DIY Roof Top Tent using 80/20

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Will Macia

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Camas, WA
First, let me start by saying I owned a Jame Baroud hard shell tent for about 3 months. It was awesome, except, it was long and had to be mounted high over my truck cab and I did not want to have that as my travels for work require me to go under garages in downtown places. I started looking for suitable lower-profile racks and found the KB Voodoo racks were perfect, sturdy, and reasonably priced considering the market. The only complaint I have on those is that the powder coat finish had a few minor holidays near corners and the mounting holes. I understand the difficulties of getting those areas to cover (electrostatic issues!) so I touched up with some paint on my own.

To build the tent, I first thought about the size. I really didn't want a massive beast of a tent, something two could sleep in, and compact overall to lessen the profile on the truck. I chose to build a folding tent, similar to most of the tents on the market. I am 5'-7" so length is easily accommodated with an 84" length when extended. I went with 48" wide x 84" long.

A friend of mine and I were joking about 80/20 DIY one day, then I started thinking 'Well, that might work actually...' So I jumped on 80/20's site and started searching for options. I went with 1" x 1" solid rail with track on all 4 sides to allow for mounting points around the perimeter. I ordered the rail precut from 80/20. It takes longer to get (about 10 days to ship) but the cuts were accurate and clean. They also tapped the ends of the rails which I used to connect the rails at the corners. I also ordered corner brackets for all 8 corners to reinforce. I used one center rail for platform support as well. For the upright risers, I ordered 'Ready-Tube' from 80/20 with 90 right angle connectors to make the frames. This was super easy to do and they are lightweight. For the hinges, I ordered RTT hinged from Equipt. They were about $60 and shipped right way. The mounting holes actually line up just fine with the rail. I used female track nuts mostly. I bought SS cap and buttoned bolts for almost all of the connections.

So far, the 80/20 rail cost about $300. All my fasteners were another $50 (I bought more than needed anticipating additional needs and replacement parts) plus the hinges. I have a nice assortment of hardware ICOE on a road trip. For now I laid a 1/2" baltic birch plywood panel for the floor. This will be replaced with an aircraft grade decking I ordered from a friend of mine. As always, when ordering from a friend, I may have to wait a while. For now the wood platform ($38, Home Depot) will work and this part is easily replaced. The aircraft platform is corrugated ABS with aluminum skin top and bottom. It is expensive ($300/sheet) but long term I will not worry about any environmental issues with it. I should receive sometime in February, hopefully...

For the webbing spanners I used a Nylon 17337 webbing and used 1" Velcro 'One Wrap' to grab each of the uprights. They are spaced on 32" centers and secured to each with a t-slot nut. I placed a grommet in the webbing to place the bolt through. Works perfect...

For the ladder I bought a 6.5 ft telescoping ladder on Amazon. It was $75 and is pretty darn stout surprisingly. After buying I realized this is used by some other RTT tent mfrs so I was happy to see these were not uncommon. I bought 2 right angle aluminum brackets from McMAster to mount to the rail. Those are on their way now. I will just drill through the ladder side and bolt those on using a half moon washer on the inside to bolster that connection.

I just started working on the cover, laying out the window and attachment points. I am going to use Dimension Polyant X-Pac material (lightweight and waterproof) in white for the primary cover. For the rainfly I will most likely use a Sil-Nylon material. As a textile manufacturing company this part is the one that we can excel at, or at least I hope to. I am sure the first version of this won't be perfect but it will get me through my inaugural runs.

If anyone has some advice on this please let me know. So far this is going together pretty well but I am sure I will run into something that I overlooked... Pics below...20171028_182021.jpg20171028_182028.jpg20171028_182040.jpg20171029_111556.jpg20171029_111927.jpg20171231_125056.jpg20180104_212618.jpg20180105_210502.jpg20180105_210510.jpg20180105_215016.jpg20180107_101619.jpg3205_photo.png3382_photo.png51qI1Yw7joL._SL1000_.jpg

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persquank

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This looks like a good idea. Is the hinge enough to support the weight when the platform is extended or will there be legs coming down?
 

Will Macia

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Camas, WA
This looks like a good idea. Is the hinge enough to support the weight when the platform is extended or will there be legs coming down?
Good question - Sorry I forgot to post that. I am using the ladder as the support. I popped the caps of the ladder off tonight and started modifying the top tubes to attach to the frame. The thin wall of the tubing is sketchy, so I am going to insert a 1" wooden dowel rod inside to give some meat to the interior of the tube. I'll cut the existing tubes down about 1.5" so I have a nice new hole to drill and work with. I grabbed some aluminum 1.5" angles (pictured) from McMaster to use to mount. I am going to use 3/8" clevis pins to attach with cotters. Not sure if that is stout enough so I'll keep some 3/8" SS bolts around with Nylon lock nuts as well just in case. I'll use a Nylon spacer washer in-between the angle and the tubing on both sides. I am going to try to mount this thing this weekend to see how the ladder supports it...
 

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ChepoCDT

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Good question - Sorry I forgot to post that. I am using the ladder as the support. I popped the caps of the ladder off tonight and started modifying the top tubes to attach to the frame. The thin wall of the tubing is sketchy, so I am going to insert a 1" wooden dowel rod inside to give some meat to the interior of the tube. I'll cut the existing tubes down about 1.5" so I have a nice new hole to drill and work with. I grabbed some aluminum 1.5" angles (pictured) from McMaster to use to mount. I am going to use 3/8" clevis pins to attach with cotters. Not sure if that is stout enough so I'll keep some 3/8" SS bolts around with Nylon lock nuts as well just in case. I'll use a Nylon spacer washer in-between the angle and the tubing on both sides. I am going to try to mount this thing this weekend to see how the ladder supports it...
Is it weekend yet? LOL
I guess I'm gonna need to steal your project... the shipping of a RTT to Mexico is more than 50% of the tent...
 

Will Macia

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Camas, WA
Attached the ladder. I popped the cap off the ladder, cut 1" off the existing ladder to remove the holes that were there for the cap, drilled 3"8 holes through both top tubes 1" from the new cut on the tube, stuck a 3" (pre-drilled 3/8" hole) 1" dowel rod inside the tube, and then bolted using a 3/8" SS bolt. See the Pics. No progress on tent today unfortunately. Not sure if that might have to wait until next week.
 

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Will Macia

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Camas, WA
@ChepoCDT Sorry, been buried with work and family stuff. I am going to get back to it this weekend. I just got more fabric in last week after I found the first spec'd out poorly in UV. The white (large X ripstop from Dimension Polyant) will be the main cabin. I have a 3 layer laminate GoreTex fabric for the rain fly. I will do that last, however. Also have some NoSeeUm mesh for windows and got some nice YKK zipper chain in to make the doors and windows. Not 100% sure on the layout of the windows yet. Still deciding on 'moon roof' netting for summer evenings... Not sure, might let out too much heat in the winter. The black material might be a second rain fly for winter. It is really nice 400d Poly with a TPU laminate, totally waterproof and easy to seam seal.
 
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