Anyone know of any great overland outfitters stores? We are wanting to get our hands on some tents and racks and such and have nothing in our area that has displays of this stuff. Specifically would like to see what a roof top tent for 4-5 people actually looks like and the space it has, how it might mount to our vehicle to know if it’s an option. Getting desperate to find something and I’m willing to drive quite a distance as well. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Best overland outfitters
- Thread starter Natenite
- Start date
Not sure where you are located but Artemis Overland is in Springfield MO. They have great customer service and have a great selection of different items to choose from. Doesn't seem like this type of stuff has taken off in the true south enough to warrant anyone opening up a dedicated Overlanding Store.
I p
I have visited there a couple times. They are usually closed though. I seem to have bad timing there. Managed to catch them open once but the guy in there was just a friend that works down the street and was using the phone for a long distance call. They do have some stuff but not any roof top tents set up to check out. I plan on snagging recovery gear from them over time to try and support them but I’m not quite there yet. Hoping someone knows of something somewhere though.
I have visited there a couple times. They are usually closed though. I seem to have bad timing there. Managed to catch them open once but the guy in there was just a friend that works down the street and was using the phone for a long distance call. They do have some stuff but not any roof top tents set up to check out. I plan on snagging recovery gear from them over time to try and support them but I’m not quite there yet. Hoping someone knows of something somewhere though.
Have you checked out Ozark Overland Outfitters? They are up around that area as well. They carry different rooftop tents but I have never been to their shop.
I haven’t been able to visit them. They are only open Monday thru Friday 8-5. They are an hour or so away from me so getting out there during those hours is impossible since I work then. Kinda stinks. I would happily head out there on the weekends to check them out but they are closed.
Member III
Couldn’t agree more. Overlanding is a foreign concept in most of the south.
A lot of it kind of depends on your rig & your area. For example, I drive a Subaru & live in the upstate of South Carolina. Other than Asheville, NC where you can’t swing a dead cat w/o hitting 3 Subaru’s, they aren’t real popular in the southeast. The people who do, don’t really do anything off-road other than going from point a to point b on a pack gravel road. Because of that, I have to get most of my mechanical components through online retailers. There is a lot of off-road going on around here, just not a lot of overlanding. There are a few 4x4 shops in every town who are happy to throw on lifts & gear for both rock & mall crawlers - but those rigs go out to ride established 4x4 parks & then drive home. Most don’t plan on camping out, & definitely ever considered using their rig as a base camp. Other than REI & Cabelas where you can get RTT’s, baskets, & racks - there aren’t a whole lot of options for a physical store where you can get stuff.
However, if you are looking for gear for off-grid power, water, cooking & all the other stuff you need - check out a Camping World or whatever mega RV dealer you have around. Their stores are stocked w/ all that kind of stuff.
If you are near a large body of water - a big dealer that sells yachts, sailing cruisers, or deep sea boats (pretty much anything that floats and you can live out of) will also have that stuff. If you look around for some auctions at some of those places (or you can ask them where the local dry docks are) you can even get a deal on some second-hand stuff from decommissioned vessels before they go to the scrapyard or from craft that are being refitted for new gear. For long trips I have a compact electric range (oven/stove combo), a portable fridge, & a fresh water system w/ an electric intake pump, filtration, & tankless electric water heater that all run on a 12v system. I can fit all of it plus gear & 2 deep cycle AGM batteries with solar trickle chargers in the trunk of a Subaru Outback. Most of that stuff (except the pumps) were 15-20 years old, but they were pulled from a 65’ sailing catamaran. All of it in great condition but I only paid about 15% of what new stuff would have cost.
Traveler I
Influencer I
CVT rooftop tents now has a showroom in Chattanooga Tennessee. Not sure how far that is from you though.
Member III
To hit some liberal Asheville yuppies in their boring Subies.
"COEXIST THIS HIPPIES!"
Member III
I try not to look at RTT's too hard and convince myself my hammock is fine. I would want a hard cover one and I would need to live in it for a few months to justify spending that kind of money on a tent.
