Outskirts Overland Podcast
📸 Join us as we dive deep into the thrilling world of overland travel, off-road exploration, and outdoor adventures! 🌄
🎧 Tune in to hear captivating stories, expert tips, and interviews with fellow travelers and industry professionals. Get inspired to embark on your own epic journeys! 🌍✨
#AvantLink #1316929
Outskirts Overland Podcast
Rooftop tents , styles , mounting to your vehicle and considerations when shopping
Ever felt the call of the wild beckoning you to step out of your comfort zone and into an overland odyssey, complete with rooftop tents and trails less traveled? That's where this episode takes you, providing an all-access pass to the essentials of gearing up for your summer escapades. We're not just talking gear here; we're talking about a lifestyle, embraced by a community that thrives on adventure. From the rugged terrains navigated with Onyx mapping software to the camaraderie of Toyota Trucks of Arkansas, this discussion is your compass to the world of rooftop tent camping.
Huddle up as we dissect the intricacies of selecting the perfect rooftop tent. Imagine a starlit night, cocooned in a tent that's not just a shelter but a slice of home on top of your trusty vehicle. We compare the comfort of mattresses, the resilience against the elements, and the sheer convenience of different tent styles—whether it's the swift setup of a wedge tent or the spacious abode of a soft-shell. It's about making choices that stand up to wind noise, weather, and wear, so you can focus on making memories.
As we venture into the practicalities, I get personal, sharing my own saga with Overland Vehicle Systems and the value of a warranty that has your back when nature tests your resolve. Ponder the logistics of mounting the right tent on your ride, from gas mileage considerations to rack compatibility. And as we gear up for Memorial Day weekend, I send my heartfelt thanks to you, the listeners, for sharing your stories, kindling the spirit of community, and reveling in the boundless beauty of the outdoors. Let's keep the fire of exploration aflame and roll into this season of adventure together!
You. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Outskirts Overland. I believe it's week 15, I think week 15. I don't know, I'm not sure yet, but either way, welcome. I'm happy to have you here. For those of you that are listening to podcast form, I also greatly appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1:Today I'm going to go over rooftop tents. I talked about the differences between the two, but I'm going to talk specifically just about rooftop tents today. Out rooftop tents today. Um, I do have a new background with my, my boys and, uh, from big iron overland rally. I guess I don't know what you call big iron. It's like a concert slash, meet up slash, kind of like a like a music festival overland party type deal. Pretty cool deal anyways. Um, first things first. I'm gonna let you guys all know, um, if you want to get 20% off of onyx.
Speaker 1:Onyx is what I use for all my mapping software. Um, it works. It's paired up with your apple carplay. You can use it on your phone, your tablet. You can download offline maps now, um, which I highly recommend. You download a map that I highly recommend. You download the online maps to all the places that you frequent and then you can just save them under. You know whatever name you give them and then you and your friends can even all name them the same things. Then you and your friends can even all name them the same things. So when you're working comms, you can just be like you know we're going to be going in the area of map three or the red map, the trails. You can make the trails all different colors when you map it out too. So you kind of color coordinate, numerically coordinate whatever. So always remember there is offline maps with Onyx. Now that's newer. I use it, but I use it in Colorado last year in September, so, but it is a newer uh feature. If you want to get 20% off global overland to 36, we'll get you 25%. Or we'll get you 20% off of Onyx off road, um, if you so choose to use that, um.
Speaker 1:Second thing Toyota trucks of Arkansas have a lot of friends over there. They're really really cool people. It's a positive group. So if you live in the Midwest or around the Midwest and you drive a Toyota, toyota trucks of Arkansas is a Facebook group. Um, it's really positive. A lot of good guys over there really liked those guys. So definitely mint, uh.
Speaker 1:Third, I want to, I want to shout him out again. Um, I got a new tune on my truck last week, tidewater Customs, and it's Chris LeBlanc. Um, I have a video on YouTube of my first reaction to the tune. I can't say enough how nice it is to drive my truck now. My truck was, and I could go all day about it, but just for my five minute spiel here, my truck was not getting into fifth and sixth gear very much, and now with the tune it is, and it's not, you know, slipping the converter too bad and stuff. So it seems to be really good. I'm really happy with that. So, tidewater Customs, if you guys are looking to tune your Toyota, I have an episode where I cover that at the end, but they cover a lot of platforms.
Speaker 1:And then, lastly, go Fast Campers. I would love to have a Go Fast Camper and I would love, love, love, love. If at some time down the road, after I've done this for 200 episodes, you guys would maybe recognize me. I'd love to have a go-fast camper. But today we're talking rooftop tents, not go-fast campers, even though, no, I love them. So, anyways, go-fast campers, hit me up. If you ever want to work together, I would love to. So, without further ado.
