Project "Great Basin G"

The awning is one of my favourite additions, although I have now had to move mine from this photo, to the other side, since fitting the snorkel. I am going to get a shorter one (2.1m) so I can put it back on the driver side which also wraps-around over the rear area too.
Mine is ARB brand and looks identical, like most of the chinese ones around now.

Yours is very well positioned, not hanging over the edge like mine. So its less likely to get catch on overhanging bushes and trees in forest trails.

IMG_1156.JPG


It looks like a fun day at the beach. From my understanding all the awnings, including ARB are built in China. I had to buy a replacement ladder for my RTT and sure enough the ARB parts were a perfect fit. It's apparent they they come from the same supplier. I looked at importing RTT a few month ago from china from the same factory where they build the Simpson III tent.

Personally I think the awnings and tent are very high quality, despite being made in China.

As for the position, I did my very best to mount it so it did not hang off the side too much. I used this mounting bracket from Baja Rack.

BR-AWNMNT6-EXP-0.jpg



I plan to add some guide wires to prevent the awning from snagging on trees and bushes in the future.
 

mk216v

Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
It looks like a fun day at the beach. From my understanding all the awnings, including ARB are built in China. I had to buy a replacement ladder for my RTT and sure enough the ARB parts were a perfect fit. It's apparent they they come from the same supplier. I looked at importing RTT a few month ago from china from the same factory where they build the Simpson III tent.

Personally I think the awnings and tent are very high quality, despite being made in China.

As for the position, I did my very best to mount it so it did not hang off the side too much. I used this mounting bracket from Baja Rack.

BR-AWNMNT6-EXP-0.jpg



I plan to add some guide wires to prevent the awning from snagging on trees and bushes in the future.

You could look at Fiamma awnings; hard-sided aluminum cover, from Italy.
I love mine--simple to deploy and stow, high quality components, all self-contained!
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
It looks like a fun day at the beach. From my understanding all the awnings, including ARB are built in China. I had to buy a replacement ladder for my RTT and sure enough the ARB parts were a perfect fit. It's apparent they they come from the same supplier. I looked at importing RTT a few month ago from china from the same factory where they build the Simpson III tent...

Not necessarily true. While there are obviously many 'put your name here' versions of what look like the same tents and awnings are out on the market, they don't all come from the same factories in fact they come from many different factories, all building to mimic the other. Take for example the ARB Simpson II tent, a year plus after they discontinue and move to their updated and improved Simpson III tent, other brands release their branded tent which is in fact very similar to the now discontinued model and while the designs are often very similar, they are not identical. Likewise with many other brands of tents, while they look similar from 10', close inspection reveals different tent material, bow construction, hinge thickness, floor structure, ladder, etc. Now there are obviously many that might be the same, but ARB is not one of them. Really what it comes down to is choosing a supplier you are comfortable with, not only for the initial quality but spares and product support down the road. I've heard great things about CVT's customer service and I've seen their tents in person, nice stuff and I think they will be around in the years to come to support customers and products. The same can't be said for some of the other 'similar' tents we've already seen come and go... leaving customers scrambling for parts that are not available even if they look 'similar' to those that are. ;)
 

swb

Observer
I have had a good close look at a ARB Simpson III and I cannot tell the difference from my no-name RTT except the ARB label on the fly sheet. Same material, same fittings, same stitching, same mattress, same ladder. Almost half the price.
Its a good tent but after quite a lot of use lately I am hankering for the next level up, a Hannibul, Eezi-Awn, or similar.
ARB produce some fine products but not the best in all catagories, thats for sure.
 
It is interesting and I am still learning all the ins and outs of these tents, but there are several things I am certain of. There are several different factories in China but they are the same supplier. The importer I was working with had many different options to chose from. They had 3 different thicknesses of material, 3-4 different ladders, 9 different tents and 4-5 color combos. While I don't see any aftermarket suppliers other than ARB offering the newest style of tent, it was an option I was offered by the importer I was working with. The Simpson III has that very distinct rain fly you can't miss. Some of the tents like Eezi-Awn are a completely different animal and are not made in China. I pulled out of trying to import tents because of other business ventures. In the long run I think most of the tents are a high quality and it is not so much about the equipment as it just get out of the house and spending time with family and friends.
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
It is interesting and I am still learning all the ins and outs of these tents, but there are several things I am certain of. There are several different factories in China but they are the same supplier...

Simply not the case, dozens & dozens of factories, dozens of suppliers, distributors and exporters/importers. Now, there may be one importer selling a handful of models from different factories, but he is far from the sole importer, he is simply collecting pictures from XYZ brands and telling you they can source them, some are keener than others, some just copy/paste the photo and photochop out the logo. Hell, there was a Chinese trailer supplier selling the Adventure Trailers Chaser model, using a photo from the AT website and their crappy logo chopped right in. They had never even built a trailer let alone that trailer, but send them an order for 5 and they will figure out how to ;)

See here for my point, factories all over China making tents. I get an email or two a week from a different company making them.
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=roof+top+tent

Or this is a better case, they show an actual common Open Sky tent in their pic, but look at their detail shots of actual production... different tent.
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/297384577/Roof_Top_Tent.html
 
Wow, that's a lot of tents. Yeah I never contacted Alibaba but it looks like they have lots of options. Alibaba scares me because I know they sell cheap POS Mitsubishi parts. I was in contact with a much different supplier and surprisingly he spoke excellent English. Some of these tents on Alibaba are very different than the one I was looking at. It has been about a year since I have been in contact with him about tents. I am thinking we may never know the answer of what is really going on over there in China in regards to production because it is so unregulated. If it was better regulated it would be easier to track this stuff.
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
Wow, that's a lot of tents. Yeah I never contacted Alibaba but it looks like they have lots of options. Alibaba scares me because I know they sell cheap POS Mitsubishi parts. I was in contact with a much different supplier and surprisingly he spoke excellent English. Some of these tents on Alibaba are very different than the one I was looking at. It has been about a year since I have been in contact with him about tents. I am thinking we may never know the answer of what is really going on over there in China in regards to production because it is so unregulated. If it was better regulated it would be easier to track this stuff.

Alibaba isn't a seller, it is a marketplace for predominately Chinese manufactures of varying levels of quality. The Alibaba site simply helps the end user or importers connect with manufactures, consider it the Yellowpages of Chinese import. Love or hate Chinese/Taiwanese parts it will continue to grow as it has successfully connected millions of buyers/sellers throughout the globe. If you dig at any one particular tent, you'll find the company and location where the tent is theoretically made (or could be made) and thus you can see just how many tent manufacture options are out there and that is just the ones advertising on Alibaba. Companies like ARB, CVT, Tepui, etc go direct to the manufacture, often visiting their factories in person to inspect samples, dictate quality control, define specifications, expectations, etc. Keep in mind these companies have no cultural respect for proprietary information and patents so it's very possible that while factory A is building a tent for XYZ, factory B copies the spec and builds them for ABC tent company. As I eluded to earlier, I think the key is to choose a US vendor that is going to be around not just to deliver your tent but in 2 or 5 years when you need a replacement cover or a spare widget, from everything I've seen on the forums you've done well with CVT.

Sorry to cloud up your thread. Lets see some more G-Wagen pics :cool:
 

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