Roof Top Tent or Ground Tent?

[Craig M]

I have a RTT (on a trailer) and several ground tents, as well as hammocks. Each trip is a little different for me, so the sleeping arrangements vary. Anytime my wife and I can sleep in the hammocks, that is the first choice. By far my favorite way to sleep when camping.

I did one trip with the RTT on my vehicle (previous Suburban) and wasn't really a fan of using it that way. If I were literally only settin git up to sleep each night, that would be fine, but even if I am moving daily, I prefer to set up late afternoon and hated that I lost the use of my vehicle. The trailer is way better for base camping.

 

[billum v2.0]

My background is from 30+ years backpacking, so comparison is ultra lightweight backpacking tents to a RTT.

The trailer was initially built to add hauling capacity to the 2 door JK, the RTT was an afterthought. During the trailer assembly, became interested in the RTT concept. Was hard to do any true comparison between brands/models as home is Iowa and the state isn't a great demographic for RTT retailers. Found enough basic information and owner feedback online to narrow search down to a couple brands and models. Under the "dumb luck" category, stumbled into a thread on another forum that REI had started carrying one of the brands/models I was considering, their annual 20% off sale price applied (and was underway) as did free shipping to my local store. Additionally, Active Junky had a 5% additional rebate.

Made some trailer modifications for the RTT benefit (steel brackets to transfer rack bar loads directly to trailer frame, frame pockets to accept RV scissors jacks, heavy duty tongue jack, etc.), but didn't go so far as to add a marine battery/solar set-up/on board water system. Have just under $6k in the trailer/tent combination. Could have easily reduced that by $1.5k if I'd have painted trailer myself and not matched tires/wheels to JK.

Have 50+ nights in the tent. It's been a game changer. Some thoughts:

Pros:
* Much larger footprint/more durable/more headroom (again, vs. ultralight 2 man backpacking tent).
* Off the ground (critters were never an issue, but unseen rocks/tree roots discovered at 11PM and especially migrating water after
rainstorms were).
* 3" mattress (also a con - see below). Bedding stays packed inside when tent is collapsed.
* Each window/door has independent and deep awning. Have left windows fully open during rain storms and, unless driven by a
decent wind, had no water inside. If leaving camp with rain in forecast, windows zipped half shut (zip up from bottom)
combined with depth of the awnings has resulted in zero water inside tent, despite some fairly strong accompanying winds.
* Can set up on uneven terrain . The tongue and scissors jacks are rated at 3 tons each, trailer weighs in at 1,200 lbs. fully loaded.
Can lift the trailer entirely off suspension to level and eliminate any movement when inside tent.
* Mounted at trailer height, can reach all tent straps/zippers/cover to open/close tent. Ladder is extended less than halfway.
* Can travel without breaking camp. With awning being an independent, stand alone structure, it takes close to an hour to tear
down/pack up the kitchen/tent/awning/stuff by myself. Looking at the second photo, you can see our camp has a fair amount of stuff.
Coming from lightweight backpacking and cutting every conceivable weight/mass down to the nub, I appreciate the ability to bring
stuff that I don't have to carry 3 miles on my back. So I do. Cast iron skillet/Dutch oven/camera equipment all jump to mind.

Cons:
* Anyone that says their RTT ladder isn't murder on their bare feet is a liar. Sandals resolve the pain issue, but present a different set
of problems as climbing out of the tent in the dark results in a blind fishing expedition with your first foot out feeling for that initial
ladder rung. Barefoot it hurts, sandaled you have a muted sense of touch.
* Expense. No argument that RTT's purchased new are pricey compared to ground tents. And they're particularly spendy to ship if you
don't have a local retailer (close to $300 in my case had the REI option not presented itself). However, if you're in a state where they're popular, appears they've been on the market long enough to where a decent used market is appearing.
* 3" mattress - haven't spoken with many folks who've liked the standard mattress provided with their RTT, regardless of brand
or model. We had to experiment with a few different options to dial it in for a good night's sleep. But dialed it is and I sleep well
beginning with the first night, which never happened once in 3 decades of tent camping.

