Truck Tents

[Mr Mac]

I have searched the forum for an open discussion on these types of tents but didn't have too much luck so I'll take a chance on rehashing in a new thread.

With any kind of luck I'll be relocating back to the Pacific Northwest soon and plan on making more than a few camping trips that involve fishing in a river alongside the campsite. I have a couple of tents already, one, a small four-person dome and the second is a very large family dome which is just too big for one.

My wife has decided that when she gets up there with me that we'll probably buy a pop up camper and go from there but, in the mean time, I had thought about a truck tent that I can pitch in the bed of my truck.

I searched the Internet and mostly what I found was videos and testimonies of folks all sponsored by the tent makers and we all know how advertising goes.

My questions are, who here has one of these and what is your honest opinion? If you could go back and choose a different one than you bought, what would it be and why?

Mac

[renodesertfox]

Re: Truck Tents

Thanks Mr. Mac for getting this topic started again!

Chatting about truck tents as another form of tent camping is good! I'm looking forward to a new exchange of info from anyone that camps this way. As background allow me to insert this old link to what was discussed some time back!

http://www.campingforums.com/forum/s...36-Truck-tents

[Mr Mac]

Re: Truck Tents

Thanks for the link! Like I said, I searched (using truck tent as my key words) but never saw this thread. The one tent pictured is the one I am considering purchasing though the price is pretty high. I did a brief search on CL and ebay and may get one there to start with.

The thing that draws me to this kind of tent is that I am up off the ground so when it starts to get cold I won't feel it to the bone (I hope)!

[renodesertfox]

Re: Truck Tents

Sound pretty good Mr. Mac, perhaps though the bed of the truck will be colder, because that's steel. Perhaps you might want to consider a tent heater? Just some thoughts.......

Thanks for bringing this up about not being able to find any tag words, I have started to correct that and added a few new ones to the Tag Cloud.

[Mr Mac]

Re: Truck Tents

Storage space isn't an issue with my truck (just fold up the back seats) and the spots I plan to camp at are right on or very near the rivers I plan to fish on. Since it will be just me for the time being the amount of gear I'll haul along will probably be limited to an LED lantern, a camp stove and percolator and associated cookware and food items (in case the fishing is poor).

[silverz51]

Re: Truck Tents

I sold my truck last year and finally sold my truck tent a couple of months ago. While I can see the benefits of the truck tents, I also found some disadvantages. If you don't mind losing the use of the truck while the tent is set up, you will be happy with the roominess and the fact that the tent is off the ground. The other minus point for the truck tent is that it takes a lot longer to set up and take down than a good quality 2 man tent...

I plant to take another long road trip to the Northwest and camp along the way. I am leaning towards making my FJ cruiser into a camper so I can sleep inside it when the weather conditions make setting up my 2 man tent too much of a hassle. I think that I can also use the roof rack to anchor a big tarp if needed to provide shelter from rain perhaps for the tent as well as for cooking, eating, etc. I'll see how it works in a test trip to the NC mountains before too long...