Camping with the Titan

Slickshoes · 10-12-2004, 05:37 PM

Just got back from a weekend of camping out at Lake Lemet here in So Cal. I took my girlfriend, her sister, and her niece and nephew, and tons of gear. I also recently purchased the bed tent for my king cab and found it to be absolutely perfect for what I was hoping for. The quality of the tent material and poles also seemed perfectly acceptable and seemed to deal with the elements quite well. The bag it comes in however seems pretty cheap, but no big deal to me.

The only complaint is that I couldn't see anyway not to need to remove the clips from the straps that need to go around the tailgate. I just removed them, ran the straps where they needed to go, and then re-looped the end connectors which then connect to the straps that come over the tailgate. Anyone else have this problem? Or was I running them in the wrong place? No big deal really, but still...

I also found that a queen sized Aerobed fits perfectly flat in the back, with still a reasonable amount of room on the sides for additional gear. The rear power outlet is an absolute godsend, and is still easily accessible with the tent connected so using a small power inverter to pump up the Aerobed was a snap.

Also, I definitely will be ordering the rear seat covers now. I was so/so about the seat covers initially, and not overly happy with the fitment on my passenger seat. But after seeing just how much protection they give, I'll live with these little issues since I've now rekindled my love for camping.

So, next up is camping trackside at Laguna Seca this weekend for the ALMS, SPEED World Touring and GT series, World SuperKart, and other races. Whoohooo!!!

Nr1 Qualifier · 10-12-2004, 08:09 PM

Can one person put up the tent with those flexible poles
or do you need two?

1Titan · 10-13-2004, 02:50 AM

That's nice! I seen them a while ago and always wanted them and now looking at your camping shots that's going to be my next purchase. Is it easy to assemble? Heck the only thing is I'm a couple inches taller then the bed my legs are going to have to curl up.

games94965 · 10-13-2004, 05:48 PM

I looked at the price of the tent since I enjoy camping and saw that it was around $200 and was like wow....do you really camp anywhere that you cant set up a tent on the ground...c'mon my last tent was a huge 8 person tent that slept max 4 people comfortably and it only cost like $100. so I dunno...

TheRealJimbo · 10-14-2004, 12:20 PM

Ok, let me get this straight. . .you spent like 24 hours straight with your sister in law, and you're complaining about tent straps?!?!!

Wanna trade sister's in law, Dude??

Slickshoes · 10-14-2004, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nr1 Qualifier

Can one person put up the tent with those flexible poles
or do you need two?

Yeah, I was able to do it by myself. You first pass the poles through the pleats in the tent roof and just put one side into the pole pockets. Then on the other side, you lift, bend, grunt a little, but eventually you get them in. Two people would make it a little easier though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Titan

Is it easy to assemble? Heck the only thing is I'm a couple inches taller then the bed my legs are going to have to curl up.

Very easy. In fact, I was impressed that they went as far as make the pleats in the tent color matched to the appropriate pole you need to use. The poles seemed to be pretty high quality fiberglass. And regarding being taller than the bed, keep in mind the tent stretches all the way to the end of the down tailgate, so you might actually be ok.

Quote:

Originally Posted by games94965

I looked at the price of the tent since I enjoy camping and saw that it was around $200 and was like wow....do you really camp anywhere that you cant set up a tent on the ground...c'mon my last tent was a huge 8 person tent that slept max 4 people comfortably and it only cost like $100. so I dunno...

I paid $170+ shipping. No, not at all. The ground works just fine too, but we also had a little 2 person tent set up this weekend as well, and the biggest thing I noticed was that the ground tent ended up getting coated in dust since the wind was blowing pretty good. Whereas the truck tent and everything in it seemed to deal with the wind much better. Also my girlfriend felt a little more protected from the "bugs and nasty things crawling around", which if it helps keep the moaning and groaning down, its cool with me. But you are exactly right, if you're looking for cheapest or best bang for buck, its hard to beat a cheap little coleman ground tent.

Quote:

Wanna trade sister's in law, Dude??

Haha... I'm not married yet, and I'm guessing that's the catalyst when the in-law thing completely changes.