Outskirts Overland Podcast
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Outskirts Overland Podcast
Dreaming High or Staying Low in Overland Sleep Spaces
Ever wondered if the stars shine brighter from the roof of your vehicle? That's the journey we embark on as we traverse the landscape of overlanding accommodations, weighing the charms of ground tents against the allure of rooftop havens. My travels with my faithful Nissan Titan have exposed me to the coziness of both setups, and I can't wait to share these tales with you - along with a nod to the joy of joining groups like Toyota Trucks of Arkansas. Engaging in community events like More Expo, I've gleaned invaluable knowledge and camaraderie that transcend beyond gear talk.
There's something magical about transforming your trusty ride into a slumber-worthy chariot, which is why we're dissecting every nook and cranny of vehicle-based sleeping options. From the satisfaction of crafting a DIY truck bed haven to the potential of partnering with Go Fast Campers, I explore how these choices can redefine your camping experience. The practicality of ground tents is put to the test, too, as we share stories of weathering storms and balancing the need for a 'garage' to store your gear. It's a chapter filled with the honest insights of seasoned travelers and the wisdom I've picked up firsthand.
As we roll out our sleeping bags, a great debate looms: the cost of kitting out for the wild. We crack open the ledger and examine the investment in rooftop tents versus their ground-hugging cousins, challenging misconceptions about what luxury really means in the wilderness. With a focus on the financial journey as much as the physical one, we dissect the true cost of overlanding gear. So buckle up and prepare for an episode where we balance budgets against comfort, sharing stories and tips to guide you in gearing up for your next escapade beneath the open sky.
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Speaker 2:The Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Outskirts Overland. Appreciate you guys all being here. Today we're going to talk about tents and sleeping situations and different ones, and different ones I've done and different ones I'm aware of. But just as I go over every week, first thing I'm going to say is hey, if anybody ever listens to this from go fast campers, I have a tacoma and I would love a go fast camper and I'd love to work with you people. I think you have a great product and I'd love to tell the world about it through owning one and experience. Secondly, if you're in the midwest and you're in the overlanding, you drive a toyota. Join Toyota Trucks of Arkansas. A bunch of cool guys over there drive Toyotas. They actually just did. One of my buddies just did a run today. They did something for the Eclipse yesterday, so definitely join the group. It's a great group. Lots of cool people going on there.
Speaker 2:More Expo is coming up. If you guys get to more Expo, highly recommend walking around outside looking at all the people camping, getting to meet some people. The brands are there, the products are there. That stuff's all really cool, but I would highly recommend getting out and meeting the people, get to know the community, because those are the people that are going to help you, through their experience, to not make mistakes they made, learn from them, maybe be part of some groups, some chats, some forums, text threads, anything like that. That's where the people that are doing it are going to be met and you're going to see what they're doing. The brands are great, the products are great, but those people aren't going to be going camping with you. Those people probably aren't going to give you advice on something other than what they sell. So if you go to more, make sure you meet everybody. Chris runs an awesome event. He does a great job. I think it's a phenomenal event. So I think it's something to go to. I won't be there this year, but maybe, as this thing picks up and carries on, I might be there, um, next year potentially, and see, see where we go.
Speaker 2:Right now I don't feel like is uh, I don't need anything for my truck and this thing isn't quite big enough yet to uh, to to kind of be, you know, doing a meetup type of thing, so, anyways. So today we're talking tents. Today we're talking tents. I'm going to go over. I've got all kinds of things for you guys. I'm going to go over tents, pros and cons, but I'm going to kind of show you guys the history of my most recent setups. So, just so you guys know I'm not a guy that's super loaded, and not that there's anything wrong with having money or not having money or where you spend your money, but just just for the, uh, for the the, just just purely for the buy-in, like I did do a ground tent for way longer than I've done a rooftop tent, and I've also slept in the bed of my truck and I built it like a camper actually initially, before putting a rooftop tent on my truck. So I've done a couple of different situations and maybe, maybe, what I have to say about it um, you know, pros and cons might lead you to make it, make a decision. Um, so I that I'll start with that.
Speaker 2:So the first thing I'm going to show you guys is is my Titan and this will be the first time I actually went to like an overlanding expo. It's a picture Prior to this. I actually just did this hobby and I wasn't I wasn't clout chasing guys, like I didn't have any pictures or like I got pictures of me and my kids in the tent or like sitting outside the tent, but I just didn't do much of I don't know. I spent a lot more time living it than documenting it, so I do apologize. This is actually even more of a setup than I wish I had pictures of, but my first setup I'll be able to show you guys right here. You're going to see this is my.
Speaker 2:This is a Nissan Titan. I got a deck system in that truck. Here's my ground tent. To the side of it A couple of chairs, solo stove and, uh, back of the truck, awning. Got a cooler, no fridge, yet Got a Blackstone griddle here, a jet boil, you know. And this truck was, was great, I love this truck, it just was. It was just, I mean it was just too big, was it was just, I mean it was just too big. Um, but did the ground tent thing? Um, I did go to multiple expos in this truck because I was interested in a rooftop tent and wanted to see.
Speaker 2:You know, do I want a camper shell? Do I want a full rack? Do I want a half rack? How does that work? Et cetera, et cetera. How are these things built? How does that? What's, what's all that about. So that was just my first. So that was just my first one. I definitely went on so I'll share with you guys here went on to build my own rack and put a rooftop tent on that same exact truck here that is here is my same truck. You know the suspension modifications and such are done, wheels, tires etc.
Speaker 2:I built this rack myself and got a cheap rooftop tent. I got this rooftop tent on like a 4th of July or Memorial Day sale. I think I paid $700 for this rooftop tent. I got this rooftop tent on like a 4th of July or Memorial Day sale. I think I paid $700 for this rooftop tent. Soft shell, soft shell rooftop tent, folded out your standard and I'll show a picture of it here in just a second. Just your normal tan fold-out rooftop tent. Looked just like a cheap rooftop tent. I paid $700 for it. So again, I used it for years. It was actually just recently on my truck.
