If I subtract the whining, looks like a lot of heavy use and it's practically like-new. With just a small piece of plastic broken off on a corner. Thanks!
I just bought the latest Tepui Autana with Annex and have the tent portion open and sitting on my living room floor at this very moment trying to air out that water proofing smell. I have seen many high end canvas tents while in boy scouts and such back in the day. I would put this tent right up with the best. I think some of the items you mentioned are normal wear items that are just going to fade or fray due to exposure to the elements and wind buffeting while traveling, as for the floor if they made it out of something a little more resistant to dings it would be much more costly and much heavier. If you want the tent to last longer you should store it inside between trips to minimize UV wear to the cover.
If you reside in the Midwest, go to Menards, and in the section were they sell all the strapping stuff (bungees, ratchet strap, etc) you should be able to find a four or six foot bungee cord, where the strap ends are actually a part of the hook. Only issue you might have would be that hook. You didn’t say why that strap is there, but I assume it ther to pull in the sides during folding. If that’s correct then I think this bungee should work for your needs.
Great review of the Tepui tent... I have the same one on my vagabondexpedition.com Jeep Wrangler, and have noticed the same small problems you have. For the ladder dents on the floor panel, I cut a piece of foam rubber and glued it into position here. In high winds, yes, I get the noise, but I also close the rain fly and use bungee cords instead of the fixed tether points ( vagabondexpedition.com/the-tepui-kukenam-roof-top-tent/ ). For cold weather I've also installed the anti-condensation mat.
Since it’s already mounted over your bed, making your bed useless, why not just get a shell and inflatable mattress? Seems like you’d get more utility out of your truck and have instant shelter.
+mutt2jeff thanks for the fast response. So there is no movement using the clamps that the Tacoma has? Even when you go wheeling off road? Of course not rough wheeling but nice trailing.! This will save me a lot of headache trying to convince the wife I need to purchase more stuff for the tent... When it's going to cost almost 1500.00 already! How easy was the mounting to the truck bed? You have a video of that?
Thanks for the review. A lot of details that you wont see in a store. The only concern I had about the tent is the bottom surface. is it a metal-plastic?
Thinking of getting one of these, do you think it's worth it to get the ruggedized version? I'd rather not because it's $450 more and weighs 50lb more. Your review helps a lot! I think based on the amount of use you've had that it should hold up pretty well. Any ideas or advice?
I think ruggedized should be the minimum level of these tents. And if you plan on using it in the summer, opt for a lightly colored one, as the dark ones are sweltering in the sun.
So you do not have cross bars under tent to mount? Tepui said I HAD to have crossbars and couldn't mount on roof rack without them..guess they think floor or those supplied silver rails might bend with weight in tent etc. Do u think mounting without the crossbars will be ok?? cause it is another $300 to buy the crossbars for my roof rack on jeep
Sean Harris I believe they do list it as three person, but like all tents, it is only three person if you have no sense of personal space or a desire for comfort. It comfortably sleeps two.
mikeg6niner I weigh about 210, the girlfriend weighs about 120, plus maybe another 40 pounds of sleeping gear and clothes. So that is 370# for a whole season with no ill effects. A lot of people on the Tacoma forums speculate that you should not mount to bed rails and over engineer a solution, but as far as I can tell I am the only one to actually try it, and my truck has suffered no ill effects.
Thanks for the info. I was gonna go the same route for mounting to the bed rails, but my bestop has mounting hardware I need to clear when the tent opens, so it's gonna have to be elevated above the bed rails.
Dennis Cooper I still have it. It hasn't been used as much in this last year, but it has held up reasonably. It's just not a premium product, and it doesn't seem to hold up like one. I have a ground tent that I have been dragging around on the back of motorcycles for a decade. I spent a lot of money on it, and it has held up perfectly. The Tepui is not that sort of premium product, if you know what I am saying. It's a good tent, comfortable, works well, but not a buy for life. It also costs a third as much as a premium roof top tent. So it's a balancing act. Tepui has never contacted me, though I would give them a fair shake if they wanted to send me a new model for long term review lol.
mutt2jeff yeah I understand what your saying about buy for life. I’m looking at buying a larger one for my Jeep and at those prices I sure don’t want to buy a new one every 4-5 years. I don’t mind spending the money once. I’ve been looking for a long term review on their top of the line ruggedized RTT. Haven’t found yet. Ive been looking at the tents from Gordigear also but I liked that Tepui is made in America. Thanks for the info.
Dennis Cooper if your using it less heavily than me, maybe 5-10 times a year, and you take it off the vehicle between uses, I feel like it would be a very solid choice and would work for a long time. Rugidized especially so.
What bar do you have set up across your Tacoma truck bed to mount your Tepui Tent on? Trying to find a solution that won't break the bank and is removable since I have a Ton-roll up cover thank you.
+mutt2jeff thanks for the fast response. So there is no movement using the clamps that the Tacoma has? Even when you go wheeling off road? Of course not rough wheeling but nice trailing.! This will save me a lot of headache trying to convince the wife I need to purchase more stuff for the tent... When it's going to cost almost 1500.00 already! How easy was the mounting to the truck bed? You have a video of that?
+mutt2jeff thanks for the fast response. So there is no movement using the clamps that the Tacoma has? Even when you go wheeling off road? Of course not rough wheeling but nice trailing.! This will save me a lot of headache trying to convince the wife I need to purchase more stuff for the tent... When it's going to cost almost 1500.00 already! How easy was the mounting to the truck bed? You have a video of that?
+Tactical tED +Tactical tED I had to replace the supplied nuts with lock nuts, but after that it is secure. On a really rough road you can see it wiggling around some, but that is actually the bed flexing. I did have to remove the quick release on the rail tie downs and replace them with simple nuts to make clearance for the rails. It's very easy to install, just slide the tent into place, put mounting hardware in the rails, bolt it down. Don't have a video of installation
Malcolm Oliver It's pretty steady, but I suppose that would really depend on your truck and it's suspension. It does not move at all from the way it is mounted on the bed, but the whole truck will shift a little depending on how you move around.
With that video cam attached to your head, I got really nauseous and stop your vid (good thing I didn't go into the Navy). Yeah, it's been 5 years since this vid was done, but if you did an update, I would definitely watch the entire reveal.
So you do not have cross bars under tent to mount? Tepui said I HAD to have crossbars and couldn't mount on roof rack without them..guess they think floor or those supplied silver rails might bend with weight in tent etc. Do u think mounting without the crossbars will be ok?? cause it is another $300 to buy the crossbars for my roof rack on jeep
Thanks for respond..I didn't think so either..think I'll just save myself the $300 and mount like you did..and if I see I need them later I'll just buy then
