Roof Top Tent... Am I crazy?

I have a Gen3 Prius RTT setup.

Yakima EvoClamp rack (165lb limit)
Smittybilt Gen2 XL

The tent weighs 146.5lbs. I offload some heavy tent components to the car so combined roof load weight of rack and tent is still <165lbs.

 

*Thule EvoClamp rack

 

I love it. Once I find Touring spec. Prius with a dead battery, get it running again, lift it, put bigger tyres on it, this is what I'm going to do.
Bravo.

 

I think this may just be the ultimate Prius roof top tent.
It's only 4 inches thick when closed, and only weighs 80 lbs.


SUPERLITE ROOF TENT &#8211; Go Fast Campers

 

@PNW_wanderer Can you still fully open your hatchback?

that looks nice but it's so long i don't think it would reasonably fit on roof without blocking the hatchback door or extending too far up front. also, that's pretty expensive (but much cheaper than most rtt's ive seen in that style).

 

I'm sure it would stop it from opening fully, but that's no big deal if the payoff is a nice big bedroom with a view.

 

I know it sounds crazy but I also have a habitent, so with a RTT i could sleep up to four people
I'm pretty sure the RTT can be positioned with enough room to open the hatchback, I just wanted to see if @PNW_wanderer could confirm.
I already have the RTT and the roof bars are coming next week so I'll find out soon enough.

 

Yes, the Smittybilt Overlander Gen2 XL is 76” long so hatch still fully opens. The tent sleeping space is the size of a king bed. Very spacious.

 

This isnt really actually a concern. I've spent many nights camping outside on the ground in the Arizona wilderness (a land of scorpions and rattlesnakes and spiders and anything else scary you can think of), some of those nights I slept without even a netting around me. When you look into people who spend a lot of time backpacking in the Sonoran desert you realize that scorpion bites are extremely rare provided you dont camp right next to a watercourse (you are more likely to find them inside your home or in your Cheerios box).

Also - if you are worried about critters also pretty much every single tent has full critter resistant netting and zip.

The rooftop tents only big advantage in my books is ease of setup and perhaps comfort. I get why they are cool, but honestly they are a huge waste of money when you can setup a tent on the ground for 10% of the price. I dont really understand how you can justify the price and weight and reduction in fuel economy.

I'm not knocking those who have one and enjoy it - it just doesn't make economic sense to me.

When I camp in my Prius I sleep in the back of it with the seats folded down and some boxes to fill the footwell and matress on top of that - no tent needed. I am 6 feet tall and thats plenty of room. If I have too much gear inside the car I just set up a tent outside. Other advantage of sleeping in the car is in grizzly country you can leave food inside with you. Rooftop or normal tent you have to make sure food and other scented items are safely locked in the car or a bear canister.

There are some quick setup tents if you want to save time. Save yourself the money to spend on other important things.

 

I am so on board w putting one of these on top of my funky old Gen 2. So when I read about the EVO (et. al.) roof racks being able to handle 165 lbs and the rooftop tent structure weighing 100+ lbs, I think “I weigh more than 50 lbs...” and imagine waking up a foot closer to the ground than when I went to bed. There would be a 300+ lb static load with just me up there!

 

You'd need some auxillary fold out hydraulic support struts to help with that sitaution and reduce the load on the rack while you are sleeping up there. You can get some from an old backhoe...

 

I was wondering what brand/model you upgraded to? My wife and I are about todo the roof-top thing on our Gen 3...and looking for tent recommendations.

Thanks...

 

do the rtt owners just start drinking when they pull into camp ?

I mean, you're not going to do any exploring, store runs, or much if anything else with the car after setting all that stuff up

 

I know its been a year and a half, so apologies for my tardiness of my reply.

I did buy a RTT and put it on my 3rd gen Prius. I wanted to report back in case someone was wondering what the mpg hit was.

Without the RTT mpg was avg of 55-60.
With the RTT mpg was avg of 45-48.

This was measured over a 5000 mile trip across the country and up the west coast.

Was it worth it? Overall yeah I'd say yes if you value being able to sit up in bed. The RTT is a huge amount of space esp for one person.

Its a significant hit to the mpg, but even in this day and age of 5/gallon, 45 mpg is still miles ahead of the other vehicle options you can sleep in.

 

Four people in a small tent is not something I want to experience.

 

I guess it depends on the tent activity…and how well you know each other.

 

have you all seen this?





The low profile roof rack for the Gen 2, 3, C, V and both Gen 4 bodies are available. They are by far the strongest roof racks available for the Prius and hold a RTT perfectly!

 

That is amazing!

 

Its cosy

 

just wait until you see the roof rack on the Gen 2.