Speaker 2:And then here is that tent, opened up and in action, as it was many times on the back of the old Titan. You'll see a lot of the same things cooler deck system, tents out, half rack that I built, tent sitting on it. I actually built that half rack out of metal pallets that I got for free and I cut them up and welded them up and such, made a really nice rack, wrapped the rack and 550 cord. Um, yeah, so I did, did all those things and I just got a comment from somebody you must love that solo stove. You guys have no idea how much I do love that solo stove actually. Um, I do really like that solo stove. Either way, I don't carry it anymore, I've went to gas. But cool, cool thing Either way, super cool thing.
Speaker 2:And that was my first iteration and that was my first iteration of rooftop tent, my last iteration with the Titan. As many of you know, that's not what I have now. So I did have that same rooftop tent on the Tacoma, but for the purpose of this I just didn't feel like showing you guys the same exact tent on a different truck, so after that I will show you guys. I did go to hard shell rooftop tent. So here is that on my current vehicle. This is my Tacoma as it sits Well somewhat as it sits today.
Speaker 2:Some things have changed since here, with a hard shell rooftop tent on the back, I did go to a hard shell clamshell. I really do like that as well. My truck, as you can see, is taking on some different, some different. It's a little different than than my last truck. I learned from the rack, the half rack. I didn't want a half rack, I didn't want a rack at all, I wanted a camper shell. Well then you got to get a camper shell that can hold weight and put a rack on top of that to hold your tent, et cetera. I put stuff over the cab of the truck because there's some stuff that I just didn't want in the truck. I learned from some things. That's not what today's about, but, either way, that's my truck there and then how, my truck. And then here's the truck with the tent popped out, and this is what my hard shell rooftop tent looks like, at a hard shell roof. That's and that's. That's the way it is right now my hard shell tent. Um, so I I've had multiple iterations of different things. That just all there is to it. I've had.
Speaker 2:Now, as I go into, as I get into, what I think about it, the first thing I'm going to talk about is ground tents. I mean, ground tents are probably I don't want to say they're the gold standard, but that's where everybody's going to start is with the ground tent. I don't want to say they're the gold standard, but that's where everybody's going to start is with a ground tent. So ground tents is where I want to start. So I think, before I even show any ground tents, the positives of a ground tent most definitely, most available, easiest to go to a store and look at. So you pick it up. How much does this thing weigh? How much space is it going to take up? Like it's? It's just the most common thing, at least in this day and age, that we've all seen our whole life. Is a ground tent just regular pole tent, teepee tent, whatever. We've all seen a tent. We all have an idea what a tent is.
Speaker 2:The amount of times somebody comes up to me and is like what is what? What's that on the back of your truck? Is that a huge storage box? People don't know nothing about rooftop tents. That's specific to this hobby. It's pretty specific to this hobby. So ground tents there are.
Speaker 2:I mean, when you're looking at a ground tent, positives of a ground tent super mobile, doesn't take up a lot of space, okay, but you know, obviously you can deploy your tent, put it somewhere and you can leave. That's also a huge positive, enormous positive to a ground tent is like you can set it up and you can leave. Where with a rooftop tent you have to put it up, but then also well, I'm not going to get into that just ground tent. So they're light, they're easy. Now where I think ground tents are less fun you got to.
Speaker 2:You got to pay attention to moisture in a ground tent, um, because you're on the ground. You also have to pay a lot of attention to our values in a ground tent because you're on the ground. That'll suck stuff away from you. You also have to be consider, consider with a ground tent the strength of your structure, um, because I have been in a ground tent that's collapsed due to snow, um, and that's actually real freaking bad for oxygen and such things. So and a lot of people think you know that's going to be any enclosure, but really ground tents because they're made so light, they want to have the least amount of poles and such um, ground tents can collapse under heavy snow or like wet snow and that's really no bueno at all. So also they are oh, excuse me, they have nowhere to put things Like a lot of, like a lot of ground tents don't have?
Speaker 2:You know, I always had ground tents that had like kind of like a I called it a garage, but essentially you had the tent and then off, the tent was almost the same amount of space as another tent, with a zipper on one side, not the front, and you could put, like, your pack in there, you could put a bicycle in there even, um, you know, like you, so that you could, you could bike camp or backpack camp, keep your shoes dry, keep some stuff dry, um, because that's extremely important too. You don't want to be putting your shoes outside in the weather. But there is so many different ground tents that you know the barriers to entry for people are like, set up, take down, wait space. So I'm going to share ground tents. I just typed out best ground tent for overlanding and we're going to, we're going to scroll together, guys, because I have I, I have a lot of opinions here, um, about about this.
Speaker 2:So I put in best, best overland tents for ground camping and, uh, I mean the obvious one that comes to mind for me in recent times is is obviously the gazelle, like the gazelle style tent, like this guy is like everybody and their mom has one. The sides pop out and that's cool and that's quick. Um, these things take up a buttload of room, though, and you'll see them a lot. That's just the. That's just the. That's just the. That's just the way it is. They take up a ton of room. They pop out easy, they go in easy, but they are they're a lot. They take up a lot of room.
Speaker 2:Here's a hercules hot tent. That's going to be a little bigger tent as well. This is a a thermal like, and this is one like, uh, for ice fishing, could easily be used for whatever. Then you've got this bell tent great tent as well. This is going to be your water repellent canvas, I believe, great tent as well. My ground tent is a big Agnes. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the major brands of backpacking stuff Big Agnes, msr, mountain Hardware all great brands.
