Slowly building a camping Maverick

[Fattdogs]

Just wanted to post about some things I've added to my Mav:

- Truxedo Sentry CT
- Truxedo Elevate Rails
- TMS Universal Crossbars (Either needs more bolts for the Elevate Rails, or have to use the ones for the tiedowns)
- Nilight in bed lighting

The plan is to get a rooftop tent, probably the Smittybilt Overlander one and start going out on weekend adventures. Any questions, feel free to ask!

Sponsored

 

[triangulumhalohydra]

That setup looks awesome! Will be great for carrying gear.

As a regular family camper with my Mav, I'll strongly caution you before buying a rooftop tent. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, they basically make your vehicle unusable while up. Need to get to a trailhead or go make a quick run to the store? Nope, gotta take it down first... Setup can actually be more involved than a ground tent, especially the new instant-up tents that are incredible. Unless there is some very compelling and unique use case, a regular tent from Walmart will serve you much better. Take that savings and buy some more cool Mav accessories!

 

[Maverickman74]

That setup looks awesome! Will be great for carrying gear.

As a regular family camper with my Mav, I'll strongly caution you before buying a rooftop tent. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, they basically make your vehicle unusable while up. Need to get to a trailhead or go make a quick run to the store? Nope, gotta take it down first... Setup can actually be more involved than a ground tent, especially the new instant-up tents that are incredible. Unless there is some very compelling and unique use case, a regular tent from Walmart will serve you much better. Take that savings and buy some more cool Mav accessories!

Yeah really gotta weigh the hardshell quick setup $ vs the ones like I have that take a while to set up and take down. Super nice when up especially with the ground annex room. Sleeping area up top and dog, gear, and loo downstairs. Havent used it in 3 years since my wifes cancer though. Also if stored for long periods of time and you have ants in your area they will nest in there and eat it. If I went back in time, I would have gotten a hard shell one and kept it loaded with ant killer. Sleeping on rough dewey ground and dealing with mud sucks but so does wasting thousands of dollars.

 

[Edge Haley]

That setup looks awesome! Will be great for carrying gear.

As a regular family camper with my Mav, I'll strongly caution you before buying a rooftop tent. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, they basically make your vehicle unusable while up. Need to get to a trailhead or go make a quick run to the store? Nope, gotta take it down first... Setup can actually be more involved than a ground tent, especially the new instant-up tents that are incredible. Unless there is some very compelling and unique use case, a regular tent from Walmart will serve you much better. Take that savings and buy some more cool Mav accessories!

Thanks for saying that...30 yr motorcycle camper and I have, and there are numerous really good tall spacious tents available with much more comfortable air matrices and/or cots that fit in a tent. Climbing in and out of a roof top tent several times is a royal pain, especially multiple times, and I've found them so limiting in options. Have had the 35' Class B motor homes, roof top tents, and I have revolved back to a cheap $70 2 person tent and it's easier and more comfortable...much less worki.

 

[Syntax Error]

Nice to see a Hybrid trying the rack/RTT life. My plan is to get an Xtrusion XTR1 with a BAK X4S roll up tonneau and find a suitable RTT for my Hybrid XLT when it comes in. Still speccing things out in my head while I wait for my vehicle to hopefully come in by this summer.

I do plan to set up a winch or something in my garage so I can take off the rack/RTT as needed to keep the MPGs up on my vehicle when I will mostly not be using it for daily driving and commuting.

 

[wax87]

That setup looks awesome! Will be great for carrying gear.

As a regular family camper with my Mav, I'll strongly caution you before buying a rooftop tent. Not only are they ridiculously expensive, they basically make your vehicle unusable while up. Need to get to a trailhead or go make a quick run to the store? Nope, gotta take it down first... Setup can actually be more involved than a ground tent, especially the new instant-up tents that are incredible. Unless there is some very compelling and unique use case, a regular tent from Walmart will serve you much better. Take that savings and buy some more cool Mav accessories!

add a foam padding to the bed, and you are golden ;o)

 

[Fattdogs]

Nice to see a Hybrid trying the rack/RTT life. My plan is to get an Xtrusion XTR1 with a BAK X4S roll up tonneau and find a suitable RTT for my Hybrid XLT when it comes in. Still speccing things out in my head while I wait for my vehicle to hopefully come in by this summer.

I do plan to set up a winch or something in my garage so I can take off the rack/RTT as needed to keep the MPGs up on my vehicle when I will mostly not be using it for daily driving and commuting.

I think I'm sold on the Skycamp 3.0 Mini, should only stick up a few inches over the roofline, and a hard shell seems to be better generally then a soft.

 

[Syntax Error]

I think I'm sold on the Skycamp 3.0 Mini, should only stick up a few inches over the roofline, and a hard shell seems to be better generally then a soft.

That's certainly quite a fancy RTT. Way more coin than I'm willing to spend on one, but maybe it's one of those buy it for life things I suppose.

 

[mdl20813]

I think I'm sold on the Skycamp 3.0 Mini, should only stick up a few inches over the roofline, and a hard shell seems to be better generally then a soft.

Looking forward to seeing your setup! I'm waiting on delivery of my XTR1 rack and 23Zero RTT in a few weeks hopefully!

 

[Fattdogs]

Looking forward to seeing your setup! I'm waiting on delivery of my XTR1 rack and 23Zero RTT in a few weeks hopefully!

Mines gonna be a few months while I save, but I looked at the 23Zero RTT but with my low profile bars I didn't want it sticking out past the bed of the truck. But I imagine you'll just go over the roof with your rack, can't wait to see yours!

 

[Syntax Error]

Looking forward to seeing your setup! I'm waiting on delivery of my XTR1 rack and 23Zero RTT in a few weeks hopefully!

What height XTR1 rail did you settle on? I'm hovering between 14" and 15", personally. I emailed Xtrusion and they confirmed that a BAK X4S tonneau will work with a minimum 14" clearance rail.

 

[mdl20813]

What height XTR1 rail did you settle on? I'm hovering between 14" and 15", personally. I emailed Xtrusion and they confirmed that a BAK X4S tonneau will work with a minimum 14" clearance rail.

14" on mine. I have a small garage so any higher and I would run into door clearance issues with the RTT on.

 

[surfstar]

Yeah really gotta weigh the hardshell quick setup $ vs the ones like I have that take a while to set up and take down. Super nice when up especially with the ground annex room. Sleeping area up top and dog, gear, and loo downstairs. Havent used it in 3 years since my wifes cancer though. Also if stored for long periods of time and you have ants in your area they will nest in there and eat it. If I went back in time, I would have gotten a hard shell one and kept it loaded with ant killer. Sleeping on rough dewey ground and dealing with mud sucks but so does wasting thousands of dollars.

Thanks for saying that...30 yr motorcycle camper and I have, and there are numerous really good tall spacious tents available with much more comfortable air matrices and/or cots. Climbing in and out of a roof top tent is a royal pain, especially multiple times, and I've found them so limiting in options.

but a rooftop tent looks much cooler on Instagram.

They are better in a about 5% of use cases - rest of the time a good tent from REI will be 1/10 the price and serve the user better (or 1/30 the price from Walmart)

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

meh.... I was expecting to see something along the lines of Tiny House Nation.... LOL! Just teasing.... But yeah, I wondered if you were constructing a whole bed mounted camper or some such thing...

Basically your showing us how you haul your gear... fair enough...

I look forward to seeing your roof mounted tent and how that integrates with the bed racks...

 

[MaverickInMass]

How are you enjoying the truxedo sentry so far? I’m between it and the Bak hard roll up. Would love to hear your impressions of it so far. Thanks!

Sponsored