Short bed, long hard-shell RTT

[BigTony]

So I've got a Gen 2 Ford Raptor; it may not be the ideal trail rig due to it's width but what the heck, it's what I've got and already super capable offroad; it's just a bit porky in the width area. I'll avoid narrow trails, but should be fine for lots of stuff in CA, UT, CO, AZ

I've kind of caught the RTT bug (never had one), but I don't like the floppy soft top ones. It's gotta be a hard top.

I'd also really prefer to mount the RTT on a low rack, so that it's not much above the cab and keeps good wind-flow. The truck only has a 5'6" bed though, so the tent would hang off the back of the truck a bit given most hard shell RTT are ~85-90" in length.

My current plans:
(definitely)
-Decked drawers
(likely)
-RCI Rack
-Something like: Alu-Cab, Eezi-Awn Stealth, Roofnest Eagle or Sparrow, Autohome Maggiolina Airwhatever+

So, to the question;
Who's running RTT on a short bed (bonus anyone running a hard shell RTT on a short bed rack) how did you configure it? Does it hang off the back? Any issues?

Any other recommendations?

 

[ttengineer]

So I have a James Baroud Evasion XXL (90” I think) on a 6.5’ bed on a low rack. It over hangs the rear a few inches but does not obstruct my view because I had the rack made so that the lowest point is at the height of the rear window. This way, the joint of the 2 shells is below the cab for wind noise reduction but I can still have a complete unobstructed view out the back. I don’t find it being a problem hanging off the back. You just have to be aware of it when you’re backing up.

I plan on using a 270 degree awning or a rear 180 awning. And because it hangs over the back, I’ll be able to mount the awning “under” the tent. This way when it’s deployed and raining, water will not enter the joint closest to the tailgate, or between the tent and awning.


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[blackdmax15]

TTE can we get pics please?

 

[ttengineer]

My rack and tent are currently off and disassembled. I’m having a little work done on the rack and I’m going to vinyl wrap the tent. I hate the white.

I may have one from when I had an ikamper though. Let me check.

Found a few:

On the last photo you can see how the tent over hangs the rack. Unfortunately I do not have one with the tailgate closed and the tent closed.

My new set up actually over hangs more because the JB is longer than the ikamper. But it’s really not a huge deal. Sure it doesn’t look as “clean” but it’s not a huge deal to me.


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[beef tits]

Hard top is the way to go. If you plan to keep it more than a couple years I would pony up for a tried and true James Baroud or Autohome. There are a million Chinese made knockoffs on the market now (Roofnest, Bigfoot, etc.) I have looked at several of them and I can say they seemed like crap in comparison. They all seem to come from the same Chinese factory too. In comparison to my Autohome, they have janky hardware, lesser quality fiberglass, and all around lower budget construction. The Italians and Aussie's have been overlanding for a long long time and have very high quality standards. For what it's worth, a used Autohome/Baroud that is 5-6 years old is likely way better bet than new Chinese model.

If you only want a couple years use, go Chinese. If you want it for a decade plus, spend the money on a good one.

Before I went hard-top I also tried out the smitty(************)bilt soft side... never again. Mine was starting to fall apart after 6 months of moderate weekend use and one two week road trip. On top of that it takes 15 minutes to set up / take down (properly). When you are moving your vehicle day-to-day this gets to be a rail pain in the ass. The hand-crank Autohomes take 2-3 minutes. I have not tried the gas-strut powered models but I imagine those are even faster.

 

[BigTony]

TTE I think that looks super slick! Perfect height. It'd be awesome to see your rig with the JB mounted when complete!

Glad to hear the validation the hard top; for me speed of setup is the main point. I've done a ton of motorcycle Adventure Riding and packing and unpacking daily gets to be a huge drag for me; really like the idea of just pulling up to a spot in the truck, pop up the tent and hit the hay. Also though I'm a fairly large guy at 6'4" and 290lb so I need durability and pretty good length in whichever tent I go with. I'm kind of leaning toward the Alu-cab, eezi-awn stealth, JB xxl or an autohome

 

[ttengineer]

TTE I think that looks super slick! Perfect height. It'd be awesome to see your rig with the JB mounted when complete!

