benefit if she divorces him along with a recording of my wife confessing to the 2 year affair with her husband. Texas divorce law is awesome if you aren't a cheater.

 

[Arailt]

Me casually checking in on the RTT discussion

 

[Sklnbnzaz]

What justifies it? Your own comfort level or want/need… yup it’s $$…

With that said, if you’re on the fence, do what we did. Buy a used one that someone is not trying to get almost full retail for… see if the RTT is for you. If it is, then great! If it is not for you then great too! You can flip it for little to no $ loss. We did it this way. It’s for us so we upgraded and sold the first one for what we paid. IMO, don’t go out and buy a brand new $1500-$4000 tent if you’ve never tried one. Tons of options for starting out.

 

[KAIONE]

A ton of things do: mud, snakes, wolves, time, cactus, numbers in group, so much more….

I’m a die hard ground tent camper, but above is a small list of things that I’ve run into that have made me say “yup, I’m doing the RTT deal!”. It’s really incredible IF you can afford it. Some of the setups I’ve seen on big truck rigs and some trailers too are amazing!!!

 

[JoshHinerman02]

I get it that it's easy to set up, safer from wildlife, and they give you more privacy. They are really cool looking, but then I see the price of the tent, and then I see the price of the rack to mount the tent. Anytime you want to run to town for supplies or camp several days in the same location you have to break the tent down and set it up again when you return. Then there is removal and storage for when you want to drive around town during your regular life. I suppose if you are constantly moving in the wilderness the RTT would be hard to beat. I can also see putting an RTT on a trailer.

Instead of spending $2-3k for a rack and RTT, would it be better to buy a double size cot tent with inflatable mattress included for $300? You can still get a rack if you want for gear storage or to include a canopy, but $1-2k for a RTT is pretty steep if you don't use it a couple of times per month.

*disclaimer* I am not trying to be a dick. Every time I say this peoples undies get ruffled.
If you can not see a benefit to owning a RTT it is likely not for you. Go with your gut/instinct/feelings. Start basic and go from there.

That being said I love owning a RTT. I grew up "boon docking" or what ever the term is for pulling your 30' house on wheels into the forest and "camping" loved every minute of it.
Once I got into the world on my own I did not have a desire to own a trailer house, but wanted to camp. Spent a few years in a ground tent and hated every minute of it. Where I go and the activities I do it sucked finding a spot to camp.
Girlfriend and I decided to get a RTT and mount it on the bed of the truck. Smitty Tent and Hot Metal Fab rack. Both basic items. Fell in love for the most part other than I lost the ability to set up a base camp and I lost the ability to haul a dirt bike. Tent stayed on all summer and came off in the winter.
Her parents offered us their offroad trailer build and CVT Tent. We jumped on it and sold the other tent. Now we have the ability to set up base camp, which is nice, but now I dont like having to drag a trailer around. Theres some areas I just dont explore because I do not want to get somewhere I shouldnt be with the trailer.. I do wish we would have just kept the bed mounted set up and used both at this point. I think a hard shell RTT will be out next purchase, its not an immediate purchase but it will happen.

Just buy some gear and get started. It may work for you and you will love it, or you will find issues and upgrade later. A RTT may not make sense now but in a few years you may realize its perfect for you. You may also decide that you want a kick ass 4 season ground tent or you may want a little offroad tear drop.

 

[Old Tanker]

A ton of things do: mud, snakes, wolves, time, cactus, numbers in group, so much more….

I’m a die hard ground tent camper, but above is a small list of things that I’ve run into that have made me say “yup, I’m doing the RTT deal!”. It’s really incredible IF you can afford it. Some of the setups I’ve seen on big truck rigs and some trailers too are amazing!!!

If I didn't have a 100 pound dog, I'd be adding an RTT for those reasons. Also, I don't like being the slow one to break camp for a morning trail ride.

 

[Mavryk]

When I bought my 4Runner a couple months ago I was planning on getting a RTT. I love how they look, even folded up. They have a ton of benefits but there is one massive disadvantage and for me it was a deciding factor against them. I’m a very light sleeper and live in a place that sees a LOT of wind. The thought of lying there all night listening to the tent smacking into itself was all I needed to make a decision against it. Once I get doing some trips I plan on sleeping inside the truck. Plus our dog weighs 80lbs, that doesn’t make the RTT viable either.

 

[NMBruce]

A ton of things do: mud, snakes, wolves, time, cactus, numbers in group, so much more….

I’m a die hard ground tent camper, but above is a small list of things that I’ve run into that have made me say “yup, I’m doing the RTT deal!”. It’s really incredible IF you can afford it. Some of the setups I’ve seen on big truck rigs and some trailers too are amazing!!!

