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Take a look at the Taxa Mantis or Cricket for a trailer. There are also some expedition trailers available, but they are pricier than the Taxa products.
Take a look at the Taxa Mantis or Cricket for a trailer. There are also some expedition trailers available, but they are pricier than the Taxa products.
Thank you. I have already looked at them. A couple of times. Taxa Outdoors makes nice products.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by echo7tango
...This was a test of the concept, for if we might enjoy the trailering experience. A 29’ and 5,300# dry weight camper trailer, I would never want to buy anything this big but we wanted to try it out. We camped at an RV park along the Malibu coast and it was a pretty location.
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There is such a thing as 'happy medium'. Of course you know that.
Plenty of people are quite content in their Scamp and Casita (including my 70yo, 6'5" Marine BIL) They've loved theirs for over 20 yrs.
Of course, you will want to do what you want, and it will be best (for you).
I’ll give you two negatives and two positives about rooftop tents from my point of view.
I used a rooftop tent with a Jeep Wrangler for a bit.
Negative 1: If you want to camp in a dispersed site on public land (or wherever dispersed camping is allowed) and you want to stay at a site for more than day, you have to pack up camp if you want to take your vehicle to leave for a bit to go explore. At least with a ground tent, you can leave the tent on the site and come back to it later. Not the end of the world, but it could become annoying.
Negative 2: You’re putting an extra 100-150lbs on the top of your Jeep. If you like off roading on trails that are more than just an easy, graded dirt road, you’ll notice the extra weight on top especially when you navigate obstacles. Personally, I didn’t like this, and I found myself leaving the rooftop tent at home whenever I’d go to places like Moab or the Alpine Loop area in Southwest Colorado. The Alpine Loop trails generally aren’t extremely challenging, but I didn’t like the extra weight on top in situations where I already felt a little off camber. This is why I sold my rooftop tent and went back to a ground tent, as I found that I mostly would leave it at home due to this reason. There are plenty of people who drive these trails with tents or a lot of extra weight but I didn’t enjoy it.
Positive 1: It doesn’t matter as much if you can’t find a site suitable for a ground tent. You can level the vehicle using leveling blocks, and because the tent is on the roof of the vehicle, you can squeeze into a small campsite or in some cases, just a pull off on the side of the trail as long as you’re in an area where camping like this is allowed. It has saved me once or twice when I couldn’t find a “real” site, but was easy to just pull far enough off the road and sleep for a night.
Positive 2: You’re up off of the ground. I like this, especially in winter. If it rains or if there is snow on the ground, you don’t really have to worry about being flooded out or getting wet. This is probably what I miss most about the tent. You also generally don’t have to be as concerned about wildlife although you should still follow precautions where applicable, like for example I wouldn’t keep food in my tent in bear country.
EDITED TO ADD: I also have a Ram 1500 and an older Coleman E1 “off road” popup camper, and I really like it, but I can’t take that to some of the places I like to go, as it’s fine for a forest service road an a weekend of dispersed camping with friends (or camping in a regular, established campground), but it’s not going to go over big obstacles on the trail.
Hope this helps. Sometimes it’s tough to find the right tool for the job, but in my case I’m mostly using the ground tent for off road “overlanding” type of camping, while using the trailer for easy weekend trips or camping in established campgrounds.
Thanks for your excellent details. I only have a quick moment right now and I’ll say this, after 13 years in the Marines and spending all that time in the field, I really (Really, REALLY!) want to avoid sleeping on the ground. I’m done with that!
I think I would look at this backwards, and start with where I wanted to travel, and see what kind of roads, campgrounds, etc. these places have, and look for "travel warnings". I had subscribed to a couple of youtube channels where the people went into Mexico, one with a fiberglass smaller trailer (single guy) and a couple in a teardrop. It is my understanding that roads can lack proper maintenance, which would be a concern if you are towing.
RTT? Would you feel safe in one? We met someone who was alone, a bad wind gust turned it over on him. I would probably get the hard roof one that goes straight out rather than extending out over the vehicle. I was reading a blog recently where a man left his vehicle with an RTT at a trailhead, and someone cut it off of his vehicle and took it. That was in the USA.