Speaker 2:Portable, quick deploy ground tent here, which is one that that I've been seeing more recently, and a lot of people will deploy these under an awning, so they'll just put their awning out and deploy this under it, and that's a cool little option. Now, one option that that interests me greatly, and you'll see it like this that's a two-room shower tent, but something along those those lines, you know, comes off an awning and you could sleep in it. And that's a two room shower tent, but something along those those lines, you know, comes off an awning and you could sleep in it. And that's this guy right here. Now, this is a swag. This one right here is what's called a swag and it's like a cot tent.
Speaker 2:Um, it's a good two person tent. They pack up small, they're easy to put up, they're very wind resistant, you know they're. They're really cool, you can get them. You can get them sometimes with a uh, with like a little awning that comes out of them too. I don't have one currently present on here. But and then your typical teepee style. I really wish I had a swag. 23-0 makes a swag. That, um, that has a little, that has a little awning. I wish that I had it ready for you guys. But yeah, you can do a little swag with an awning. So those are your ground tents and you got your typical dome style, you know, like that's a big Agnes, similar to what I have now.
Speaker 2:Here's what I'm talking about. Here's what I'm talking about with this guy. It's got a little bit of a, it's got the tent and then if you look here it's kind of got a garage. So that's what I'm talking about there. But benefits of that, you know. Like I said, they're lightweight, you can put them wherever and easy to pack super easy to pack. I see in the comments I'm referring to the comments Gazelle tents are everywhere.
Speaker 2:Gazelle tents are like the rooftop tent equivalent for overlanding status. I think that gazelle tents are pretty standard ground tent for your overlanders. I don't know why it is that way, I just it is that way. But they are freaking huge man. Like if you're looking to have a ground tent cause you're trying to save space or weight, like you damn near need a roof rack to put a gazelle tent somewhere. It's huge, they're huge.
Speaker 2:Nothing like a regular tent that's like this, so positive, light, easy to access. Anybody can get one cheap on Facebook marketplace. You could put it down and leave it. You're not. You're not quite so invent money invested. Obviously there's expensive tents. Um, but you can get them way cheaper. You can get them a lot cheaper. They're a lot more available. There's a bigger used market.
Speaker 2:Downsides, big downsides to ground tents High moisture, mold. You have to take your ground tents out and because just they sit closer to the ground and such things. In my experience they tend to be a lot more wet. Ground tents tend to be a lot more jungly, if you know what I mean. A lot wetter Stuff is wet.
Speaker 2:You can't pack anything in a ground tent, like when you pack it up, like you could. Other tents that I'll talk about later Um, everything has to put in it, everything has to be taken out of it. That's a, in my opinion, a negative, hmm, and there's not as much structure to it. So they do get, they can get holes a little easier, and and so those things, just, quite frankly, just the, the being on the ground one, the fact that you could end up in a puddle in, like, when you wake up too, that's that you got to have a ground plate to put the tent on. Or or, if you're an open ground tent, you have to really pay attention to where you're at. You can't finding level spots. Those are all negatives to me of a ground tent. But again, cheapest, most available, easiest to get a look at, easiest to get a feel on, because you could get a ground tent anywhere At Bass Pro, walmart. It's a good way to get into camping and if that's what you want to do, to overland, that's perfectly fine. It's a budget way to get into it.
Speaker 2:I do want to jump straight from tents to my personal favorite. Sleeping in your car is my absolute favorite, is my absolute favorite. I don't have there's. I personally. The only negative two negatives of sleeping in your car is you got to have some DIY skills to do it and you can't have more than the two front seats occupied. So you can't. You can't always do it with a family, um, but if you're one or two people going, sleeping in your car is my absolute freaking favorite ever, because you get the benefits so you can take the car with you, you're not leaving anything behind and you don't have to pack anything up. So I think, actually I have a tent talk that my ultimate is sleeping in your rig and this can be done very inexpensively. But again, you have to have some DIY skills, a little bit of imagination to sleep in your rig. So again, ground tent.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, you could do ground tent from entry level to advanced and it can follow the life cycle of your camping for your entire life, and you could take that same ground tent. You don't have to mount it to anything, you don't have to build anything, you don't have to do anything. You can take that ground tent Every vehicle you have in your house that you ever will have. You can go camping. You could throw it in a backpack, you could walk out and go camping. A ground tent is going to be your most versatile. Now I don't backpack period anymore. I don't backpack tent. I don't like leaving stuff behind um to get stolen and I like having the ability of more storage within my stuff myself. But again, I still think a ground tent is going to be a at least a good place to start. For a hundred percent of everybody. A ground tent's the place to start. Period. Ground tent like get into camping in a ground tent. That's your best case scenario. Now, if you've got a little bit of DIY skills and you're like man, a rooftop tent's a lot of money. Or you're like I don't like being in a ground tent but I like the benefits of a ground tent.
Speaker 2:Sleeping in the back of your rig was by far my most comfortable one and cheap cheap. My building my stuff in the back of my truck was cheaper than my big Agnes tent. So I mean cheap. You can do it cheap and when everybody else was sleeping in storms, I didn't even know it was storming. It was great and I had a I. I did it in the winter and the coldest I've ever camped in my life was in the back of my truck. Well, that's not true Cold. Most recent coldest I've ever camped was in the back of my truck. Um, and I had a buddy heater. I didn't even have a diesel heater. Had I piped a diesel heater into that bad boy, we'd have been mint.
Speaker 2:The back of the truck, back of the SUV, is my favorite. So I'm going to go over some some back of the vehicle like very inexpensive ways to do back of the vehicle. This is number one. This is super cheap. You got water, a couple of tubs, fold the back seat forward, sleep in the back. You can camp out the back of it. That's so freaking awesome, guys. I love it. I love that. That's my favorite one.
Speaker 2:This is a platform somebody else built. As you can see, it takes up and they've got drawers under it. This is actually. This is somewhat similar to what I built myself to sleep in. That I liked a lot.
