OPENROAD Aluminum Hard Shell LT Roof Top Tent RTT installed

[Squatch25]

From ground to the flip up antenna is roughly 7ft but does still fit in my garage. Off the top of my head I'm not sure what my garage opening is. Its a tight fit but does clear so possibly 7ft 6in. As for the awning brackets I did use the factory ones however I drilled new holes allowing me to raise the awning a bit higher which allows me to open the rear hatch to about 95%. I do have a new set of brackets that are even higher and more solid that a buddy welded up for me but have yet to install them since that requires removing the tent once again. I allowing have the awning pushed rearward enough that the hatch spoiler clears the awning arm when the awning is fully deployed. This does create a gap in the back but fortunately the rain fly of the tent protects that gap for the most part. Not perfect but it does what we need it to do so far.

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[bgrif]

Thanks for this post. I think I'm going to go with the same exact setup. It looks great, and having the one with the integrated awning looks like the way to go. Any other things you've learned after having this for a while?

 

[mfoga]

The awning is not integrated It is separate. They make both you can Save money buying both together.

 

[bgrif]

The awning is not integrated It is separate. They make both you can Save money buying both together.

Do you know if the awning attaches to the side of the tent or to the rack? Finding install info for both is proving difficult.

 

[mfoga]

It attaches to the rack. I have seen some that say it can attach to side of tent but that would require a heavy duty side of tent IMO. I don’t have the tent on all the time I can install in about 30 minutes but the swing stays on full time. Would get pulled down for long trip where it won’t be used but outside it stays up.

I have the 270 awning on the Westcott awing attachments (required drilling a hole to fit awning spacing). It’s very low profile and will very much limit the height of liftgate with awing open but high enough I can get in the back to get things. Also required me adding some straps to keep it from cover of drooping down and sliding across door when you open the doors.
If I left it on full time with the tent I would probably get taller mounts so I could open liftgate all the way up.

 

[bgrif]

It attaches to the rack. I have seen some that say it can attach to side of tent but that would require a heavy duty side of tent IMO. I don’t have the tent on all the time I can install in about 30 minutes but the swing stays on full time. Would get pulled down for long trip where it won’t be used but outside it stays up.

I have the 270 awning on the Westcott awing attachments (required drilling a hole to fit awning spacing). It’s very low profile and will very much limit the height of liftgate with awing open but high enough I can get in the back to get things. Also required me adding some straps to keep it from cover of drooping down and sliding across door when you open the doors.
If I left it on full time with the tent I would probably get taller mounts so I could open liftgate all the way up.

Okay, I'm new to this so bear with my dumb questions . Do you have to shim the RTT up, so there's a gap for the awning bracket? The part I don't understand is how the bracket for the awning attaches to the roof rack and how the RTT then fits on top of it.

 

[mfoga]

The westcott brackets attach to the side rails of the rack for the awning. The tent for me is using the Sherpa tall mounts (1" above cross rails). I used 8 mount 4 at attached to rail near the center and stays mounted to the top tent. You can see it hanging off bottom of the tent.

There are other options as far how to meet the tent and the awning. The tent will always mount to cross rails and some awning mounts will mint to cross rails too. The tent is off center. The awing sticks out about 6" outside the side of car and the tent is about the same on the other side. There is a few inch gap between the two to allow me to get install cross rails and get to latches for the tent to open and close it. Length wise it's sits right above is it the light bar in front and about an inch from where my liftgate stops to clear my garage door when open.

 

[bgrif]

The westcott brackets attach to the side rails of the rack for the awning. The tent for me is using the Sherpa tall mounts (1" above cross rails). I used 8 mount 4 at attached to rail near the center and stays mounted to the top tent. You can see it hanging off bottom of the tent.

There are other options as far how to meet the tent and the awning. The tent will always mount to cross rails and some awning mounts will mint to cross rails too. The tent is off center. The awing sticks out about 6" outside the side of car and the tent is about the same on the other side. There is a few inch gap between the two to allow me to get install cross rails and get to latches for the tent to open and close it. Length wise it's sits right above is it the light bar in front and about an inch from where my liftgate stops to clear my garage door when open.

Ooooh okay, this makes so much sense now! I didn't know there were tent mounts that could create a gap, this was the missing piece. Thank you so much responding with the pictures!

 

[RunnerRocks]

Clean setup.

What are you using to lift & suspend the tent from your garage ceiling ?

 

[mfoga]

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