Speaker 1:Rooftop Tents. So today I'm going to talk a little bit about Rooftop Tents. The title is the stream title for you guys that will listen later is Summer is Early, or Is it? You know it's been here in the Midwest. It has been really hot we saw 90s. It's humid. I was talking to some people the other day and I was like I think I've mowed my grass more already this year than I did all of last year. I think that actually is a fact. It's kind of weird. I feel like last year spring or summer or whatever came later, but it feels like it's been here for a while and again it's the end of May. Yeah, it's getting to be summer, june summer right in everybody's mind, but still I feel like I've mowed like 10 times already. If you're in the Midwest, can we all take a real deep breath? I'm sure you guys all know what I'm about to talk about.
Speaker 1:Woo cicadas, holy freaking moly guys. These cicadas are nuts. If you guys don't know what cicadas are and you're listening from somewhere else, look it up. They come out of the ground every so many odd years and they're super loud. They're everywhere, like everywhere. I can hear them through my windows, my doors, and it's not like a cricket, you know, like it's wild. So woosah for the cicadas Boy, it's nuts, anyways. So just a few things in my head. So just a few things in my head, but it is getting real hot, it's been real hot and I have not been out camping in a while.
Speaker 1:I've been doing a lot of trying to build this platform, this podcast, this stream, whatever you're looking, watching, listening on whatever, so I've been doing a lot of work on that and, uh, I can see how it's really hard to like it is time consuming, it takes a lot of time. So shout out to all those bigger influencers Like it takes a lot of time to do emails and and and set like respond to emails, write emails, work with companies, talk to companies, write emails, work with companies, talk to companies. Maybe don't work with them. Like it's a lot of freaking work, takes a lot of hours and again, if they're big enough, they don't have a day job, but I have a day job and three kids. It's a lot of work. So, but I do plan to get camping here shortly. I don't know that it'll happen this weekend, but hopefully so.
Speaker 1:Rooftop tents, guys. So the reason I want to talk about rooftop tents specifically, and I touched on it on my Instagram when I announced I'd be going live tonight instead of tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm kind of passionate about rooftop tents because I just think they're really cool, I think they're awesome. I've said it in previous podcasts a bunch of times that rooftop tents to me are still relatively new, even though overlanding to me is not new at all. So I've always kind of thought of them as just this really expensive, cool thing that was kind of always out of reach to me. And as it became more popular they've become they. They've become feasible. They definitely have become feasible for people to obtain. They're not all four and $5,000, which is nuts because you have to have a mounting solution as well. So I'm pretty passionate about like, let's talk rooftop tents.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to name too many specific brands, except if you're watching. Uh, the Silver 4Runner has a 23.0. Chris has a Roof Nest and I have an Overland Vehicle Systems tent. Chris and Tyson's both are fancier name brands, both like highly acclaimed name brands. Overland Vehicle Systems has actually got a lot of offerings but they're not like iCamper, roof Nest or I can't even think Alucab, cvt, 23zero. There's some bigger names. I don't even pay too much attention to the the big names because, um, free Spirit, what is it Free Spirit? Uh, they make rooftop tents, fsr. Um, they're kind of in the middle of the road and got a lot of. They've got a lot of cool stuff too, like different stuff. But either way, rooftop tents I want to talk about just my personal opinion.
Speaker 1:Do I think it's worth it to get an expensive one? Or, what's better, soft top, hard top, wedge style? Mine is like a clamshell style, as you'll see, it opens to the side. But I have a couple opinions here. I had a soft top and like tyson's here and it folds literally in half of itself, so it's double the platform of when it's on your roof.
Speaker 1:Um, I am live in missouri and we get pretty gnarly. We get some pretty gnarly weather with hail and stuff. And I had a soft top like Tyson's and the bottom of it ends up being the top of it and it took some hail damage. Actually it didn't affect anything about the tent, it didn't rip the cover, it didn't do anything like that, but it did take some damage. I mean it had many hail dents in it because it's like a softer aluminum and I would think that if you were in like a milder climate, that wouldn't be something to think about. But that's definitely something to consider that I've lived through is uh, how's it going to hold up to your, to your? You know your climate. So I I used to live in um around Joshua tree, california, where it's super duper hot and the sun is extremely harsh, and I think that would be a case for a different you know.
Speaker 1:So I think the soft, the soft cover rooftop tent, they take longer to put, to put, put up. They don't necessarily take longer to get out, and I have seen just the tent itself and I don't know if it's due to the quality of the soft top ones, the soft cover ones, the soft shell ones, um, trying to find the best way to to explain them. I don't know if it's the quality or just the type of tent, but they seem to take on wear more, just in general. And I don't know if that's because companies are not investing in the fabrics they're using on them or the zippers. I don't know, I don't work for those companies. I don't work for those companies. I don't don't work with those companies. I don't have information into that.