Speaker 2:I got one. That's a lot similar to what I had, but I built something just like this in the bed of my truck and there's pictures of that set up on my Instagram, on at Charlie Raz. At Charlie Raz is my personal Instagram, and there's all kinds of pictures of this set up and me camping out of this. This and then, lastly and that's just a simple setup platform a couple drawers. No big deal there, but still love it. And then the last one that is actually most similar to what I had. Maybe I didn't, oh no, this one isn't the one that was most similar to what I had, but either way, I'll share this.
Speaker 2:And here's another one with a single drawer. Um, this is not the one most similar to what I had, but they've got bags and this is a smaller SUV, so you can see why they just did a single platform form. So that's another one. The one actually most similar to what I had is let me get it here. I'll share it to you guys in just a second.
Speaker 2:This is most similar to what I built actually in my truck. This is very similar to what I had going on, the only reason I don't continue doing this in my truck. To be honest, in my truck, this is very similar to what I had going on. Um. The only the only reason I don't continue doing this in my truck, to be honest, is my truck has a five foot bed.
Speaker 2:Had, had I, had I known how much I was going to like sleeping in the bed of the truck, I would have looked. So when I got my Tacoma, I was way more focused on four door, you know, and price and equipment. I would have got a long bed actually and I would not have a rooftop tent. Now, probably I would've got a long bed and I probably I don't know what I'd have done with my fridge maybe be in the back seat, but I slept in.
Speaker 2:A truck is so nice. You don't have to pack up like that's. You could literally get up in the morning, leave your blankets in there and everything, close it and go. It was by far the best. There's literally no pack up. All the benefits are still having the truck no setup, no pack, no, nothing like nothing. By far the best.
Speaker 2:The only negative I see to this is is you know how many people you take with you, how many people you take with you and you know what kind of skills you have, because this could be very expensive. It could be really cheap though too, but it could be really expensive. But in my opinion, if you have an SUV or a truck with a topper on it, this is the best way to go. So, and and and, quite frankly, I think a lot of people were going to think I was going to go rooftop tent to the hundredth degree, but honestly, I think you know there's a lot for everybody, a a for everybody. A ground tent's going to work. Not for everybody will this work, and not for everybody will a rooftop tent work, and not for everybody going to want to deal with making something like this in the back of their truck. So still saying, you know, for ultimate reasons like, ground tent's still your best bet. Just if you're new and you're like I don't know anything, I don't have tools, I can't build anything, I, you know ground tent, you know whatever, ground tent's still the way to go. You can build something like this.
Speaker 2:I built something similar to this, for I mean paint. This. Mine wasn't a mattress. I bought foam at Joann Fabrics and cut it and slip on that and wrapped it just like this is. I didn't have 200 bucks in the whole thing and wrapped it just like this is. I didn't have 200 bucks in the whole thing and that's honest. All the wood I used was like one sheet. Um, I had deck screws, some sliders that I made into drawers like soft closed ones, nothing crazy worked great and I'd for solo camping. It was really good.
Speaker 2:I, me and my girlfriend did sleep in it. We did camp out of it. She's actually short enough to where it was better for her. The five foot bed was the end of it for me. Um, so that was where I was at with that. But very few negatives, very, very few negatives to sleeping in the back of the truck, um, now, um, so I've went over those.
Speaker 2:Now, rooftop tent lots of negatives, positives, lots of negatives. So, rooftop tent, um, rooftop tent. Next, I have a rooftop tent. Now I camp out of a rooftop tent. Now, there's's a couple reasons why I do that. One is space the top of my truck. I'm never going to put anything else on the top of my truck but a rooftop tent. So I do have more space to load things. Now, as little as my oldest daughter goes with me, I also have room in the back of the truck for her to sleep in the back of the truck so I can hold more people by having a rooftop tent. Now again, very easily I could have two ground tents or a bigger ground tent and house more people. There's still even the discussion in my house of a time where the rooftop tent's getting used. Somebody's sleeping in the back of the truck and I'm with another kid in a ground tent. We've even talked about building a trailer and putting another rooftop tent on it, something else. So a rooftop tent is still has limit, every limitation really. So rooftop tent, I have a rooftop tent.
Speaker 2:Positives to a rooftop tent? Well, probably the first positive is you don't have to deal with the ground. You also don't have to deal with puddles. You can level your car so you don't have to necessarily be on as flat a surface with a rooftop tent. Even when you're in the back of the truck you can level the truck. But a rooftop tent is going to have a ladder that comes down and adjusts so you're always going to be able to get into it.
Speaker 2:I've been in instances sleeping in the back of the truck where when you level the truck, I'm vertically inclined. I'm 5'8", maybe 5'9", so if the truck's leveled at such a way to where, like I can't jump in the back, you know, and it doesn't. I could get a step ladder, which I have now, but again could stink. So really the benefit is you're never on the wet ground one and you're never having a situation where it's hard to get into. Ladder's always easy to get into. I've even put max track under my ladder to make it level, even if it's like a weird rocky place. So I do think the ladder's great. It's also an easier one-stop shop. In my opinion. I've forgotten pieces of my tent in the bag at home that I left out to dry and just forgot to pack.
Speaker 2:The rooftop tent when you fold it up, it's all there. The rooftop tent when you fold it up, it's all there. Now I will go on to say there is a big difference between the type of rooftop tent you have and kind of what the negatives are. So I will first talk about just what. I have a clamshell-style rooftop tent, so I'll go ahead and pull my guy back up. Oh well, I already ditched it. But I have a clamshell-style rooftop tent so it opens up. It's hard-sided. It's negatives, it's heavy. It's, by far and large, the heaviest rooftop tent that I've ever had. It's the heaviest rooftop tent I've had period. It's also one of the heavier rooftop tents in general the clamshell style rooftop tent is heavy.
