Hey
@Randun,
I am also new here! We have an Alucab Gen 3 RTT on our 80 series (
Gen 3.1 Expedition Tent - Tents - Alu-Cab - Europe)
Before settling on this we used a ground tent, one of the (I think this brand was eezi-awn) soft shell RTT which double up on themselves when packing away (
Series 3 Roof Top Tent) and since have used an iKamper on a Gladiator we rented in the US.
Our reasons for having a RTT vs a Ground tent were ease of setup (it takes us all of 30 seconds to set up and put away), overall convenience and to some extent (whether real or imagined) an additional sense of security when in the national parks in
Africa. In any case both of us seem to sleep better up top.
There are cons of course- additional weight up top, we could have still had the stuff I mentioned on a roof rack and camped on the ground (or by taking up half roof with a soft shell RTT and the other half with a rack (but weight??), climbing down the ladder in the middle of the night for a pee, additional wind noise on the road (although we have solved this with a baffle up front).
As for weight in general, prior to the RTT, we had a rack, jerries (lots of them) and the max track and our second spare tire. At the same time as adding the RTT, we added an additional fuel tank in the chassis, found a way to fit that tank and the second spare in the chassis and had a new bumper arm built to hold 2 jerries. So while the RTT has weight condiserations we have considerably lowered our centre of gravity than our original setup. All of this though has meant a new, more beefy suspension setup as once we got done with this 3rd rebuild the rear was sitting a little low......
Why did we choose the Alucab (we have had it for 4 years now approx)
- We were buying it in SA and it is made there.
- It is easy to setup- one person, 30 seconds- both up and down.
- There are options with a scissor lift at the back of the tent which allows for more space/ volume once open, but when we looked at these, the space gained was outweighed by the considerable faff to put them away (in comparison to the Gen 3).
- Mattress and all bedding stays in. Also enough space to have custom mattress put in, which we have done and is incredibly comfortable.
- No need for a roof rack to mount it to. It goes straight to the rails via some load bars (weight saving).
- It takes load (50kg, although this does make it harder to open) and allows us to have a solar panel, our Maxtraxx and a custom aluminium basket for additional stuff like firewood or a rangers camp gear if we are travelling with one. This was the main reason for choosing this sort of tent over another.
- It has attachment rails on either side allowing us to mount stuff (an awning etc).
- It is aluminium and tough!
The benefit of the soft shell ones and even some of the newer hard-shells like the smaller Ikamper are that they take up less space (ie not your whole roof). The main drawback of the soft shells, for me, is that they are a hassle. You have to take off the cover, which is extra hassle, oftentimes you find yourself (at least we did) on the roof to deal with it.
You do get more space with them and the iKamper (and now there are other similar options) really maxims space and are relatively quick to put up and down. But either there are no load bearing options or they are far too low to be of use to us.
It does, at the end of the day, come down to personal pref