TT? Best bet really would be a teardrop trailer built for whatever adventure type you are going to have. It gives more security than a RTT. If you get a trailer, a hitch lock is not enough (we learned that the hardway, 2,000 lb popup removed from yard in AZ), get the wheel chock locking one.
You may have already done your research, but posting this might help someone else:
I bought my rig new and it now has 148,000 miles. I love the diesel engine and its gobs of torque. It can tow up to 7,400 lbs. It pulls almost effortlessly.
I keep it mostly stock. It has the stock air suspension and for my needs it is perfect. This is my daily driver and 99% of my miles are on pavement, and 1% are out on the trail. It has the most trail capable features that Jeep provides. And when my wife and I are out on the trail we do some fairly gnarly obstacles. This is no mall queen. She is shod with slightly oversized A/T tires.
The JGC is extremely comfortable on the highway. She’ll cruise comfortably at 100 MPH all day long when it’s 105 °F out, and the engine and transmission never get hot. I live near San Francisco and with the wide open western states’ highways that we have, in many places 100 MPH is very safe to do (think of I-10, I-40, and I-80, and US-40 and US-50 east of Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana).
/backstory
Here is the main question: should we get an RV trailer? Or how about an RTT, roof top tent? When my wife and I road trip and explore the US, and North America and Central America, how should we do it? We don’t own any of them right now.
Each has its pros and cons. So, I’m looking for suggestions and your experiences.
It really depends on what type of camping you like you do. If you're someone who wants to go into the deep backcountry, a RTT is likely the best way to be comfortable out there. If you're primarily camping in developed campsites, a small trailer or RV is probably more suitable.
I camp a lot. Most of the places I go would not be accessible by RV and a trailer would make navigating trail obstacles much more difficult. Recently, after decades of camping without one, I decided to try a RTT on my truck and see how I like it. I went for the iKamper model because I wanted a hard shell for ease of setup as well as security when I leave it on the truck. My thoughts:
Good points:
1. It's incredibly convenient, especially for remote/backcountry camping.
2. It's very comfortable, particularly in the "Rocky Mountains" which are appropriately named.
3. I go single night camping a lot more often now that there's no real set up.
4. I overland. And I mean like 2-3 week expeditions down South, or up to AK. RTT is fabulous for that.
5. It's slightly safer. Particularly in bear country. You still have to be responsible, but being elevated helps.
Bad Points:
1. It's expensive. I believe in purchasing top quality camping gear, but RTT prices gave me pause.
2. It causes more wind noise on the highway and decreases fuel economy.
3. It takes up nearly the entire roof rack. This sucks.
4. If you have a big dog, get an annex. Trying to lift a big dog into the tent is impossible.
5. Waking up to pee. When it's cold and snowing outside, climbing down the ladder at 3am is a drag.
Those are my initial impressions of owning a RTT. Overall, I am very happy with my decision to invest in one and I highly recommend it if you enjoy backcountry/overland style camping. Good luck with whatever you choose!
Well, my Jeep has died. After 10 years and 200,000 miles, the engine overheated in Moab UT and my wife and I flew home while the garage was searching for parts. Making a long story short, the Jeep has been donated and I bought a 2024 Subaru Outback (or, OB) to replace it. I put larger and stronger all-terrain tires on her, so the OB now has 10” off ground clearance which is actually more than the Jeep had (8.6”). And the OB’s roof rack can handle 600 pounds of static weight so it is very strong.
I’m enjoying the OB, getting used to it, and bonding with it. But I am saddened at the loss of the Jeep. I really don’t know why, exactly, but that was my first Jeep and I liked being a Jeep owner. As they say, maybe it is “a Jeep thing”. But the OB handles well and its 2.4L turbo flat 4 engine is pretty peppy and gets pretty good fuel economy.
Anyway, back to the thread topic if I put an RTT on top of the OB, as City Guy997S said upthread it will impact that fuel economy. And, as Hobbesian123 said it will depend on what kind of camping we want to do. I think the OB is big enough to sleep inside it. We’ll have to try it an see.
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