My $.02. A game changer with zero regrets, but some acknowledged compromises. And again, ultralight backpacking tent is the comparison here.

 

[vegasjeepguy]

My background is from 30+ years backpacking, so comparison is ultra lightweight backpacking tents to a RTT.

The trailer was initially built to add hauling capacity to the 2 door JK, the RTT was an afterthought. During the trailer assembly, became interested in the RTT concept. Was hard to do any true comparison between brands/models as home is Iowa and the state isn't a great demographic for RTT retailers. Found enough basic information and owner feedback online to narrow search down to a couple brands and models. Under the "dumb luck" category, stumbled into a thread on another forum that REI had started carrying one of the brands/models I was considering, their annual 20% off sale price applied (and was underway) as did free shipping to my local store. Additionally, Active Junky had a 5% additional rebate.

I’ve heard of a few folks going through REI using saving from sales and dividends. Like you my RTT was an afterthought after getting my trailer. In fact, I’m pretty sure I had no idea what a RTT was at the time. I would also agree with just about everything you said about pros and cons. Especially the leader, which is why I keep a pair of flip flops handy.

 

[D3Overland]

My background is from 30+ years backpacking, so comparison is ultra lightweight backpacking tents to a RTT.

The trailer was initially built to add hauling capacity to the 2 door JK, the RTT was an afterthought. During the trailer assembly, became interested in the RTT concept. Was hard to do any true comparison between brands/models as home is Iowa and the state isn't a great demographic for RTT retailers. Found enough basic information and owner feedback online to narrow search down to a couple brands and models. Under the "dumb luck" category, stumbled into a thread on another forum that REI had started carrying one of the brands/models I was considering, their annual 20% off sale price applied (and was underway) as did free shipping to my local store. Additionally, Active Junky had a 5% additional rebate.

Fab response i was looking for a good argument (pros and cons) to use with the wife! Definitely on my shopping list now :-)

 

[Crikey Africa]

If you camp in Africa like we do you do want to sleep on the ground. Lions will scratch at your tent. Snakes will crawl in and scorpions too. Plus rooftop tents are so much easier and quicker

 

[DRLExpress]

My background is from 30+ years backpacking, so comparison is ultra lightweight backpacking tents to a RTT.

The trailer was initially built to add hauling capacity to the 2 door JK, the RTT was an afterthought. During the trailer assembly, became interested in the RTT concept. Was hard to do any true comparison between brands/models as home is Iowa and the state isn't a great demographic for RTT retailers. Found enough basic information and owner feedback online to narrow search down to a couple brands and models. Under the "dumb luck" category, stumbled into a thread on another forum that REI had started carrying one of the brands/models I was considering, their annual 20% off sale price applied (and was underway) as did free shipping to my local store. Additionally, Active Junky had a 5% additional rebate.

Made some trailer modifications for the RTT benefit (steel brackets to transfer rack bar loads directly to trailer frame, frame pockets to accept RV scissors jacks, heavy duty tongue jack, etc.), but didn't go so far as to add a marine battery/solar set-up/on board water system. Have just under $6k in the trailer/tent combination. Could have easily reduced that by $1.5k if I'd have painted trailer myself and not matched tires/wheels to JK.

Have 50+ nights in the tent. It's been a game changer. Some thoughts:

Pros:
* Much larger footprint/more durable/more headroom (again, vs. ultralight 2 man backpacking tent).
* Off the ground (critters were never an issue, but unseen rocks/tree roots discovered at 11PM and especially migrating water after
rainstorms were).
* 3" mattress (also a con - see below). Bedding stays packed inside when tent is collapsed.
* Each window/door has independent and deep awning. Have left windows fully open during rain storms and, unless driven by a
decent wind, had no water inside. If leaving camp with rain in forecast, windows zipped half shut (zip up from bottom)
combined with depth of the awnings has resulted in zero water inside tent, despite some fairly strong accompanying winds.
* Can set up on uneven terrain . The tongue and scissors jacks are rated at 3 tons each, trailer weighs in at 1,200 lbs. fully loaded.
Can lift the trailer entirely off suspension to level and eliminate any movement when inside tent.
* Mounted at trailer height, can reach all tent straps/zippers/cover to open/close tent. Ladder is extended less than halfway.
* Can travel without breaking camp. With awning being an independent, stand alone structure, it takes close to an hour to tear
down/pack up the kitchen/tent/awning/stuff by myself. Looking at the second photo, you can see our camp has a fair amount of stuff.
Coming from lightweight backpacking and cutting every conceivable weight/mass down to the nub, I appreciate the ability to bring
stuff that I don't have to carry 3 miles on my back. So I do. Cast iron skillet/Dutch oven/camera equipment all jump to mind.

Cons:
* Anyone that says their RTT ladder isn't murder on their bare feet is a liar. Sandals resolve the pain issue, but present a different set
of problems as climbing out of the tent in the dark results in a blind fishing expedition with your first foot out feeling for that initial
ladder rung. Barefoot it hurts, sandaled you have a muted sense of touch.
* Expense. No argument that RTT's purchased new are pricey compared to ground tents. And they're particularly spendy to ship if you
don't have a local retailer (close to $300 in my case had the REI option not presented itself). However, if you're in a state where they're popular, appears they've been on the market long enough to where a decent used market is appearing.
* 3" mattress - haven't spoken with many folks who've liked the standard mattress provided with their RTT, regardless of brand
or model. We had to experiment with a few different options to dial it in for a good night's sleep. But dialed it is and I sleep well
beginning with the first night, which never happened once in 3 decades of tent camping.

My $.02. A game changer with zero regrets, but some acknowledged compromises. And again, ultralight backpacking tent is the comparison here.

Can you talk more about what you tried for a mattress? Brands and sources. What you liked and what you didn't. I need a standard queen size, 3" that's comfortable.
Thanks
Doug

 

[billum v2.0]

Doug;

So, for context's sake: I'm 6' & 155 lbs. Side sleeper. Prefer hard mattress. Factory mattress (Tepui) always woke up with sore hips/shoulders/knees. Assumed mattress too soft (wrong) and needed to stiffen/harden it up (wrong again). First attempted fix was my backpacking Zrest egg crate sleeping pad over the factory mattress (closed cell foam). Improvement, but now too hard. Next was purchase of Therm-A-Rest self inflating sleeping mattress over the factory mattress. Spendy, more comfortable than sleeping pad, but habit of having to futz with the proper air pressure multiple times the first couple nights to get the firmness right and then sliding off of it during the night. More research via another forum with an active RTT community and I was on the verge of spending $200+ on either an Exped Megamat (several RTT owner's giving rave reviews) or ordering the new Tepui "luxury" mattress when I stumbled into a few positive reviews from folks who'd resolved their factory mattress comfort issues with the addition of a 1.5" or 2" memory foam mattress topper. The claims were that it not only significantly increases the comfort of the mattress, but compresses easily with no effect on closing up the tent even with bedding/sleeping bags inside. Decided to try before spending 5x the cost of the topper on the Megamat or luxury mattress. $40 and a pair of shears (to cut to fit) later and all my comfort issues are resolved. The memory foam is clingy, so stays in place. It compresses easily and returns to shape after several minutes in an uncompressed state. Being a Spring/Fall/Winter camper, the memory foam adds a bit of warmth as you sink in to it and acts as another (thin) layer of insulation between the aluminum tent floor and me.

All this written, researching the solution led me to literally dozens of options claimed as THE solution by other RTT owners. With no real consensus of what works for a majority of folks, I started cheap and worked up the cost/benefit options. Convinced that with so many variables, no one can recommend with any certainty what will work for you, so start cheap and work up the options until you find what works.