Speaker 1:But the soft shell. You know what, what used to just be, you know like quote, unquote the standard rooftop tent. They just seem to to to to wear faster than the other types of rooftop tents, which would be the clamshell style, like mine here, and the wedge style which pops up, just like pops up it's platform on your truck, is actually just the size of the tent and it pops up to the top. That's a wedge style tent. Um, so I, I, I don't know what the deal is, but I think you, if you lived somewhere where it was really harsh sun as well, those soft ones would be tough. I think they'd be tough on that. I think that sun would be really tough on them too. They got they usually got zippers or Velcro that puts them down. You know, stuff expands and shrinks in the cold and the hot. That's something I've experienced as well with my rooftop tent.
Speaker 1:But I do think it's worth looking at your climate. So, for instance, a lot of these wedge style ones are aluminum, aluminum shells and all rooftop tents. For the most part, the part you're sleeping on is aluminum. The bottom, where you're sleeping, is aluminum for the most part. Actually, I've never seen one that isn't so they're aluminum but they have an aluminum cover. Like the shell is aluminum. And where I think that would be super beneficial is if you lived somewhere where there was like a whole lot of like salt, so if you went on the beaches near the salt water, like aluminum is not going to rust, it's not going to corrode, you know, I think that'd be great. That's probably where a soft shell is not going to be great for you if you have to zip it closed because there's sand freaking everywhere. But because they're aluminum, they might be better in certain situations.
Speaker 1:If you're somewhere, like I am, with a lot of hail, well, aluminum's going to dent too, which is why you'll see my friend Chris here and myself we have clamshell rooftop tents that are hard shell but the shell is more of like a fiberglass. That will fade. For sure it's going to fade and it's going to take wear from the sun. But it I have had that tent in numerous hailstorms because, as most of us, with built overlaying vehicles and everything that goes with them, there's just no chance they're going in a in in your regular house garage. I do have a shop, but that would be just the largest pain ever to put it in the shop. So my tent has survived many severe thunderstorms and hail with no damage.
Speaker 1:So I think that's a great option for me is that you know, fiberglass top, hard shell, clamshell tent I think you can get and I don't know if this is the best way to go, but I think you can get a wedge style tent that that's more of like a composite, like a like a high density plastic, but I don't know if that would crack or I don't know, I don't have much experience with it. So those are the three types of rooftop tents I'm going to talk about today is just your standard fold out canvas tent Tent, soft cover, the hard clamshell, like I have now, and the wedge style tent. So there is nowadays you can get all of them kind of around the same price. So you really got to look at what's going to fit your needs best. I would say, you know, if I was to go let's make a list Convenience, comfort, without adding to it like just in the pack out of the box.
Speaker 1:You know you can add things to these tents. For those of you guys that are new to rooftop tents, you can always add stuff, mattresses, whatever. You can kind of make your tent your own to some extent and brands and companies outside the tent companies make accessories for them. So that's all, whatever. But as far as out of the box I'm going to go. Comfort, I'm going to say comfort affects gas mileage, say comfort get affects gas mileage. I'm gonna say set up time and take down time, wind, noise. We'll start there. So comfort I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that the standard soft cover tent can fit a ton of stuff in it and you can get a lot thicker mattress. They usually come with a thicker mattress and they're very comfortable. Thicker mattress they usually come with a thicker mattress and they're very comfortable. Now my clamshell style I can't fit any bedding in it and the mattress is super duper thin because it kind of folds up and then closes on itself. Um, and you could look up clamshell rooftop tent for you guys listening if you don't know what that is. So it is. It's a smaller platform, it's a less comfortable situation.
Speaker 1:Now, wedge style I think it really depends on the brand. There's wedge styles that'll fit a whole lot of stuff in them and there's wedge styles that won't fit anything in them either. Wedge tents, I think, have the largest options for mattress Different brands are going to have different mattresses. I think mattresses are something that people aren't paying as much attention to. In my case, the number one thing I was looking for was protection from severe weather. I had one get hail damaged. It also got some cuts on trails. I was like abrasion resistance hell really. So I remedied the shortcomings of it separately, but the most comfortable by far is the fold-and-half ones. Then I would say the wedge style is going to provide more comfort than even this clamshell style. The clamshell style is actually just your middle place, because and I'll explain that here in a second too the clamshell and why I have it, it's like the middle.
