How much of a pain is it really to install/remove a roof top tent?

[SuicidalTherapy]

I've been running a Kodiak canvas truck bed tent for some years when we go camping in areas where it would be impractical to take the Lance slide in, and while it is an excellent piece of kit, like all tents...it can be a real pain to put up and take down. Especially when you arrive at camp well after dark because your buddies take longer than women to get ready to go

I've been kicking around the idea of getting a roof top tent to help alleviate some of that set up problem. I get that they're larger and heavier, often need two or more people to deal with it, and all the review sites mentioning that many people just leave them on full time as a result, which isn't feasible for me.

I do have a loader tractor with forks that can easily get under it to pick it off, which is how I used to take the top off my K5 Blazer and put it back on. Took about 5 minutes to remove/install. Would this be a feasible thing to do with a RTT as well?

 

[CursedH1]

If you've got a loader with forks that can get high enough then that's the way to do it. I'd actually attach straps to the forks and lift the RTT up that way. Finding a place to store it away from rodents during the winter is, for me anyways, the more difficult challenge.

One thing that people don't realize about RTT's is how much higher they make your vehicle's center-of-gravity. On a truck like mine it won't be such a big deal, but on something that is already tipsy like an 80's or 90's era SUV, they can degrade the side-slip performance of your rig.

Just a note of advice about your purchase decision. It may be tempting to go with one of the "cut rate" RTT's. They come straight from China and have little to no quality control. People have complained that they can see daylight through the seam stitching on the sides. Don't cheap out, go with a brand name like iKamper or CVT.

 

[SuicidalTherapy]

Loader - check. Bucket goes 10ft+ up. Blazer was on a 6" lift and 35s, and I had plenty of room to clear the truck when the top came off. That one was easy - strap a couple pallets to the forks, slip it under the top, and lift.


I'm kind of going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing the effect on the center of gravity will be slightly less than this guy....




The "impractical" part of hauling this in is less of a "we're going rock crawling to get to camp" and more of a "we're going through some thick trees, and I really don't want to rip the sides off my camper" thing.

Though to be honest, I really don't feel the Chevy is up to the task of hauling something this big and heavy to begin with. At well over 3K pounds loaded, even with the Chevy being a 2500HD, it just feels like it's overloading the truck. It's a much better time with it on the F350 dually, especially once the trailer with my rock crawler gets added to the mix (though even still, I've been looking at stepping up to a medium duty truck for this too).

Cheap tents - absolutely not. I learned my lesson on that many years ago, which is why I avoided things like the Sportz truck tents (and any other nylon tent), and stepped up into the Kodiak canvas. Other than the set up, absolutely no other regrets.