Smittybilt rtt honest review

Im excited to try my rtt! I have been looking into one but never pulled the trigger. One is the above mentioned cost. But also cause we set up camp and explore. But this past weekend I went to 4wd open house and i won a smittybilt rtt! My wife is like oh no lol. But now need to put a rack on my jk and have to figure out which top go with. I want the rhino backbone i think. Trail recon has the same setup. I like it. But question, do you need a rack tray/ platform or can you just mount to the bars?
 
Fellow Jeeper said:
Im excited to try my rtt! I have been looking into one but never pulled the trigger. One is the above mentioned cost. But also cause we set up camp and explore. But this past weekend I went to 4wd open house and i won a smittybilt rtt! My wife is like oh no lol. But now need to put a rack on my jk and have to figure out which top go with. I want the rhino backbone i think. Trail recon has the same setup. I like it. But question, do you need a rack tray/ platform or can you just mount to the bars?
Click to expand...

Great question!

You can probably mount to the bars depending on how thick they are.

The way the mounts work is they are essentially tracks that capture the head of a 13 mm bolt. There are two bolts per corner, and one bolt goes on either side of your bar. You then affix an aluminum plate with two holes in it and that clamps the tent to the bar. Theoretically you could use longer bolts and if need be make a longer plate to bridge a bigger bar, but the stock option should be good enough for roughly a 1.5 inch bar. Maybe even two inches.

If my description is confusing take a look at some RTT install videos and you’ll see what I mean.
 
I've owned our Smittybilt 2783 RTT for a few yrs almost. Been on lots of trips with some with windy conditions & surprise rain. Our RTT held up great with no leaks or damages.
IMO the seasoning of the tent is important, following the instructions how to seasoning the tent will make the tent from leaking. We have friends who have the same tent & didn't season RTT & experienced some leaks. They started using scotch guard inside of the tent after there 1st experience of the leaks to water proof it & now they experiencing the seem tape coming loose. They ask "us" if our seems tape was coming loose & I mention it wasn't & still looks as good as the day I installed the tent. My opinion was the solvent in the scotch guard spray slowly disestablish the adhesive of the tape after numerous applications to waterproofing inside of the tent. Smittybilt divulge in a phone call to me that using waterproofing solutions on there RTT wasn't necessary (if you followed the seasoning as in the instructions) & could possibly cause issues with the seems.
The only con to the Smittybilt RTT was the mattress, we replaced ours (after the 1st trip) with a queen size Exped Duo 10 XL XW self inflating mattress, followed by a CVT anti condensation mat. You will have some that will call the Smittybilt RTT a "entry level" RTT, I beg the differ on that statement.

Theirs many review video's on you tube, Cappy has 2 of them on the Smittybilt RTT. His video's were the one's that swayed me on purchasing our RTT. The video on the 1st Gen Smittybilt RTT & the 2nd video on the Gen 2 Smittybilt RTT was the selling point for us. If Smittybilt made the improvements on their product that showed me they admit to fault & they made the product better. Too many people IMO are quick knee jerk response to post a negative all because a "new" product has some problems (never gave the company a chance to make it right) "playing the victim card" I say or they just didn't read the instruction's. Cappy's situation in his 1st review video showed me the tent had it's problems, the 2nd video showed me Smittybilt made it right by the changes & improvements, just as they did with the new annex door location for the 2783 RTT & now there up & coming improvements on there scout trailer. Overall I like the Smittybilt 2783 RTT, the wife & I are no spring chickens 60's & late 50's we still climb the ladder w\o issues (up or down) & continue to see the sights & wander off grid. We sleep like babies in our Smittybilt RTT
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We have both the smittybilt xl rooftop tent & scout trailer. For the money, we think they are both well worth the cost. Are there better, absolutely, but at anywhere from 3 to 5 times the price. IMG_1628.JPG
 
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