Speaker 1:I think that the most comfortable is that is, the soft shell, for lack of a better word and the most convenient with options is the wedge. Now here's where I'll get into, you know. Second, secondly, here I don't even remember what I just said. I'm going to make my topics, but I was going to talk about wind. Now the soft shell is going to be a wind flapping madness, okay. And then your clamshell is going to be second. They're a lot they're. They are a lot more rigid due to having that hard side. And then, further, your wedge style is also going to.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't put your wet. I wouldn't put the wedge style rooftop tent above the clamshell rooftop tent as far as wind noise and flapping, so I'd tie them at the top. Now, convenience the least convenient with the best comfort, obviously, is your soft-shell rooftop tent. I'd say second most convenient, meaning pack up, deploy and pack up time. Your second most convenient is going to be clamshell. And then obviously most convenient is the wedge style. Itkirts, overland pimps, the wedge right. Well, where the wedge struggles is it's narrow and it's long, but it's narrow and that's really where the clamshell shines because you're getting the structural integrity. But you could fit more people. You can get three and four people. You know legitimate three and four person tents with the clamshell style. Same thing with the soft shell style.
Speaker 1:But if you got to find a place in the middle you're looking to upgrade. You hate all the wind noise. You hate. You know something. You got to take the rain cover on and off those soft ones. The clamshell mine has a rain cover with it all the time. The rain cover I mean the wedge is literally the structure of the tents, your cover. So that's something to pay attention to as well when you're picking.
Speaker 1:But nowadays on you can go on Amazon and there's brands like nature, nest and top Oak and they make. They make soft ones, clams, clamshell ones and wedge ones and they have great reviews all over the place. And you're looking at, you could get into a rooftop tent for 1500 bucks, like period. You can get in cheaper than that. But that that wasn't an option when I even even like cheap, cheap, cheap was $1,900. So that's awesome and it's going to get a lot more people into the market.
Speaker 1:But you've got to consider what you're doing with it where you live, how that's going to work for your needs. So structural integrity definitely goes toward the hard shell stuff. Comfort goes toward, you know, the wedge, possibly in the soft shell. Wind noise goes to the clamshell in the wedge. Ability to deploy and pack up goes to the clamshell. Well, goes to the wedge, then the clam shell, then the soft shell. So just think about what you want. If you're somebody that goes and it's not a big deal to unload fast and pack up fast, but you want a good sleep, I mean, maybe the soft shell is for you and I know you can buy replacement covers for them. I know there's replacement parts for these things. If you're somebody that has a larger group of people that goes with you but that pack up and deploy time matters a lot, well, a clamshell will work. If you're somebody that goes alone with your dog or just another person small person and you like to pack up, you like to be real mobile, that's where a wedge is going to work. If you're a single person, man or woman, a wedge is going to work really well for you there.
Speaker 1:Just make sure you're paying attention when you guys are looking at these tents. Look at the fabrics and again, I'm not going to act like I'm an expert, but I'm an expert like everybody else that's searching in YouTube. So if it says it has blah, blah, blah GSM fabric and this one has blah, blah, blah GSM fabric, like, look it up to understand it. Also, pay attention to tents that are that are, that are rooftop tents that aren't for season. Okay, they're not. All rooftop tents are for season tents, just like regular tents. So if you're somebody that goes in the winter a lot or you go in the rain a lot, you could buy something that's going to suck for you. So make sure you're paying attention to the fabric. Just Google it Like Google it. It's not that hard. Google reviews, look at reviews.
Speaker 1:You know I wouldn't base your decision solely just off of reviews and price and function. I mean I'd put all those things into effect Definitely. Look at the mattress but don't get too caught up with. Does it have lights in it? Does it have, you know, storage in it? Like those are super easy things to remedy and I would not base a purchase of a rooftop tent off of any of those things. You can add those things so easily all the time.
Speaker 1:Like some of the you know quote unquote upgrades on my Bushveld 2,. My tent in a lot of ways is like whatever you know things I like quick up, quick down, hard shell. It's got an adjustable ladder, like a fully adjustable what are they called Telescoping ladder? My tent actually has wider steps. That's a big thing too when you're looking at these tents, like how wide are the steps? Cause if you're barefoot going up and down the ladder of a rooftop tent and it's got narrow steps, it hurts and I mean I'm not like a wuss but like it just just period, like it's not crippling, but it does hurt. If they got wider steps, that's nice. If they got pads on the steps. That's also nice. They even make you know for these telescoping ladders. They even make things that go between the ladders so your dog can climb up the ladder if you take your dog with you Awesome. I mean, there's all kinds of upgrades.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't base your tent off upgrades, though. I would say convenience location pack up, pack down. Experience location pack up, pack down. Seasons what seasons do you camp in? You can get away with a lot if you camp pretty much only in the summer, or you live in a place that's always summer and it doesn't rain much, like, say, you live in, you know, the desert or the great sand dunes, Arizona like, and you go pretty much when it doesn't rain. Well, your options are wide freaking open then. But again, still, look at the mattress.
