Flat top to camper/multipurpose?

[Xodius]

A few years ago my FIL and I built a flat top/bed trailer. It was originally going to be just my build but the old guy couldn't help himself and took over. Lol. Anyway it is just a flat bed and roughly 8'x8'. The bed is completely flat and rests above the tires or another way to put it there are no fenders as the bed covers them. Needless to say the deck height is high! I hate driving my quad on it because of this. I am debating taking the trailer and rebuilding it. Dropping the deck by 6-8" and converting from a double to a single quad payload and adding a possible RTT. My question is, is it possible to use a non-RTT as a RTT? I have a couple of tents I wouldn't mind repurposing and making removable for this multipurpose design.

Then again I also think about scrapping that whole idea and making it a teardrop like trailer.

This is purely a "throwing ideas out there" thread. No opinion is stupid so please throw some ideas at me.

Thank you.

[lrrowe]

And no question is stupid either, right? What is an RTT?

[Xodius]

Roof top tent. Sorry.

[lrrowe]

No need to apologize. I can figure most of the acronyms in this forum, but this one had me.

[Junkboy999]

The big difference is the way they set up.. Tents you walk around on the ground and set up and a Roof Top Tent ( RTT ) is designed to fold out of a box ( or car carrier ) because you can’t really walk around it up there.

You would just have to find the right tent that will fold up without taking the poles out or apart..But if you just went out and got a RTT ( I know $$ ), you can keep your trailer a 2 quad trailer and have the RTT over a quad parked.. or at least remove one quad for sleeping. The net is full of images of RTT configured on different vehicles, cameras, Teardrops, and trailers. They are really a clever concept, but been around for a long time.

Two thread in other forums.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/expediti ... sible.html

http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/utility ... ct.561416/

[Xodius]

Sounds good.

[123jay]

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=60983 will link you to some low cost rtt

[glenpinpat]

There ar a few people that use an OZ tent as an RTT. I think most use either the rv-1 or rv-2. There are pictures if you google them.

[kudzu]

For a couple years now I've been searching for a camper design that I can build myself that offers the floor space we need without being too big for us to safely and comfortably tow. BF & I both want a standy but neither of us wants to tow a high profile camper. Clearly some sacrifices needed to be made. I don't mind sleeping in a tent I just don't really want to sleep on the ground anymore. I also hate the hassle of set up in the dark, in the rain as our weekends always seem to start that way. So we've only camped infrequently in recent years. What I really wanted was an Aussie style camping trailer. Sadly, it seemed I'd have had to import them making the costs prohibitive.

Behold!!! Trailer tents have recently made an appearance right here in the USA! They're still fairly uncommon. The costs vary considerably but none are cheap. Still, I am now giving one very serious consideration. We're ordering an Oztent style tent, a cheaper knock-off, to make sure we're still happy with tent camping. If we are then I will built a large cargo box on the trailer I already have and mount a trailer tent on top of it. Then we have a real bed to sleep on, plenty of covered floor space for the pups plus room for our loungers if the weather is inclement. Best of all, the camping gear can reside in the cargo area, ready for spur of the moment weekend trips and the main body of the tent goes up quickly and easily when we get to a campground late on a Friday night.

Here are a few of the trailer tent offerings sold in NA:
http://cascadiatents.com/Trailers,-Trai ... m=87&s=651
http://oztrailnorthamerica.com/
http://www.3dogcampingusa.com
(The 3Dog Camping trailer tent is the one I really want but simply cannot afford.)
http://www.bundugear.com/products/trailertents.html

And Oztents or similar easy erect tents:
http://www.oztent.us/
(Love the Oztents but it is too expensive if we plan to soon upgrade to a camping trailer.)
http://cascadiatents.com/CVT-Black-Butt ... 64&&id=146
http://tepuitents.com/collections/ameni ... -extension
http://compactcampingconcepts.com/Store ... -tent.html
(CCC is the company of a TNTTT member and sells the Tepui tent.)

Have also given strong consideration to a particular RTT, the CVT Mt Jefferson, that may work well on a trailer depending on the roof height you plan:
http://cascadiatents.com/CVT-MT-Jeffers ... 15&&id=157
The major difference between this tent and the others I've seen is that the bed platform is entirely on the roof of the vehicle leaving plenty of headroom inside the annex room on ground level. This gives plenty of floor space. It is also much cheaper than the trailer tents. For our purposes, we would prefer an even lower profile trailer so we can still have some view out of the back windows. That requires a height too low to be ideal for the Mt Jefferson. Also, the trailer tents have more framework inside and offer the ability to use an additional zip on awning or annex room. That gives you a huge covered area in a comparatively small package.

One last possibility, if only two people will be sleeping in the tent, is the trailer top kit from CCC:
http://www.top-tent.com/tentunits/moabtent
It is too small to fulfill our needs but is designed to work at trailer top heights, which are usually much lower than most RTT designs.

Sorry this turned out so long. It's a subject I've been considering for a while now. Finding the newer offering in the USA has me very excited again.

[schaney]

We offer a Oztent RV-2 style tent unit called The 26 Second Tent for less than half their price. Not a low quality knock-off, made with the same fabric our roof top tents are.



Here is what a roof top tent looks like on a trailer

[schaney]

Of the bigger fold over self contained style trailer top tent units, I like the OzTrail Outer Ridge Venturer. Have reviewed them in person, good quality tent, although bigger than what we normally do

[danlott]

We offer a Oztent RV-2 style tent unit called The 26 Second Tent for less than half their price. Not a low quality knock-off, made with the same fabric our roof top tents are.

Do you have a picture of the awning that would attach to this tent?

Dan

[schaney]

Sure Dan, for info visit Roll Out Awning, here are a couple pics, have more if you want them.

[123jay]

Have you look at Alibaba.com that may give you some ideal to think about. Are you can order right from the people that make the tents for around $350 to $400 now that they will sell one at a time. http://www.alibaba.com/?url_type=header_homepage The way I found about them was.
Tents made in the US by vets. So I drove over there . Used my tax refund to pay. They pulled out the first box and printed all over it made in the US and just tape to hold box closed.Box two has tent print on it. The rest of the printing was from china and hard bands..So the where just changing out boxes. So did not buy and went by the trash and grabbed a empty box. The only thing I could read on the box was ,Tent box 2 of 3 and Alibaba.