Speaker 2:Another negative is, once it's out you're stuck in your vehicle. You can't just leave, you can't just get up and go. Also, in the clamshell style rooftop tent you cannot fit as much bedding in it. When you fold it up you can fit maybe a sleeping bag in it. You're not going to fit any pillows in it, blankets, nothing else. In the clamshell rooftop tent I do have an inflatable mattress to go in it because the stock mattress sucks. So clamshell rooftop tent benefits way more aerodynamic, way more durable top, don't deal with rips. More weather resistant on the top of the vehicle, nicer latches. You're not dealing with Velcro, just higher quality piece in general but can't put stuff in it. Mattress isn't as good, costs more money and it's heavier. And so I mean negatives, all kinds of them.
Speaker 2:Now, soft shell rooftop tent, you will get rid of some of those negatives. Soft shell rooftop tent, you know negatives harder to get deployed, harder to put up, still has, you know, still on top of your truck. They're lighter, they don't have a hard side so they're not as weather resistant on the top of your vehicle. The covers aren't as weather resistant. You're dealing with zippers and Velcros which are perish in, you know, under weather they fade, covers get loose, tents rip A lot of times. They're not For weather. They don't have some of the nicer things like skylights. They're not always for season. They have lesser quality materials, but they almost always got thicker mattresses One. You could put your bedding in them too. They fold directly in half and they are actually a great sleep.
Speaker 2:And in a lot of ways I regret getting rid of my soft one. Actually I like my hard shell one because I daily drive my truck but it is less comfortable and does I do have to carry other things to make it comfortable and I can't pack all my stuff in it. To carry other things to make it comfortable and I can't pack all my stuff in it. And that's where the other one shined. Also, the soft shell ones are much cheaper, so you don't feel as bad about like I'm getting kind of jacked up, like my one on my truck now is like nice and it was a lot of money and it's. It's like like I feel like I need, like I don't know how to say this, but I feel like I need to wash my truck more with that on it than the other one. I was like I don't care, like it paid for itself forever ago. 700 bucks total like at $200 a night. Like that tent paid for itself. Now my other one's like three grand. So I mean huge price difference.
Speaker 2:Now I had some holes in the other one and it just wasn't as nice. Okay, like it just wasn't as nice. Quality of things, like the zippers weren't as nice, the Velcro was wearing out, the cover was getting holes. You know it's getting some sun fading, it was flapping in the wind, it was taller and my truck was like a sailboat. You know more. So those were the negatives and why I upgraded, because I do go enough to where I felt like the upgrade was a benefit.
Speaker 2:And Jay just said eating those trees, yeah, and the hard shell one actually is so much lower. I mean I'm six, seven inches lower with the hard shell than I was a soft shell. But again, in my first truck I had the soft shell and I had a half rack and that's irrelevant too. It was roof level. So I mean, if that's something you're really concerned about, it's worth a look at just the rack.
Speaker 2:But whether you go hard shell or soft shell, one of the biggest negatives to a rooftop tent is you got to have a place to mount it and in a lot of cases that's expensive. Just the mounting is expensive, whether that's a rack bars you know toolie bars or you get a Princeu rack or a Sherpa rack. Racks are expensive. They're also heavy, you know, and it's not. Rooftop tents are not easy to put on in between those racks and screw them in and stuff. I mean it's again, it's a little bit of a deal. Rooftop tents really carry the most negatives, but it is the most. It's the easiest for more people and to be comfortable in multiple types of elements.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, again, in rocky terrain I never have a. I can camp anywhere in rocky terrain. I don't have to pick a camping spot as much with a rooftop tent, and that I like a lot. If you're somebody that cares a lot more about you know your truck being lighter or shorter, or you know being able to set up tent and base camp, well, that's it, that's all. It's a no brainer. That's a bad call for you. So if you're somebody that likes to wheel more or go to off road parks, I mean you want to do a ground tent or sleep in the back. Again, I still think sleeping in the back is like the best. If you can make that work for you, it's still the best. You can just take your house bedding with you.
Speaker 2:But I like the rooftop tent because I don't. I have not base camped. So, quite frankly, if you base camp or don't, that matters too, Because if you don't base camp you're still packing like all the pack up negatives of a rooftop tent still exist with a ground tent, because you're packing it up and setting it up all the time and then the setup is actually easier on a rooftop tent than a ground tent. If you're moving on a daily basis or by daily basis, you know, every other day, um, I, I honestly I don't. I've not had a problem camping in my rooftop tent for a week, but a ground tank is. I don't know why, but it just rough, just rough. I don't know if it's cause it's, I don't know why. Okay, I couldn't tell you. Until you've done them both, you won't know why, but that is.
Speaker 2:That is probably the biggest hindrance in my opinion, other than cost even, is that you had to have a place to mount a rooftop tent period. Like you have to have a place to mount it and the the the means in which to mount it again. I welded my first rack together. And the means in which to mount it. Again, I welded my first rack together. Like I have the skills, tools, resources to make a rack. Racks are anywhere from $600 to $1,000. So you might as well add that to the cost of the rooftop tent. Quite frankly, where again a ground tent? You get a nice ground tent, three person ground tent for 300 bucks, like a pretty nice one, not an entry level one, like a decent one. So so that's my, my, uh, that's where I'm at with that.
Speaker 2:Now I think there's some rooftop tents that bridge the gap of the convenience. So I quite honestly, like I talk on here all the time about go fast campers. So I actually I feel like that's a must to talk about is truck bed campers and I think they bridge the gap because they go up and down in like a minute and they're not as tall, they're not at all as tall. So I would say so I'm going to bring that up first, just because that's my own personal, that's a personal favorite. So this is a go fast camper. It's essentially a truck camper and the tent pops up and the tent pops up outside of it. So that's a go-fast camper. That's what every week, I'm going to tell you guys about that I want You'll see here again, I think it bridges the gap of ease to be more mobile and fast setup and takedown and you can fit stuff in it.