Speaker 1:So and I've looked at so many rooftop tents and I don't want to Overland Vehicle Systems is I will probably never buy with my money. If I was to get an opportunity to try out a rooftop tent from a company, I will be the first person to let you guys know if I'm wrong here. But one thing that played a huge part in me buying my tent and again at your own discretion, my Overland Vehicle Systems tent um OVS for short. Either way comes with a five-year warranty and I had a situation where it was super duper cold, super cold and I was camping and it's a four season tent, so it's a four season tent. But it was cold, cold, negative temps and I closed up my tent. Everybody knows plastics and stuff are more brittle and when I was latching it down it has super nice stainless latches. But when I was latching it down in the plastic flex it got one little crack from the bottom, probably two inches, three inches, but here's where this changes. This was not a negative thing in my opinion, because of what followed. So we were changing camps.
Speaker 1:This happened on a Saturday morning. It cracked. I took some Gorilla Tape, I taped the crack because I had two more days of camping and we were going somewhere else. I took some pictures of it. We got to where there was service in town. I emailed Overland Vehicle Systems the pictures, the receipt from when I bought my tent, so they knew it was in warranty. And this is a Saturday. This is a Saturday. They're not there Saturday, so Saturday goes by. Sunday Monday out of California, monday by like 10.30 am. This is a Saturday. They're not there Saturday. So Saturday goes by Sunday, monday, out of California. Monday by like 10.30 am they sent me an email with a tracking number for the new tent they were sending out. They just sent me a brand new tent. They're like that warrants a replacement tent. We got one on the way to you and they got all my info from the receipt I sent them. So I can tell you right now my friends have had issues with their tent and the company will not do anything for them, nothing. So I I highly, and these are big brands. There's a lot of big brands that come with 90 day warranty, you know, one year limited warranty, and if you install it yourself or something, they don't cover it, like my Overland Vehicle Systems tent.
Speaker 1:I bought it a year ago. Well, I bought the first one a year ago, had that issue with the crack in November, I mean in a week, I had a brand new tent. I've actually slept. This is my old one. I'll say old one, first one. I have the exact. I mean they replaced the whole tent. I put the old one first one. I have the exact. I mean they replaced the whole tent. I put the other one on and I've slept in it two nights. One night, two nights. But it's brand freaking new, like no, and I mean no questions asked, like I just sent pictures in the receipt and said, hey, this happened and they just sent me a new one Like that, like that. So I can't say enough paid all all my money paid to overland vehicle systems.
Speaker 1:My first tent was an overland vehicle systems tent and, uh, they also have like extra you could buy another cover, you can buy more poles for the rain fly, like. It's all easily accessible on their site, which I like. Again, I'm only pimping them because I think that's awesome that I could send them a couple pictures and they were like yep, that's not cool, here's a new tent, whatever. The only thing that's kind of hard about it is you do have to pack up your old tent in the box from the new one and let them know and they'll arrange for a trucking company to come pick up the old tent. And again, I don't work with them or anything, but I'd assume that's because they don't want, you know, lesser quality tents. You know, possibly on somebody's car with their name all over it. I'm sure they want it's like a quality control for them, Like I don't want you to keep it because you might sell it to somebody.
Speaker 1:And now it looks like our tents are jacked when really it's. Their customer service is phenomenal so and they make wedge style clamshells. I mean. They make all kinds of tents too, all kinds of new stuff now that I don't have. But I'd say, look at the warranty too. That's a big one. Now a lot of them are on on amazon now. So I think Amazon itself kind of protects you to some extent there. I have a friend, cody, who just received a one of the Amazon wedge tents. It's aluminum and it had a dent in it and we're going to see how that plays out.
Speaker 1:I could tell you, no matter what, it didn't get, it didn't get remedied as fast as mine did. Mine was like they I mean and again I, this is pre-podcast, this is pre. You know, this is pre-partnerships with brands like I didn't have a voice, like I was just a dude that bought their tent like so as long as I'm running a rooftop tent, it will be an overland vehicle systems tent period just based on like treating people great. So you know, if you're somebody looking and you want peace of mind, guys, I can't stress to you enough give them a look. They might have something within your budget and if they don't, you know, obviously go back and look at the other things you can get. You know they don't just do one tent, you can get any of these types of tents from them. So I really think they're great. Just based on my experience with them, they've been phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Products stand for themselves. That issue happened with mine, but that could happen with an iCamper or anything else. You camp in a negative 10, 15 degree weather. It's a thing, just it could happen. It's something I'll try to pay more attention to now. I mean, I don't know how you prevent it, but I'll pay attention to it and if it happens again, I guess they'll send me another tent. Event, you know, or I don't know, I guess that's just how it goes. Five-year warranty, just five-year warranty. Um, so that's just how it goes Five year warranty, just five year warranty. So that's been great.
