Roof campers? Please explain

98OzarksRunner

Adventurer
Another downside - if you ever camp in a campground you'll have dozens of people come by and ask 'what the ???? is that?'. Ours is on a trailer and we get lots of questions.

Another downside (a real one this time) is that if you live in the Midwest (like I do) the trails are pretty brushy. I haven't taken my trailer on a rough trail yet, but I'm afraid the hanging limbs would make a mess of the RTT cover in short order. This would be worse if it were mounted on the truck. I'm thinking of making a sheet metal fairing to put over the front of it to protect it from the limbs, if I mount the RTT on the truck.
 
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photoman

Explorer
Don't think anybody mentioned large sized dogs. I have an off road trailer and will upgrade with a RTT but I'm procrastinating. I take my lab with me on most camping trips. I currently use an OZ RV2 tent. Stores in rack on my trailer and is very fast to setup as we know. The rainfly acts as a shade for me here in TX too when I leave as a basecamp. Not sure if RTT has a rainfly or how hard to setup one?
Does anyone else travel with larger dogs and a RTT and try and get dog in tent? Mine is spoiled and would be whining all night if i left out or in my jeep ;)

There are a few avenues here.
1. Depending on the size of the RTT you get, it could be large enough for the dog to sleep with you. You can get the equivalent of a king size bed with some mfg's.
2. Depending on how you mount the tent. If you have a truck and do a low profile bed mount rack, your dog might only need a small step to be able to jump up into the tent. A tent mounted on the roof would be significantly higher.
3. Many of the tents also offer a change room that can be zipped on. This is a 4 walled room where many people have pets or even extra people sleep. These are usually around $500 extra.
Newport-7.jpg
 

mph

Expedition Leader
Great read by Kurt! Btw...it's nice to have both. Ground and rtt....depends on the trip. Love them both and hate them both...depending on the type of trip
 

Paddy

Adventurer
I will update the original list of pros and cons on this topic because I find it interesting. Thanks for the replies and yes I'm coming around to the idea, not as much as a replacement for my tiny backpacking tent that I've used for 20 yrs, but rather in addition, whichever the adventure calls for.
 

LandCruiserPhil

Expedition Leader
Set up - less then a minute
Close down - almost a minute
All bedding stays in place
All weather
Heated mattress
Ladder is rated at 300lbs
3" high density mattress with 2 1/2" of travel slated bed frame
Best sleep I have ever had
 

grimbo

Explorer
A couple of reasons for here in Australia.

Off the ground when camping means you don't have to worry about salt water crocs, snakes, ants etc

Cooler in the heat as you don't get the radiant heat from the ground us more likely to pick up any breeze.

Some other reasons are the ability to camp in the space of the vehicle which is handy in some areas. Frees up space in the car for more storage.
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
I'm not an RTT user but I've camped with lots of other people that have them.

Don't know if this has been mentioned but most RTTs have a cover or shell that keeps dust out of the sleeping compartment. Compare this to a typical camper shell setup on a desert trip and it's a significant comfort item. In most pickups with shells, dust will infiltrate the cargo compartment no matter what you do to try and seal it up. It's actually one of the reasons I prefer an SUV to a pickup, but it's a factor that favors the RTT as well.

I think weight and cost are the biggest downsides. Especially cost, an RTT requires a great level of "commitment" to overlanding, otherwise you're just driving around town with a big heavy block attached to your roof.
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
I should also add that I've done the cost/benefit analysis and our solution was a teardrop trailer (only for accompanied trips - when I go solo, I just sleep in my 4runner, which has a sleeping platform for that purpose.) Teardrops are becoming more and more popular and there are several off-road teardrops available on the market.

Pros and cons are different (more secure, hard-sided sleeping space as a pro, the additional weight/complexity/cost of having to pull a trailer, as a con, etc) but they're all there. Teardrops, like RTTs, are not cheap and require a pretty serious level of commitment. If you're a weekend camper and don't have thousands of $$ to throw down on camping gear, a decent tent, air mattress and sleeping bag will probably work just fine for you.
 

Ozrockrat

Expedition Leader
A RTT is the big boys equivalent of a tree house on wheels. Who wouldn't like that.

But we had one for over 30 years (And it is still going). Sadly time marches on and the bladder dictated a different approach to camping. Climbing up and down all night to take a leak sucks.

A cheap throw down tent to hold a camping spot is handy if staying somewhere for mare than a day or so.
 

AxleIke

Adventurer
Arrrggg. You all sure know how to make a guy go broke!!

I was just bumming about my ground tent (new, but hard to set up/takes forever). Wish I'd have gone this route.
 

brianjwilson

Some sort of lost...
A RTT is the big boys equivalent of a tree house on wheels. Who wouldn't like that.

But we had one for over 30 years (And it is still going). Sadly time marches on and the bladder dictated a different approach to camping. Climbing up and down all night to take a leak sucks.

A cheap throw down tent to hold a camping spot is handy if staying somewhere for mare than a day or so.

Great point. I almost never stay multiple nights in the same spot, but I try to keep a cheap tent with me when I'm out in case I need to save a spot as well.
 

java

Expedition Leader
On the large dog front:

I have two large ones. They sleep in the changing room, as does my daughter. Putting the changing room on adds another couple of minutes but works great for dogs and kids. I have an indoor outdoor carpet i though down over the rubberized floor to keep scratching down.

And I love the mattress. I sleep awesome in my RTT.

And I have found Maxtrax make great leveling blocks!
 

TravelTacoma

Observer
Large Dog Issue

We have a Chaser with an Ezi-Awn on top. With the suspension and the 34's that are on the trailer the tent is a ways off the ground, but easily accessible via ladder. My wife loves it! She claims to feel safer that high off the ground and the mattress is very nice for sleeping after a long day outdoors. We also camp with our Mastiff about 90% of the time, which can be an adventure in itself when it comes to bedtime preparations. He has trained me, very effectively I may add, to carry him up the ladder at bedtime. I waddle up with him, he braces himself until we get halfway up, and then he dumps his weight into the tent. It works well-for him. However, I see it in the same way that others see camping with children - we make certain sacrifices in order to take the ones we love camping with us. The tent works very well for us, it is comfortable, and it makes the female half of the equation happy. There are several advantages to taking the dog as well, especially on colder nights when his sheer mass helps heat the tent up. I can directly attribute our increased camping to my purchase of the Chaser with the tent on it which adds value to my life in the form of increased time spent in the outdoors. I didn't believe in all of the hype for roof top tents until I actually got to check one out in person and now we are hooked on ours.
 

jeff parker

Observer
Some have mentioned the ease of putting up/taking down in the rain. Do RTT's get smelly if put away wet? I can only imagine folding up a wet tent and having it cook all day on the roof.
 

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