Speaker 2:And when you take the weight of, for instance, my truck with a camper shell, a rack and a rooftop tent, I actually think this comes out to be lighter as well, as it opens all the way, like you'll see here. But by far and large, I would freaking love to have one of these. I think this is the cat's meow, guys. I think you can, and it's slimmer, sleeker, like just a nice great product. Okay, great product. Now, again, I think it bridges the gap to some extent as far as that is concerned and it's way again, way easier to put up, way easier to take down. Almost makes that a mute point. So if you ever want to get up and just dip out quick, it takes no time to pop that thing down. But with that being said, also, you know wedge style tents that just go on the top, wedge style tents that just go on the top, like this one right here 900 bucks. You're bridging the gap in more ways than one. This tent is $900. It's a wedge style, so you're going to get all the benefits of it being quick to deploy and put down.
Speaker 2:This one specifically, actually soft shell, is a soft shell and it won all kinds of awards. I'm I'm real familiar with this tent, um, actually, which is weird, I don't want one. It just actually been so highly acclaimed, but it's soft shell. This thing weighs like 70 pounds and it'll hold 330 the latter old 330, excuse me. It'll hold two the latter old 330, excuse me, it'll hold two adults. It's 93 pounds. I mean that, guys, that's jack, that's nothing.
Speaker 2:And one thing that it does to a soft shell but it opens up like completely, which I think is is cool. I do think that's cool, is cool, I do think that's cool. Um, so, but it's it's goes up fast, goes down fast, is extremely light. You don't have any flaps coming off like the the soft shell rooftop tents. So I do think there's rooftop tents that kind of, and it's again, it's really really thin, so you don't have any of the like that's it on a truck. I think it's like six inches maybe on top of it. So you don't deal with the, so you're not dealing with the weight issue, you're not dealing with the fast up and fast down issue. So I do think these tents bridge the gap.
Speaker 2:Now they're not, as they're not as big as the other ones, like I have, like the clamshell or the soft shell that open out or clamshell out. They're not as large or as wide. So two people max. But again, it could be a great option for you. But again, still the negative exists. You got to mount it somewhere, still has to be mounted, and there's heavier duty ones like this is an Aspen one and it so I talk about room. So this is the Aspen version and as I talk about room, this one is just a slightly or excuse me, free spirit. This is slightly different. It opens a little more at a greater angle here and it has a pop out, but still, again, opens fast, closes fast, doesn't weigh a ton and that's a hard shell. So again, on the truck, a little thinner, but it's all aluminum construction, the inside's really roomy. But again, yeah, the other one I showed you is 900 bucks, this one's 2,500. So again, price mounting, all those things considered, go into your tent situation. So they're not all created equal.
Speaker 2:Rooftop tent isn't just a classification on its own. I would say rooftop tent, hard shell, soft shell, clam shell I think they are all different. And then you can even go to the go fast camper. I think they are all different. And then you can even go to the go fast camper, which is a combination of a camper shell and a and a clam shell or, excuse me and a wedge style, which I think is great too. So those are all the types of tents. Those are all my pros and cons that exist with all of them. So, as I do every week, I'm going to put the chat up. You guys love to put the chat up. I got some stuff that came through while we were on here and everybody on here thought I was going to beat the living crap out of the rooftop tent, because I do think there's positives, but I'm also familiar.
Speaker 2:Rooftop tent, because I I I do think there's positives, but I'm also familiar. Um, so I see Johnny Pinto here. He said I can't, I'm not showing it to you guys up there, but earlier on he said, you know, he saw a cool cot tent. That's a swag they're. They're really popular in Australia and they're coming to the states and they are real cool. They are also fast to put up, like.
Speaker 2:I think they're uh, they're kind of like when you talk about ground tent I think like they're kind of a hybrid, kind of like the wedge style rooftop tent, like you kind of take away some of the negatives and make them positives, cause you're not on the ground either. Still gotta be on flat ground though for that, for that and that's something that sometimes is hard Line break, said he started with a rooftop tent. He'd never camped in his life, so when he saw a way to sleep off the ground, that was for him and that's fine. I mean that's definitely not the way I went. But again, if that's what you want to do, then do it. I mean there's nothing against any of it.
Speaker 2:Um, and then just Johnny just got. Johnny said I like the rooftop, so he has a rooftop tent and he just took it off in ground tents right now. So he said I like the rooftop tent for traveling trips, moving to different spots, which I actually just got done, saying every day, or having to pull off the road and take a minute and it takes one minute to set up. Yeah, I agree. And Tyson just said don't get me wrong, he has a. So Tyson, I just know Tyson has a soft shell rooftop tent that folds out. Um, and uh, he said it's, it's still easier ploy than a ground tent. Um, honestly, is what he's saying. And then johnny said I like the wedge style tent, especially because we could fit everything in it and that is a huge plus, as, again, as well, like putting your bedding in it um, but he said he's trying out the ground tent for the summer.
Speaker 2:And then somebody said you need, somebody needs to make engineer a tent that is as easy as the GFC but can sleep a family. And that's where you're really limited. Again, if you have a ton of people, you can find a rooftop tent that will accommodate that. That's not a huge pain, where I think a rooftop tent with the more people you have going is actually probably a better choice than a ground tent. And you can't be in the back of a car because it's not going to. As you get bigger in tents ground tents that space that tent takes up gets bigger and you're taking more people, so the space available in your truck gets smaller. So the roof makes sense is all there is to it. If you're taking four people all the time, honestly, a rooftop tent might be your, might be the best for you if you're the person that puts up and takes down the tent for your sanity, because a four-person like a four-person tent that you can put on the ground if your spouse and kids want an inflatable mattress, like all those things are big and they are hard to deal with. Um, so in a lot of ways, I think you know if you're taking a bunch of people with you, the car's full, you have less space. The roof does make sense in that case. Um, I've never been in that instance with like adults, so I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Johnny just said do you think rooftop tents will die out in a few years or will it stay strong? He said I feel like right now most people use a rooftop tent, but I could be wrong. I think that rooftop tents probably. So this is my opinion on overlanding. I don't think overlanding is a big, is a big culture, um, in general. So I think maybe less than half of people that do overlanding have a rooftop tent. So I don't know that.