Speaker 1:But make sure when you're looking for these tents you're looking, you know, not just price, not just style. Look at the warranty, look at the mattress, look at the fabric. Google the fabric, find out if it's one season, if it's single season, two season, four season. A lot of them are three season, meaning not winter. Um, a lot of three season, you'll see three season, and if it doesn't say anything, every single one of them has a contact at info, at sales, at email them. Dude, they're just people too. You matter, you're the consumer, you're the one consuming their product. They should if and that's a turnoff right there If they never email you back, they sound snotty on the return email, like they can't give you the information you're asking.
Speaker 1:That's another tell all. Like, okay, not where I want to spend my two. You know $1,500, $2,000. You know, not, not ideal. Okay, like, if that's another thing that you got to look at. Like is the customer service there?
Speaker 1:But I, I am like King you know King Arthur of freaking email and companies and not like, not, like I am in the capacity. I am now with this podcast. But like you know, hey, like I have an anchor power system. There's issues with diesel heaters not running on power systems. Before I bought my anchor, I was like, how many amps can your 12 volt plug take? I emailed them. They emailed me back. You know, like some, some nice girl from their customer service team with the info. And did I understand all the info from all these companies that have sent me info? No, absolutely not. Can I operate Google? Yeah, I absolutely can. I can operate Google. Google it Like just make sure you're seeing what's going on.
Speaker 1:You know people that ship with some of these companies are kind of I'll use a word sketch. They're sketchy Like I have seen rooftop tents delivered out of less than ideal stuff. Now, all the rooftop tents I've ever seen delivered my two and a couple others from friends have all come on a pallet, literally on a pallet in a box, on a pallet out of a semi. So they used to. They used a lift gate, brought it down, put it on a pallet jack and rolled it to your door, house, shop, whatever. But I have heard they don't all come on a pallet.
Speaker 1:So again, not that, that's something you're going to be able to find out, but you could always info at contact at sales at x company, whatever. Hey, does this product come on a pallet? What kind of shipping protection do? But you could always info at contact at sales at X company, whatever. Hey, does this product come on a pallet? What kind of shipping protection do you have? Is the shipping protection on you guys or is it on the shipping company? If so, how's that work? Like all the stuff that all these influencers aren't telling you because somebody sent them a tent, you know, or they just had a great experience, or they're like me kind of, where I haven't had a shipping issue, but I go enough and I'm around enough people to know shipping issues exist, receiving issues exist. These are all real things that are going to happen with anything big, and finding out if your company is going to handle that for you or they're not.
Speaker 1:So again, I would highly encourage anybody. You know, look at the three types, the standard three types your soft shell, your clamshell hard, hard, your clamshell hard shell. And and then your wedge style. And look at the companies. Email the companies, even these companies I know there's a couple of popular ones nature nest and top oak are on Amazon now, but they also just have websites. So I think they've got like a, a contact info you can get a hold of them. So I would also look at that. My friend Johnny got his rooftop tenant Lowe's and I think it's a trust made and he got it from Lowe's. Well, that's kind of some protection too, because Lowe's is going to take care of you. So now you're not only dealing with the company you're dealing with, whatever warranty Lowe's, lowe's has. So that's a thought. I mean, that's a definite freaking thought. Can you return it to Lowe's? Yeah, is Lowe's going to do you right? Yeah, they're going to All things to look at and consider.
Speaker 1:Look at these things. Don't just go willy-nilly. Next best thing hotcakes tent. You get it, it's damaged. They won't honor it. You get it, you know. Oh well, you didn't check it at receiving. Go out three times with it. Something rips, something leaks. They're like oh, 30-day warranty, zero-day warranty if you installed it, only 30-day if we install it. Or a certified installer of ours, which we didn't ever tell you who that was.
Speaker 1:Pay freaking attention, guys, because I've heard these horror stories, seen, seen these horror stories, helped people write emails. Because, again, I do talk to companies more. I also for for work, work in customer service. So I understand. You know what's a ridiculous request or expectation and what's realistic. And if you were told, and now you want them to do something different, well, you know that's on you, which is why I'm here providing this content. Like listen to me, people Email the companies.
Speaker 1:This content like listen to me, people email the companies, email more than one of them so you can gauge the response and the customer service and how it goes. Call their helpline If you need help. Now call the number. Is it a third party or is it the actual company? Like I call Baja Designs and was like, hey, I want these lights in amber and I talked in amber color and I talked to, you know, megan at Baja Designs, like human, and she's like, I don't know, hold on, like just a regular person. That's worth something to me guys, and that's a huge company. But there are other companies that you'll deal with, you know, because I reach out to companies now on the regular where the customer service is like outsourced, it's like shell answers, scripts, you know, and if that's the only tent you can afford, you know, just know that your investment might not be protected with the company If you even can find out who the company is.