Good points and I will add something, WIND.
I had many trips where I was going to meet people and trying to set up my tent in the wind was really hard to impossible, so I slept in the drivers seat or got a hotel along the way.
This summer a group of us did the Pony Express and one night/day the wind was bad. It took 2-3 people to set up the ground tents depending on size and only me to open and close the next morning my RTT. I like my RTT

 

[NMBruce]

When I bought my 4Runner a couple months ago I was planning on getting a RTT. I love how they look, even folded up. They have a ton of benefits but there is one massive disadvantage and for me it was a deciding factor against them. I’m a very light sleeper and live in a place that sees a LOT of wind. The thought of lying there all night listening to the tent smacking into itself was all I needed to make a decision against it. Once I get doing some trips I plan on sleeping inside the truck. Plus our dog weighs 80lbs, that doesn’t make the RTT viable either.

Your reason for not getting an RTT, is one reason while I like mine

So what are you going to use? In the past in strong winds, my ground tents made noise and so does my TuffStuff Alpha ll, but I can set my Alpha ll up by myself and even close it in high winds, where a ground tent was a pain. If I set up where the hard shell faces the wind and I don’t open the side windows, I don’t think it’s that bad, but that’s me.

Now I agree about the dog, I wouldn’t lift him up in the tent. But could he/she not sleep in the 4Runner at night? Or if you get an RTT with an annex, the dog could sleep in that part, just a bit longer to set up

 

[FishinCrzy]

When I bought my 4Runner a couple months ago I was planning on getting a RTT. I love how they look, even folded up. They have a ton of benefits but there is one massive disadvantage and for me it was a deciding factor against them. I’m a very light sleeper and live in a place that sees a LOT of wind. The thought of lying there all night listening to the tent smacking into itself was all I needed to make a decision against it. Once I get doing some trips I plan on sleeping inside the truck. Plus our dog weighs 80lbs, that doesn’t make the RTT viable either.

I've only been caught in big winds a couple of times. The flapping was not generally the problem but the rocking of the whole platform like in an airplane in turbulence. I can deal with that occasionally. Sleep is overrated when you get old anyway. Went from soft top to hard top. Big improvement! Currently negotiating with Tuff Stuff 4x4 to replace my fiberglass? hard shell under warranty because of some cracking and delamination. They have already agreed to send me a whole nother tent even thought it was slightly over the year warranty. Good service! Want to upgrade to their new aluminum shell. Mo money, mo money, mo money. I love my RTT and sleep better in it than in my own bed. Just have to seek out quiet places away from road noises, etc.

 

[NMBruce]

I've only been caught in big winds a couple of times. The flapping was not generally the problem but the rocking of the whole platform like in an airplane in turbulence. I can deal with that occasionally. Sleep is overrated when you get old anyway. Went from soft top to hard top. Big improvement! Currently negotiating with Tuff Stuff 4x4 to replace my fiberglass? hard shell under warranty because of some cracking and delamination. They have already agreed to send me a whole nother tent even thought it was slightly over the year warranty. Good service! Want to upgrade to their new aluminum shell. Mo money, mo money, mo money. I love my RTT and sleep better in it than in my own bed. Just have to seek out quiet places away from road noises, etc.

TuffStuff just sent me a new Alpha ll because of my outer shell hinges were not mounted correctly and the top was hard to close. Very Good Company

 

[MOAK]

I hear a lot about folks not wanting a trailer because it restricts where they can and cannot go. Our trailer can and does go anywhere our tow vehicle can go, and that’s roughly 99.9% of all trails in North America.. our RTT is mounted atop our 4x6 highly modified trailer and I’ve never ever turned around because the trailer might not make it.

 

[NMBruce]

I hear a lot about folks not wanting a trailer because it restricts where they can and cannot go. Our trailer can and does go anywhere our tow vehicle can go, and that’s roughly 99.9% of all trails in North America.. our RTT is mounted atop our 4x6 highly modified trailer and I’ve never ever turned around because the trailer might not make it.

Love it

What hitch do you have? My trailer is based on an M416 trailer with a lock & roll hitch and sliding tongue, I am thinking of going to a Pintle type. Haven’t yet had a problem pulling mine wherever my JKUR, GX470 went.
I plan to put the TuffStuff Alpha ll on it with scissor type lift the raise and lower the tent. The box is removable.

 

[MOAK]

Love it

What hitch do you have? My trailer is based on an M416 trailer with a lock & roll hitch and sliding tongue, I am thinking of going to a Pintle type. Haven’t yet had a problem pulling mine wherever my JKUR, GX470 went.
I plan to put the TuffStuff Alpha ll on it with scissor type lift the raise and lower the tent. The box is removable.

Nice build- I use a 5 ton pintle hook. Been using that hook for 12 years and 100s of thousands of miles. It’ll probably last forever.

 

[NMBruce]

Nice build- I use a 5 ton pintle hook. Been using that hook for 12 years and 100s of thousands of miles. It’ll probably last forever.

Great. Thanks, that is what I am looking at