Speaker 2:I think the rooftop tent market is going to get. I think it's only going to get bigger as it becomes applicable to other markets. The largest market within our hobby still exists in. I mean you can't. It's vehicle based, so you still have to kind of off-road a little bit. So I think the four-wheel drive community is still the biggest pull to overlanding. You can do it in less capable vehicles but again, I still think the off-road community is the largest filler into the overland space. Second to that is camping. Largest filler into the overland space. Second to that is camping, in my opinion, because you still got a vehicle. Like, if you want to camp in a rooftop tent, you to some extent will have to, you will have to off-road to some extent. Otherwise what's the benefit of having it on your vehicle? And I have seen an enormous influx in ground tents and trailers. So I don't know what I think about rooftop tents.
Speaker 2:Rooftop tents exist across the world more prevalently than I believe they are in the United States. I think they're way more prevalent in Africa, australia, europe. I think that rooftop tents aren't going anywhere. I think they just are in the US now. I love having a rooftop tent.
Speaker 2:I don't know what I think about the market. I have made some connections at the company that sells the same tent I have. I can always ask are you guys selling more tents or not? I could, I could ask. But I do also see way more rooftop tents slept in two or three times on Facebook Marketplace than you know. Gazelles you don't see very many gazelle tents on Facebook Marketplace. They're there though, but I do see a lot of rooftop tents come up for sale as people don't think the juice is worth the squeeze for the price of what you're getting. So that's where I'm at.
Speaker 2:I have seen less rooftop tents, though in the last two years specifically, than previous to that. I've seen less. But again, I think people are realizing like, gas mileage, weight, you know, racks, people trade cars more frequently now, and if you have a rooftop tent, like there's a little bit of a barrier on your vehicle to get it back on it, like and again that comes back to one of my earlier podcasts where you kind of gotta be like, if you're into this hobby, like you kind of gotta be into it, otherwise it isn't worth it. Um, so I, I again, and and if you're somebody that trades vehicles, a whole bunch like building something in your car, having a rooftop tent. I mean get a ground tent, like there are people that are like addicted to trading in their cars. That's not for you. But again, if you're somebody that's got something that you've had a long time or you're going to have a long time or I mean that's a relevant point. It doesn't that points, that point is irrelevant, so it doesn't matter. But those are all things to consider. You know, I see people build up overland rigs and then just get rid of them.
Speaker 2:I don't understand and Jay just said he thinks it's price prohibitive that rooftop tents become the standard and, quite frankly, having ground tented so long, I don't know that I agree with that Because I have still had ground tents that cost more. I think your ground tent costs more than my first rooftop tent. Rooftop tent you can still, again, as you do something for a long time, you will want to upgrade what you have to nicer stuff and I think nice stuff in general is just expensive. So I don't know that. I think it's more. I think it's more. I think it's more. Vehicle mounting slash can't go look at it anywhere. Slash, kind of weird slash affects your gas mileage more than the price.
Speaker 2:Um, because you could easily have. You know, a rooftop tent still is a cover, a mattress, an awning for the tent and stuff. Like when you ground tent you know it doesn't come with a mattress so you got to buy that like a good rooftop or a good ground tent still some money. I mean you probably still could easily have a thousand bucks in a middle of the road ground tent, decent sleeping situation. So I mean, I don't know that price is the biggest part. Do I think it's price prohibitive that people buy expensive, name brand like name brand rooftop tents? Yes, I do. And for the life of me don't know why you spend four or $5,000 on a rooftop tent. There's a billion out there with great reviews, half the price. So how those companies even still exist, I have no clue.
Speaker 2:I don't know who's buying those, not me, but I have easily spent more money on a ground tent setup than my first rooftop tent myself. Um, so I don't. I think there's a lot more benefits. Um, yeah, so I think there's a lot of yeah, so I think there's a lot of. I think there's a lot of benefits to to. I still think the most, the most universal benefit, is a ground tent, though Like again, yeah, jay said he's got two good tents for 500 to one K each. And I have and I've had, yeah, and that's right along the lines of, uh, of Johnny's rooftop tent or, and that's actually right in line with my first rooftop tent. So my ground tent was probably about 500 bucks too actually. So yeah, but again, then you gotta get sleeping pads and that stuff you don't need to necessarily get in a rooftop tent. So not to, not to, I don't disagree with you, just it's, it's. It is in a lot of ways apples and oranges and rooftop tents are way more niche, way, way more niche. And you know, if you get a good quality ground tent it might last you your whole life. I don't think my rooftop tent, I don't think they'll last, I couldn't tell you, but I don't think they'll last. But again, I'm not going to knock too hard on a ground tent when I still currently possess one or two, I have two. So I don't know. When I still currently possess one or two, I have two, you know. So I don't know.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty anti-trailer, honestly. And you want to talk about cost prohibitive trailers. Cost prohibitive. I think we could all agree that trailers are cost prohibitive Far more. There's a huge gap between even expensive rooftop tent and trailer. Trailers are like 10. Somebody will argue with me maybe Comment below if you do but I think the cheapest overlanding trailer is five grand, the cheapest, cheapest. And trailers are not. In my opinion, they're more universal too. But man, some of these trailers 30 grand.
Speaker 2:I'm only anti-trailer because they're so expensive, quite frankly for me. I mean there's a lot of things about a trailer that would get my kids out more like you. Yeah, I would. You know there's a lot of benefits. You literally have to be in a tax bracket or two above me to be getting a trailer. Though it's like a boat dude, like okay, boats are way more expensive, but like it's. It's that level of difference. I mean, yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:And and johnny just said he feels like he sees trailers popping up everywhere, and I agree, I do see him popping up everywhere and I continue to go you build this rig and you upgrade the rig a lot of people do, at least and then you put a 30, 20, 20, 000, I mean small trailer on the back, off-road trailer, and it still decreases your off-road capability. But you could base camp, you don't? You know, everybody talks about setup and takedown with a trailer. Well, you got to hook it up and unhook it. That's set up and take down. Um, you know I disagree with me all day, but we're not going to meet like unhooking and hooking up is set up and take down.