Speaker 1:So, all things to consider, you know, I knew when I came on this today I was going to talk about like, oh, this tent's good, that tent's bad, you know, like for wind, for comfort, for you know, pack a pack ability, I'll call it pack ability. I make my own word up. I don't know if that's a word pack ability. You know oh, I brought up gas mileage the best on your gas mileage is going to be your wedge style 100 time they're always thinner. You're going to affect your gas mileage is the least.
Speaker 1:Then the clamshell type hard shell then the soft. The soft types are usually 12 plus inches tall and they're like a legit square. These hard shell clamshells usually have a more, you know, uh, rounded, structured configuration and they're usually, you know, eight to ten inches tall. So you get another two inches lower. So it's not as much of a sale. And then when you're looking at the wedge style, they're usually I don't know if any are smaller than six inches tall, but they might be. So I'm gonna go ahead and say maybe four inches to eight inches, but I've seen six to eight inches in that range on the wedge style and they're flat, flat. So I think they're going to affect your mileage the least. Um, so I feel like I've I've beat up rooftop tents enough.
Speaker 1:Now what I want to talk about is talking about gas mileage. Segues me right into mounting options. If you have a truck or an SUV and things I've done and things that things I've done that I didn't like, that I did different this time. So the first thing is I'm going to talk about is, again, I was talking about aerodynamics. So if you have an SUV, you can put two crossbars across it, like you can buy two crossbars you could buy can buy two crossbars, you could buy a roof rack, it depends.
Speaker 1:My friend, chris here has a prince who rack in the great, the lime rush I think it's lime rush forerunner. He has a prince who rack, full-length prince who rack on his forerunner. I have the cab and camper prince who rack on mine. Tyson just has victory four by four. Uh, what just this bars, two bars, victory four by four bars. And they hold his tent fine.
Speaker 1:So you're looking at racks, half racks, what you're going to do. So there's racks on racks on racks. Right, I think that's like on our rap song, so don't copyright me. But so if you have a 4Runner, a GX460, 470, a Subaru, anything like that, you're kind of limited. Your rooftop tent's going on the roof. Now if you have a truck, differences occur here. You could do a camper shell, you could do a rack, you could do a half rack. And lastly, I've seen people with diamondback bed covers just put like real short, like bars across, like SUVs have and mount their rooftop tent like right on top of the like pretty much right on top of the bed, and mount their rooftop tent pretty much right on top of the bed. All options, they're going to affect you differently as far as space is concerned.
Speaker 1:Weather resistance, like a bed rack if it's open bed your stuff's getting, it's exposed to the weather and it's exposed to theft. And typically they're made of metal which potentially could rust, corrode, bend. So you know, if you don't hear my tone, you could tell I'm kind of not pro bed rack. I did a bed rack, I did a half rack actually, so that it didn't affect my gas mileage as bad. So my tent was even Now I have a camper shell. That's weight bearing, has weight bearing ability and I have Prince, who you know full rack on it, which my tent is.
Speaker 1:Then, um, now again trucks more expensive just because of that, putting a rooftop tent on it. You got to have a place to put it. I have recently, just recently, seen people putting it over the front cab. That'd save you a little bit of money because you could just do bars as far as mounting solutions. So I'm not a big fan of anything that's not sealed. I think the Diamondback bed cover with the rails on it is great because your bed underneath is sealed.
Speaker 1:I think a camper shell, rsi smart cap any type of cap that's either aluminum, stainless steel or fiberglass is awesome because they're going to be more weather resistant, corrosion resistant and your stuff's going to stay dry. Now, not everything's going to be dustproof, that's a whole nother situation of modifications. It'll keep your stuff dry. So I have a fridge, I have a deck system, I have propane back there, my second battery's back there. Um, and again, I've seen people with all those things, with bed racks that get dusty and sandy and whatever, and they're fine with that and that's cool for them. Um, I have a fiberglass bed cover only because, well, hey, that's what I really wanted and even though they're a lot of money, they're still cheaper than like an RSI smart cap. They're a little more money, so they're cool and I'd like them.
Speaker 1:I'm always looking at like worth the squeeze, you know, is it worth it to do this or that? So you got to look at mounting solutions too. I'd say in the case of rooftop tents. I wouldn't buy a rooftop tent and figure out the mounting solution after, because that might affect the budget on what tent you can get once you find out how much your mounting solution is going to cost. So I knew I was going to get into this topic and it's just a lot shorter topic like how are you going to mount it if you got a trailer, mount it on the trailer. Like how you mount it on the trailer, how's how you can do it. Like how's that going to work out? Because you can't take like a, a basket rack and put a rooftop tent on it. A lot of factory, a lot of factory like bars aren't going to work for a tent. You know they'll work for like a cargo box, but not a freaking rooftop tent. So make sure you're paying attention to your mounting option.
