Late last week, the Tuff Stuff Overland Alpha Roof Top Tent arrived for the Gunship. With the help of my wife, my son, my brother-in-law, and my friend Doug, we were able to get the tent up and mounted without much difficulty.
Due to my car’s satellite radio antenna being mounted on the back of the roof, I opted to mount the tent a little closer to the front of the car than most people do. Due to the awning and Tuff Stuff Overland Shower Tent being mounted onto our Sherpa Equipment Company Crestone Roof Rack, I had to put some spacers to raise the tent up about an inch. The end result is some whistling at speeds over 45 mph. This is something that wouldn’t have happened if I wouldn’t have raised it or mounted it so close to the front. The solution is to fabricate a longer fairing by about 3″ which will route the air up and over the gap between the tent and the roof rack. I’ve contacted Sherpa Equipment Company about having this fairing made by them. I will hopefully hear from them, soon.
In the meantime, my wife and I have begun getting ourselves familiar with opening and closing the tent. Our first time was interesting and we weren’t very good at it. However, by the second time, it was much easier, and the tent was setup and ready to go within 3 minutes. Putting it away takes just a slight bit longer, but it’s still easy. We just have to work together to tuck everything in neatly.
This is a preview, because we have yet to go camping with it. We have a trip coming up this weekend as a test-run of all the overlanding gear we have purchased over the past few months in preparation for our two-week long trip from Texas up to New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and then back to Texas. We have reservations in numerous state parks and national forests, and we will be putting the tent through the paces.
So far, I can say the quality is excellent, and when I mounted the tent, I broke one of the strap tie-downs that Tuff Stuff very quickly replaced for me. The follow-up post to this one will be far more detailed and be based on actual usage of the tent and our experiences with it on our trip. We anticipate good and comfortable sleep on the 3″ memory foam mattress and protection from the elements.
Overlanding with PaleoMarine 