My research was mostly online via RTT section at Expedition Portal website (very active segment and knowledgeable members) and the Overland section at Wrangler Forum.com. The Expedition Portal website and its members were by far the most helpful.

 

[Stepsride]

Take a look at 4Xoverland.com. Andrew St Pierre has a good video on this. In the end it will come down to a few things. I am going with a nice Tent and not a RTT. I am doing this because I like the freedom to leave camp and come back to a campsite. I think I am going with the CINCH 4 man pop up tent. It may be a bit of a gamble but it looks great.

 

[LandPirate]

Doug;

So, for context's sake: I'm 6' & 155 lbs. Side sleeper. Prefer hard mattress. Factory mattress (Tepui) always woke up with sore hips/shoulders/knees. Assumed mattress too soft (wrong) and needed to stiffen/harden it up (wrong again). First attempted fix was my backpacking Zrest egg crate sleeping pad over the factory mattress (closed cell foam). Improvement, but now too hard. Next was purchase of Therm-A-Rest self inflating sleeping mattress over the factory mattress. Spendy, more comfortable than sleeping pad, but habit of having to futz with the proper air pressure multiple times the first couple nights to get the firmness right and then sliding off of it during the night. More research via another forum with an active RTT community and I was on the verge of spending $200+ on either an Exped Megamat (several RTT owner's giving rave reviews) or ordering the new Tepui "luxury" mattress when I stumbled into a few positive reviews from folks who'd resolved their factory mattress comfort issues with the addition of a 1.5" or 2" memory foam mattress topper. The claims were that it not only significantly increases the comfort of the mattress, but compresses easily with no effect on closing up the tent even with bedding/sleeping bags inside. Decided to try before spending 5x the cost of the topper on the Megamat or luxury mattress. $40 and a pair of shears (to cut to fit) later and all my comfort issues are resolved. The memory foam is clingy, so stays in place. It compresses easily and returns to shape after several minutes in an uncompressed state. Being a Spring/Fall/Winter camper, the memory foam adds a bit of warmth as you sink in to it and acts as another (thin) layer of insulation between the aluminum tent floor and me.

All this written, researching the solution led me to literally dozens of options claimed as THE solution by other RTT owners. With no real consensus of what works for a majority of folks, I started cheap and worked up the cost/benefit options. Convinced that with so many variables, no one can recommend with any certainty what will work for you, so start cheap and work up the options until you find what works.

My research was mostly online via RTT section at Expedition Portal website (very active segment and knowledgeable members) and the Overland section at Wrangler Forum.com. The Expedition Portal website and its members were by far the most helpful.

Thanks for this. Will be ordering a memory foam mattress topper and trimming to size next season.

 

[DRLExpress]

Doug;

So, for context's sake: I'm 6' & 155 lbs. Side sleeper. Prefer hard mattress. Factory mattress (Tepui) always woke up with sore hips/shoulders/knees. Assumed mattress too soft (wrong) and needed to stiffen/harden it up (wrong again). First attempted fix was my backpacking Zrest egg crate sleeping pad over the factory mattress (closed cell foam). Improvement, but now too hard. Next was purchase of Therm-A-Rest self inflating sleeping mattress over the factory mattress. Spendy, more comfortable than sleeping pad, but habit of having to futz with the proper air pressure multiple times the first couple nights to get the firmness right and then sliding off of it during the night. More research via another forum with an active RTT community and I was on the verge of spending $200+ on either an Exped Megamat (several RTT owner's giving rave reviews) or ordering the new Tepui "luxury" mattress when I stumbled into a few positive reviews from folks who'd resolved their factory mattress comfort issues with the addition of a 1.5" or 2" memory foam mattress topper. The claims were that it not only significantly increases the comfort of the mattress, but compresses easily with no effect on closing up the tent even with bedding/sleeping bags inside. Decided to try before spending 5x the cost of the topper on the Megamat or luxury mattress. $40 and a pair of shears (to cut to fit) later and all my comfort issues are resolved. The memory foam is clingy, so stays in place. It compresses easily and returns to shape after several minutes in an uncompressed state. Being a Spring/Fall/Winter camper, the memory foam adds a bit of warmth as you sink in to it and acts as another (thin) layer of insulation between the aluminum tent floor and me.

