Overlanding Tundra Enthusiast

Long-time lurker, recent active member. I thought I would do a long overdue introduction.
I appreciate all of the knowledge that is shared on here. I had a 2006 4Runner before moving to the Tundra in 2015 and never looking back.

Many thanks to all of you who contribute to this forum.

Seattle WA resident but a Vermonter born and raised. I’m an active hiker and camper and now addicted to overland trips and “Truck hiking”. I have an Expedition built Tundra. NOT a DD, but makes its way across WA and OR, Death Valley, AZ, Southern Utah, Nevada…. I make at least 2 trips to the SW every year (this year lucky to have had 3!). I am often times accompanied by my wife, but always accompanied by my dog.

You will probably see lot’s of “glamour shots” of my truck in many Southwest locations

I have a pretty heavily modified 2012 Tundra Crewmax Platinum 4x4. I’m always either spending time planning or doing something to the truck, often swearing and having one too many IPAs during the process. Intro here, I will follow up with a link to my build thread I am about to start.

 

Welcome. Sweet truck and great pics.

 

Welcome Travis

 

One slightly embarrassing pic. Early days, overconfidence! (Lockers came shortly after)

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)! Sweet build!

 

Welcome from Nevada, nice rig

 

Welcome

 

Welcome from Ohio

 

welcome ! twinsies !

 

Separated at birth, or rather production?

 

Nice truck. Welcome!

 

Welcome from Vancouver (WA) or as its know as Vantucky.

 

Welcome from Utah! I'm an overlander as well , PM me next time you plan a trip down to utah for some offroading. Maybe we can work out a trip

 

Sounds good. I love grand staircase, white pocket, alsrom point, San Raphael etc.

 

@Trabs00 I'm down for all that but only have done the swell and west desert I've only lived here for two years and a year of that was disrupted by both my parents health.

 

Sorry to hear about your parents. There are so many great places in the SW for overlanding, hiking, slot canyons etc. I've been there a ton and still have so many places to go.
Gotta be ready for those AZ and Utah pinstripes though, man I miss how she looked before taking her down there.
.... only to a point!
But it never stops me from getting where I want to go

 

Not a tundra but definitely an overland setup

 

All that $ for that setup and looks like highway tires. I've pulled out many vehicles like this where they think a cool setup (without decent tires) and AWD will take then anywhere!

 

One of the best was just last December I unstuck a couple in a rental jeep with tiny highway tires buried in sand.
They were 20+ miles in on a rarely traveled road which at 17 miles in had a big "Caution, DEEP SAND" sign
They were lucky my buddy and I were out there in our appropriate vehicles.

 

Welcome! Just finished requesting my time off in June to drive across the country in my rig again. It’s addictive and expensive. I got 10mpg or so on my 4K mile Sedona trip in late November. Increase in gas prices are gonna make these trips hurt the wallet even more. Those inappropriate highway tires may be all I can afford to fuel soon! AT LEAST I don’t have to pay to sleep every night.

 

Nice setup!
I'm definitely addicted, I might take few extra weeks unpaid leave this year to make a 6 week cross country this fall.
Yeah I get 9 mph so I feel your pain!
That Rav looks appealing when you look at your CC bill after a trip

 

Where are you in that pic BTW

 

I am currently committed to attending my group therapy sessions with GGA. (Gas Guzzlers Anonymous)

My name is Travis. I am 42 years old and Live in Seattle WA. I am addicted to driving my Gas Guzzling Toyota Tundra all over the country. This has inflicted great pain and a strain on my relationship with my wallet.

 

Welcome from VA. Nice rig. Love the bumpers.

 

Sedona, Outlaw OHV trail. It wasn’t super hard but the camper definitely didn’t fit too well. Loved the cliff dwellings near there. Cool to see history like that, really pushed my imagination picturing what it would be like living there at the time.
Oh and thank you. She’s always a work in progress!

 

In the market for a rooftop tent to put on her. Any suggestions/recommendations?

 

Not sure if I would recommend Alu-Cab. Although probably because I stupidly got one of the first 5-10 shipped to the States (Gen 2) With their scale-up they had issues QC and one of the issues was where they put rivets and how they sealed them. I have had periodic leaking since day 1. I basically have used HD sealant on all rivets, around the rubber seal and everywhere else I could find. Still leaks a bit, I have to check all rivets periodically. Which really SUCKS because I live in Seattle and sometimes go weeks with rain and not able to open tent to check / air out.