Glad to hear the validation the hard top; for me speed of setup is the main point. I've done a ton of motorcycle Adventure Riding and packing and unpacking daily gets to be a huge drag for me; really like the idea of just pulling up to a spot in the truck, pop up the tent and hit the hay. Also though I'm a fairly large guy at 6'4" and 290lb so I need durability and pretty good length in whichever tent I go with. I'm kind of leaning toward the Alu-cab, eezi-awn stealth, JB xxl or an autohome

When I get everything all buttoned up, I’ll try to remember to post photos.

The only downside to a pop top is that the entrance/ladder is not covered. It was for this reason I got an ikamper. Unfortunately, the bed in it was junk and the quality was just not there. I then switched to a James Baroud when I heard that they were releasing a tunnel awning that allowed for a covered entrance and area. But I’ve been waiting for nearly 2 years for them to bring it to the US. *sigh* C'est la vie


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[TexomaPowerboater]

Curious why you made the decision to go with a RTT vs a truck bed topper?

 

[NatchezPhotography]

Curious why you made the decision to go with a RTT vs a truck bed topper?

My reasoning was the storage of dirty items. Sleeping in a camper shell is nice for multi-day trips when you dont have dirty chair legs, cooler bottoms. and other miscellaneous items that get stored in the bed dirty. Packing up me Ikamper takes less than a minute and we are off to the next location.

 

[1pieceatatime]

ttengineer has a nice setup.

A couple of thoughts based on my rig:

1) James Baroud does make a covered opening for their hard shell tents if you also utilize their awning

2) Probably goes without saying, but just in case... if putting the front of your tent below roof-line with a Baroud sort of tent, make sure you have clearance to work your front tent latches! On my setup with a 6'4" Ram Bed, I could fit the Grand Raid XXL over the bed without overhanging the rear bumper or the cab - but that was putting the tent within an inch of the cab and no room for the latch actuation. I wasn't sold on the aesthetics anyway with the back of the tent going past tailgate (but not bumper) - so I went just over cab height so I could kill the rear overhang, had room for latches, and carry other long things on the rack if I wanted (canoe/kayak/etc).

 

[rajacat]

Quality and made in the USA. Either get the topper/RTT version or just the RTT.

https://gofastcampers.com/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hondo-garages-new-thing.516490/

 

[Roofnest]

Hard top is the way to go. If you plan to keep it more than a couple years I would pony up for a tried and true James Baroud or Autohome. There are a million Chinese made knockoffs on the market now (Roofnest, Bigfoot, etc.) I have looked at several of them and I can say they seemed like crap in comparison. They all seem to come from the same Chinese factory too. In comparison to my Autohome, they have janky hardware, lesser quality fiberglass, and all around lower budget construction. The Italians and Aussie's have been overlanding for a long long time and have very high quality standards. For what it's worth, a used Autohome/Baroud that is 5-6 years old is likely way better bet than new Chinese model.

Just have to chime in here.... Roofnest is NOT another chinese knock-off. We have our own factory in China where we make a RTT that is different in almost every way from the knock-offs out there. Have several factories in China copied our designs, etc? - yes but that doesn't make us the knock-off. We've worked to improve every single element of our tents from material to stitching to manufacture. Take another look if you've only seen our tents from 12 months ago - nothing "janky" about them!

 

[ttengineer]

So took me a while, and I forgot, but here are some photos of my rack with the JB XXL tent.

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[Pnwfullsize]

So took me a while, and I forgot, but here are some photos of my rack with the JB XXL tent.

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Can you post some pictures of how the tunnel awning mounts? I want to add one to my evasion but would like to know if i have clearance to mount it to my rack or how it mounts to the bottom of the rtt

 

[ttengineer]

The tunnel mounts to the tent via an end user applied plastic extrusion that is epoxied into place.

The epoxy is supplied with the tunnel kit.

I tucked the awning up as close to the tent as I could as well as overlapped the tent over the awning by about a half inch.

I’ll post some photos as soon as I can.

Edit:

Went out and took some quick photos.

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