All this written, researching the solution led me to literally dozens of options claimed as THE solution by other RTT owners. With no real consensus of what works for a majority of folks, I started cheap and worked up the cost/benefit options. Convinced that with so many variables, no one can recommend with any certainty what will work for you, so start cheap and work up the options until you find what works.

My research was mostly online via RTT section at Expedition Portal website (very active segment and knowledgeable members) and the Overland section at Wrangler Forum.com. The Expedition Portal website and its members were by far the most helpful.

Thanks for the info. Sorry for the slow response I was out of town yesterday. I already have a memory foam topper but it is to soft to use by itself, wonder if they are all the same. I will try doubling it up with something. What did you wind up using under yours?

 

[billum v2.0]

[QUOTE="DRLExpress, post: 158393, member: 14184"................... What did you wind up using under yours?[/QUOTE]
Over the aluminum floor is: Factory anti-condensation mat, factory 3" mattress, 1.5" memory foam mattress topper and a finally a thick flannel blanket. I camp in cool/cold weather exclusively, which makes the memory foam much denser/resistant to compression than in warmer weather.

Long thread, but a better answer to your particular problem may lie in this thread. Mattress issues/solutions start somewhere in the mid teen pages:
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/52933-Sure-Fire-Ways-to-Improve-Your-Roof-Top-Tent

 

[DRLExpress]

Thanks

 

[Dirty Ape]

Ran across this today - a hitch mounted "RTT" style tent coming out...

http://newatlas.com/hitch-n-pitch-roof-tent-mount/51696/

[/URL]

 

[vegasjeepguy]

Doug;

So, for context's sake: I'm 6' & 155 lbs. Side sleeper.

That’s you’re problem right there...need to put some meat on those bones.

 

[billum v2.0]

That’s you’re problem right there...need to put some meat on those bones.

It's not for lack of trying. Between my gene pool (paternal grandfather was 6' 6" and 175 lbs.) and the metabolism of a hummingbird, it's unlikely this "bean pole" physique is going anywhere.

 

[dorrson]

The wife and I have been looking into the trailer and rtt setups out there. Due to my current weight (400 lbs), I'm leary of getting a rtt. We've been thinking Terra drop with the RTT for the grandkids though.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using OB Talk mobile app

 

[4wheelspulling]

I really don't know what to write after reading through this thread! I just hope everyone leaves their camping spot better than they found it. How ever you camp! Benz.

 

[wolftaco0503]

Like Michael said in the video it all your preference, I know I'm not going change anybody's mind with my post. I say Hey if you got the money go for a RTT & RACK System. I know I would but I do have the coin now so I'll sleep in my ground tent.

 

[APtrail2005]

RRT can be very expensive for someone who is just starting out, amount of time to setup, where to put it when not being used, makes my Jeep to tall for my garage, etc. I get it, really I do, but for someone who spends a lot of time in their rig a RRT is a must. For myself I like the idea I can setup my tent anywhere (even a parking lot) without worrying about ground conditions. I live in Montana and our weather can change without warning, if I end up having to spend an extended amount of time in my tent due to weather (Rain or Snow) I like amount of room I have inside to move around while not worrying about outside conditions. I also travel a lot to AZ and Alaska each year. AZ desert is no place for sleeping on the ground with scorpions, and trust me when your in bear country you'll wish you had the higher ground (not saying any tent is bear proof). I guess it's the same as ARB fridge or Yeti cooler ... anyway at 50 years old I enjoy not sleeping on the ground.

 

[Passe-Partout]

With a RTT, I don't feel they are quite so much as a candy wrapper in bear country.

I sometimes use a hammock when forest camping - fast and easy to set up and comfortable in hot weather. A friend once commented that I looked like a bear taco in my tent - I sleep with one eye open now....