Hello all. New to this forum, and have a plan...
My wife and I are occasional campers, and are hoping that the convenience of a RTT might encourage us to get out a bit more. Also, she is a second grade teacher that loves to take the girls on a 3-week road trip every summer. I’d like to go as well, but my career is a little too demanding of my time to take that much time off at a whack... I can do a week easy, but things really start to pile up on my desk while I’m out. (Before you all tell me to quit, please know that I love my job. I’m not changing! She can’t take time off in the school year, so she totally understands)
So, for the last three summers, she’s taken the kids all over. Between 4,000 and 10,000 miles per trip. Hotels every night. For the couple grand she spends on hotels, she’d prefer to camp in the national parks they visit. Seeing the stars, all that good stuff. We all go on shorter trips together throughout the rest of the summer, but this is her big one. Works out well for me, as I spend my open days during that time fishing with a couple of buddies on the ocean.
Well, she drives a Prius. Great on gas, but not much roof up there, and doesn’t sound like Yakima is too keen on putting a RTT on the Baseline series rack feet. Fine. She still uses that rack for her paddle board.
Her other car is my 2018 Platinum Tundra Crewmax with the ARE topper.
When I bought the truck, there was no thought of the RTT, so I didn’t go for the heavier duty series to carry the extra load. I preferred the frameless glass on the Z Series, as well as some other features. I did get the Yakima tracks installed, as I expected the wife to toss her paddle board up there from time to time.
After reaching out to ARE, they responded that:
“1). ARE does not have a published weight rating or warranty any weight rating EXCEPT on the HD series (550#).
2). All ARE FIBERGLASS caps can withhold the weight that the rack and/or truck is rated for. “How much can your product hold?”, “Please consult your truck manufacturers center of gravity as well as the weight rating of the rack you will be using in conjunction with our cap.”
A. Essentially, our caps can hold what any rack supplier will rate.
3). All ARE ALUMINUM caps have a 200# weight rating.
For example, the Yakima CoreBar and JetStream have a 165# and 220# weight rating on the their crossbars (can be found on Yakima’s site). If a customer is inquiring about putting a tent on their cap, it has absolutely nothing to do with what our cap can hold and everything to do with what the crossbars can hold. So, in this example the the Yakima CoreBar is a 165# rating and if they wanted to add a 200# tent to it they would be over the “rating” of the rack. The customer should speak to Yakima (or whatever rack they are going to use) to find out if the product can work with a tent system.
Again, ARE has no written warranty on weight ratings - any added weight to the top of our products is always the customers liability.”
Huh? Seemed like a poorly thought out and written response. What I got from it was: “Our cap will hold anything that a rack manufacturer says will fit on their racks. We will not stand behind what we just said.”
Anyhoo. Back on track. My thought is that it may be wise to provide additional support, and I wanted to get thoughts on my plan before I move forward.
The Yakima tracks are bolted through the roof of the cap. I intend to place 13/16” Uni-strut under all of the nuts at the underside of the roof to provide an easy way to attach all types of things. I also have the strut type track system from Toyota on the bedsides, which I can attach to. My thought is to place two bars from the roof Uni-strut to the bedside track on each side. The strut can stay on the ceiling permanently, and I can pop the vertical bars out when the tent is not in place. I will also add one more canopy clamp on each side, for a total of six hold down clamps.
My thought is that if the base of the cap is held in place by six clamps, it will be less likely to flex under additional load. The four bars from the roof to the bedsides will transfer any excessive downward force to the truck, rather than relying on the structural integrity of a cap that the manufacturer won’t back...
Everything except the strut at the ceiling will be removable in just a couple of minutes, and I think the strut will come in quite handy. Crossbars can be added to hang things. Fishing rod holders and such can be mounted up high. Even a net to hold sleeping bags and such....
FWIW, I intend to fabricate the exterior crossbars for the tent to sit on. I have access to a fantastic fabrication shop, and this is not even close to out of my capacity. I am planning to use three bars to spread out the load a little more, as well. I think it will be hell for stout...
Sorry for the super long first post! Certainly, I am not the first to want to put a tent on this canopy. I am just hoping to get any input that you folks may have before I start rigging.