Love their shadow awning, can't say enough good things about it. The shower cube is pretty cool (got for the wife) but for the $ I'd probably just go back to a pop up privy if I lose this one. I only bought as I got an amazing deal on it.

I will now post another time with a LONG assessment of hardshell RTTs. I was thinking of upgrading to something different and did a write up a few months ago. I just can't justify the cash and will live with my imperfect tent for a few more years.

 

LONG winded assessment of current Aluminum hard-shell RTTs (only ones I personally have considered). I do not like the soft-shell for many reasons, hard shells are so much quicker to setup and takedown... but take up a lot more space

Things to consider:

Are you going to mount on a canopy or a bed cage system?
Do you want to be able to put anything on top of the tent?
Do you want to be able to put anything on the side of the tent? (awning, hi-lift etc.)

There are so many aluminum hard shell RTTs these days. When I bought mine Alu-cab was the only aluminum option, everybody has gotten into the game these days.
Pay attention: Some of the newer tents do not have the ability for direct mounting on the sides or the top of the tent (if important to you). I have my canopy and shower cube on directly mounted to the side of the tent and Hi-Lift and TRED on top.

If they do not on the sides, the work around is to have a good platform on top of your canopy / cage with side mount options. This gets more expensive as all of the modern tents can mount to most HD crossbars and do not need a platform.

I would highly recommend aluminum over fiberglass if you take your truck places you probably shouldn't like me, haha. The James Barood tents get great reviews, but I would have already broken mine on some overhead branches on several trips. But my truck is pretty lifted and on 37’s.

My breakdown: I would read up more about the the Go Fast ones, they look pretty badass. If I were to do it again / get a new one, personally I am pretty sure I would get one of these.

1. Go Fast Campers
a. Made in Bozeman MT!
b. Looks like you can mount accessories on the top, and sides
I have only seen a few on the road, not up close but this one looks awesome to me. If I had to buy another tent I would probably go with this one (would want to see it first but it looks great). Looks like they basically looked at the Alu-Cab and improved a Ton of things. I am jealous of this tent.
Only downside I see is the lead time is pretty bad. Also the risk if they scale up too fast and have manufacturing issues (like mine)

2. Eezi-Awn Blade
a. Can mount on top, to me it looks like sides only with to a platform you mount to
b. Made in South Africa (RTT mecca)
c. 198 lbs

Another good option, probably my #2 if I were to do it over again.

3. Alu-cab (Gen 2 comments Gen3 is supposed to have improved several things)

a. My tent had some manufacturing issues, but mine was a Gen 2 and one of the first 10 in U.S. and they made a few mistakes when scaling up manufacturing. This has been corrected for the Gen 3 tent.
b. Can mount on top, and sides
c. Made in South Africa
d. 194 lbs
e. Taller than other options
f. Very thick canvas material,
I think this thing will last forever. That said the insulation kit is nearly impossible to add. I tried a few times and gave up and stopped bringing it. I just bundle up and use a warm sleeping bag.
In nights of 8-12 degrees the condensation on the walls from my breath / body heat freezes. I have to warm up the tent with a portable heater to thaw and wipe the condensation.
g. Ladder sucks (not telescoping and too short for a lifted truck) but you can adapt the mount to a $50 telescoping ladder from Amazon
h. Internal lighting sucked (two dinky reading lights that do pretty much nothing to light up the tent (not sure if Gen 3 has improved this)
i. The mattress sucked. I replaced mine with a Full XL 5” memory foam mattress and it was a Huge improvement
j. No condensation mat included, but can get one for ~ $40


I still like my tent more than sleeping on the ground but several things annoy me about it that seem to have been improved with Gen 3 and on by newer options. Personally I would have to see one in person, really check it out grill a distributer to think about another Alu-cab


4. Roof nest Falcon / Falcon XL
a. Can mount on top, and sides
b. Made in China (I think)
c. 135 lbs for regular 150 for XL

I like the look / design of the tent, I just wouldn’t spend that much on a tent from China

 

wow thank you for the awesome response. I really do like the falcon XL but the price point is a little much for what it is.