Speaker 1:I'd say, I'd say you know if it. Hopefully I didn't lose anybody listening to this before I got to this point, but I would look at your mounting solution prior to the tent, because the mounting solutions vary greatly in price. Um, I'm just like uh, I mean, I like the Prince who. Um, I've again, I like the Prince who. That's why Chris has one Cause. I was like hey, man, I I got nothing bad to say about my rack and my rack has been on my truck for years. It's been great and I got boxes attached to it and I've had antennas on it and I've hung hammocks off of it. It's great. I can't say anything bad about it. Again, I don't have experience with other brands. I know Sherpa makes a great rack but again, you can also just get load bars and I really don't know what the cost differential is between this brand and that brand.
Speaker 1:I could go over some brands for those of you that might shop. There's Princey racks, shop. There's princy racks. There's sherpa racks. There's trail built racks. There's I don't know if I think c4 fabrications makes a rack, victory 4x4 makes a rack. All those companies are going to have roof like up mounting solutions for whether it's storage boxes or rooftop tents, um, so those are things to look at, as any of those brands are going to have that stuff.
Speaker 1:I also, again with the everybody's google. You know sufficient enough to be a google professor. Look, look at the metal. Don't get a rack. That's mild steel. It doesn't have a load bearing on it. It won't tell you what it loads. Static load capacity, dynamic load capacity If you don't know what those things mean. Static means the truck's not moving. Dynamic means the truck is moving, not that you. Typically the static is a lot higher than the dynamic but you also aren't going to sleep two people in the top while you're driving down the trail, I hope.
Speaker 1:So pay attention to that stuff, but also, by all means, pay attention to the freaking material. I think most of them are aluminum, though I do honestly think most of them are aluminum. Oh, up top, is it up top? I think it's up top Makes a rack too, and I would like to pimp them. A lot of hunting guys have those up top racks.
Speaker 1:So also look at your racks. What accessories you can get easily replacement parts, customer service, like again, we're in a hobby where we're supposed to be using stuff. So pay attention to who's going to help you when you break the stuff you use. I can't, you know litmus. Test that email, do it guys. Email the sales team, the customer service team. Just ask your questions. You're not dumb and you know what.
Speaker 1:The only way I know all about it is because I've been having one for a while, been around a lot of people, been at expos, been on camp trips, been at places, seen all the freaking varieties of how you can mount them. Do them, what ones? What brands X, y, z, you know. Listen to stories, like I just told about my experience with Overland vehicle systems. Um, make sure you pay attention to what you're buying. So that's about.
Speaker 1:That's going to be about all I got today. Uh, am sorry to everybody that usually watches, because I did have to call an audible and do it on Monday. If you guys have any questions, comments, concerns about anything I talked about today, you can always DM me on Instagram. You can always email me, charlie at outskirtsoverlandcom. Thanks to you guys for my Instagram, my Instagram. So it's not a by any means a huge milestone again, but this is my 15th week of outskirts overland and I went from like a hundred followers at the beginning of May to like a thousand something today. So, like in a month, I got like 900 followers. So, thanks guys. That's freaking awesome. I mean, there's going to be a day, I'm sure as long as I keep doing this, where I'll be like man. Remember that. You know I still remember my first one. I didn't know what I was doing. So, anyways, thanks guys.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you guys for being here, appreciate you guys for listening. I appreciate everybody that sent me such positive you know positive words. Obviously, I don't think everybody in the world is going to agree with me. You don't need to. You know I'm open to have a discussion with anybody on here that doesn't agree with me so I can maybe see their perspective. I don't have every perspective of this hobby. You know there's way bigger fish than me going to Africa and Norway and doing the whole what is it? Pan American highway and like I don't know everything. I'm just trying to be here for people, to help you guys out best I can you know, best I can do. Um, so anyways, I always encourage everybody to message me. I'm just a dude.
Speaker 1:My very first podcast with Budget Overland the title is Just a Dude. I'm just a dude, I'm just a guy. I just made a commitment to myself that I would actually start doing this, as I was getting a lot of questions on stuff I would just start putting out publicly. So, anyways, appreciate everyone being here, appreciate everyone that's going to listen and everybody have a great Memorial Day weekend. I hope everybody gets outside. Camp, if you want to camp, float, enjoy some camaraderie with your friends, a campfire, some food. You know, hopefully everybody gets out and enjoys the long weekend. That's what it's about, you know. And again, I just thank you all for being here. I'll talk to you guys later.