Thanks,
Chad
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
My wife and I are occasional campers, and are hoping that the convenience of a RTT might encourage us to get out a bit more. Also, she is a second grade teacher that loves to take the girls on a 3-week road trip every summer. I’d like to go as well, but my career is a little too demanding of my time to take that much time off at a whack... I can do a week easy, but things really start to pile up on my desk while I’m out. (Before you all tell me to quit, please know that I love my job. I’m not changing! She can’t take time off in the school year, so she totally understands)
So, for the last three summers, she’s taken the kids all over. Between 4,000 and 10,000 miles per trip. Hotels every night. For the couple grand she spends on hotels, she’d prefer to camp in the national parks they visit. Seeing the stars, all that good stuff. We all go on shorter trips together throughout the rest of the summer, but this is her big one. Works out well for me, as I spend my open days during that time fishing with a couple of buddies on the ocean.
Well, she drives a Prius. Great on gas, but not much roof up there, and doesn’t sound like Yakima is too keen on putting a RTT on the Baseline series rack feet. Fine. She still uses that rack for her paddle board.
Her other car is my 2018 Platinum Tundra Crewmax with the ARE topper.
When I bought the truck, there was no thought of the RTT, so I didn’t go for the heavier duty series to carry the extra load. I preferred the frameless glass on the Z Series, as well as some other features. I did get the Yakima tracks installed, as I expected the wife to toss her paddle board up there from time to time.
After reaching out to ARE, they responded that:
“1). ARE does not have a published weight rating or warranty any weight rating EXCEPT on the HD series (550#).
2). All ARE FIBERGLASS caps can withhold the weight that the rack and/or truck is rated for. “How much can your product hold?”, “Please consult your truck manufacturers center of gravity as well as the weight rating of the rack you will be using in conjunction with our cap.”
A. Essentially, our caps can hold what any rack supplier will rate.
3). All ARE ALUMINUM caps have a 200# weight rating.
For example, the Yakima CoreBar and JetStream have a 165# and 220# weight rating on the their crossbars (can be found on Yakima’s site). If a customer is inquiring about putting a tent on their cap, it has absolutely nothing to do with what our cap can hold and everything to do with what the crossbars can hold. So, in this example the the Yakima CoreBar is a 165# rating and if they wanted to add a 200# tent to it they would be over the “rating” of the rack. The customer should speak to Yakima (or whatever rack they are going to use) to find out if the product can work with a tent system.
Again, ARE has no written warranty on weight ratings - any added weight to the top of our products is always the customers liability.”
Huh? Seemed like a poorly thought out and written response. What I got from it was: “Our cap will hold anything that a rack manufacturer says will fit on their racks. We will not stand behind what we just said.”
Anyhoo. Back on track. My thought is that it may be wise to provide additional support, and I wanted to get thoughts on my plan before I move forward.
The Yakima tracks are bolted through the roof of the cap. I intend to place 13/16” Uni-strut under all of the nuts at the underside of the roof to provide an easy way to attach all types of things. I also have the strut type track system from Toyota on the bedsides, which I can attach to. My thought is to place two bars from the roof Uni-strut to the bedside track on each side. The strut can stay on the ceiling permanently, and I can pop the vertical bars out when the tent is not in place. I will also add one more canopy clamp on each side, for a total of six hold down clamps.
My thought is that if the base of the cap is held in place by six clamps, it will be less likely to flex under additional load. The four bars from the roof to the bedsides will transfer any excessive downward force to the truck, rather than relying on the structural integrity of a cap that the manufacturer won’t back...
Everything except the strut at the ceiling will be removable in just a couple of minutes, and I think the strut will come in quite handy. Crossbars can be added to hang things. Fishing rod holders and such can be mounted up high. Even a net to hold sleeping bags and such....
FWIW, I intend to fabricate the exterior crossbars for the tent to sit on. I have access to a fantastic fabrication shop, and this is not even close to out of my capacity. I am planning to use three bars to spread out the load a little more, as well. I think it will be hell for stout...
Sorry for the super long first post! Certainly, I am not the first to want to put a tent on this canopy. I am just hoping to get any input that you folks may have before I start rigging.
Thanks,
Chad
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