Speaker 2:I've done trailer camping with fifth wheels and stuff my whole freaking life. I lived in a freaking fifth wheel, like actually, for a couple of years, freaking fifth wheel, like actually for a couple of years. It's not, it's not fast, it's not fast. Um, it's not as easy as just like hook her up and go in a minute doesn't work that way. Um, but yeah, trailers are, trailers are killer. I I don't know how anybody is doing trailers, but like they're cool. Um, I don't see too many people wheeling with trailers, but like they're cool, I don't see too many people wheeling with trailers on. But that doesn't mean they're not, it's just I haven't seen it.
Speaker 2:But Tyson said yeah, it's not all cheap. Thousand dollars total into your forerunner and having an off-road, capable camping equipped with a rooftop tent than paying that same 10 grand minus two for a rooftop tent and then slapping a 30,000 dollar trailer on the back. We're talking different things here. Like that is drastically different. Trailers are, are, are another car, like literally another whole vehicle's worth of money, and that's nuts.
Speaker 2:Again, I think they're super cool. I love that they're getting innovative. They need to start. They need to start, they need to start trying. I need VIVO to make a uh, uh overland trailer, like that's the price I need. They got to get better. Um, they're nuts, they're freaking nuts. I mean, I've seen them as high as 50 K, 50, 60 K for overland trailers, off-road trailers. We're not talking a win, a bago, like a thing to pull behind your four-wheel drive vehicle. Nuts to me. Nuts, cool, I'll watch it on YouTube and it's cool. It's not going to be for me, just not. So, yeah, it's just what it is.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, I'm going to go ahead and call it for this week, next week. Um, I see there's some regulars on here. I'm gonna throw it out there. I said I'd do an interview with somebody, I I mean, who wants to come on next week? I'd love to have just one of you guys on next week, so uh, but I want to have somebody on next week.
Speaker 2:I want to talk about some, you know, I want to kind of BS with some people One person, three people, whatever I think I can have like 20 on at a time or something, but I'd love to have some people on the live. Just because I am. I mean, I love talking to you guys. I have a lot to share, but sometimes I get ideas while I'm talking to you guys. I have a lot to share, but sometimes I get ideas while I'm talking to somebody else, so that helps me as well too. So if any of you guys want to come on, I'll have some people on.
Speaker 2:I haven't got schedules figured out with that with some of those folks yet, but I'd love to have some people on to talk about their experience with overlanding or, or whether they're new to it or not new to it or or, or if it's overwhelming. Like, does it feel overwhelming? Um, because as I look at some of this stuff that I just know it it it seems like it could very easily be overwhelming to somebody starting to get into it and kind of like, what are the struggles of getting into it right now with so much information out about it? When I started doing it, like I said, it wasn't even called this. I've kind of grown with it, so I never really felt like. I always felt like I was wanting more information than existed, and I think if I was to get into it now, I think one of the barriers to even getting into the hobby is is you just look at everything you're going to see online. It's like fully built and super nice and you're gonna be like man, that's what I got to do. That's a lot.
Speaker 2:So, like any of you guys that have dealt with that or dealing with that, um, I'm not that generation in this hobby. I'm very interested in that generation in this hobby. Like, what's that? Like, how do you what? Who do you go to? Some of you are friends with me, um, some of your friends with me. So sometimes I mean, you guys bounce ideas off of me. There's a couple of us that have been doing this kind of stuff for a long time. Um, so you bounce ideas off of us, but not, does everybody have somebody like that? I don't know.
Speaker 2:But if anybody wants to uh, to hop on and uh and see what's going on, tater chip is not that individual, Tyson tater chips. Uh, mr Suburban tater chip, he's just on his YouTube account. So, yeah, and if you want to hop on with me, justin and uh, we can hop on tomorrow Not tomorrow, but we can hop on next week. I can send you, go ahead and message me on Facebook or here or wherever. Message me somewhere your email address. I'll shoot you an invite and let's just yes, I'd love to just get somebody else on here and talk you an invite, and let's just be. Yes, I'd love to just get somebody else on here and talk. Um, that'd be tight, I'd love to do that.
Speaker 2:And next week it'll be six 30 on Wednesday. So, if that, if that doesn't, um, if that doesn't work, uh, for you, justin, anybody else want to come on? Be happy to have you. Um, or I'll find somebody, or I'll find somebody to come on. It's not a big deal, but I'd love to get somebody else on just to ask them, just ask him a little bit about you know what it's like getting into the hobby right now. For those of you that don't don't have the background, so I'll leave it at that. This week. I'll have somebody else on here with me next week, for sure, um, you know, even if it is, you know, even if it's just one of my friends, I'll get somebody else on here to, to, to chit, chat, um, my friend Jay, that's commenting ground tent, jay.
Speaker 2:Lexus Jay. Also Toyota trucks of Arkansas Jay. I might have Jay on he's. He's got a lot going on with Toyota trucks of Arkansas. He'd be a good person to have on sometime in the near future. I said I'd get him on closer to some of their events coming up. Their events are coming up, so it may even be Jay. I don't know. But uh, he could tell you guys all about Toyota trucks of Arkansas I. I tell you guys all about it. You can see all those events on their page if you join. But there's definitely a lot more to it than I know and he would. So probably in the next I don't know little bit here we'll get Jay on too. He's got some things coming on and it's going to be real good. So that'll happen eventually too for the for them. But either way, guys, have a good week. I will talk to you next week and somebody else will be talking to you too. So have a good night. I'll see y'all later.