June 12, 2017
Our Tent Has Arrived
Wisconsin
About
We finally got our Roof Top Tent!!! We picked it up at REI and set it up right there in the parking lot. We had to, it was too big to fit inside the Jeep. We tried to make a video of the install, but we were not prepared for how long it took, and an unplanned trip to the hardware store. Some of the bolts that came with the install kit were too short, but luckily Camrin had her car and was able to run to the hardware store to get longer ones. Too bad she had to go to two stores and was gone for over an hour. Anyways, after a few hours, the tent made it up on top of the Jeep. We’re not supposed to say REI helped, but a couple of employees helped lift it onto the Jeep, which was much appreciated because we don’t think we could have lifted it ourselves. Although, Laura was convinced we could have done it ourselves.
Our Thoughts
The tent is a lot bigger than we thought it would be. We’re used to a tiny two person tent and thought we should upgrade to a three person tent, which is what our RTT (roof top tent) is, but this thing could easily fit four people. We were a little surprised at its size, but that will be nice for those days when it’s raining and we don’t want to leave the tent. The tent is well made with a waterproof canvas shell, sturdy metal poles, and a detachable rain fly. Our RTT is made by Tepui. Tepui had great reviews, several tent options to choose from, and they distribute through REI, so we could take advantage of REI’s free shipping.
The big con with roof top tents is that they have to be folded down if you want to drive anywhere. When we were writing our pros and cons list for RTT living, this was definitely at the top of the list. However, now that we’ve had our tent for a few weeks we’ve gotten our setup time to 6.30 minutes. Tear down does take a little longer, but its so much faster than a regular tent. The tent came with a memory foam mattress inside and we are able to leave our sheets and pillows in it while it’s folded.
The tent is secured to our cross bars with steel plates and bolts. We had some feedback from an engineer we know who was a little worried about the stress on the bolts and plates while driving at high speeds down the freeway. So, we have ratcheting straps that go around the tent(when it’s packed up) and under the factory rails. This will give us a little more peace of mind, just in case something fails while driving down the highway. We don’t want anything to happen to our tent. It is our house now.
We did take the tent for a test spin up to Minneapolis, more on that in the next post, and while driving you can definitely feel the wind. If it’s a windy day and we’re driving into it, we will lose gas mileage and it can be enough to slow us down on hills. It’s another con, but if we had gotten a tailor we would lose gas mileage and if we got a van those already don’t have great gas mileage. We’re hoping to average 16-18 mpgs. Laura did look into what’s called a fairing, a blade in front of the roof rack. They can help improve gas mileage and reduce noise, but after speaking to a Tepui specialist their experience says it’s better to just let the wind pass between the bottom of the tent and roof of the car.
Overview
So far the tent is amazing. It was a little pricey, but compared to some of the other options, it was budget friendly. We can’t wait to hit the road and set it up in beautiful locations!
