Travelling and truck-camping has become a popular holiday need these days. If you are a traveller and love to camp in your truck bed, you can choose truck bed tents as an effective way to have a more wild experience as compared to the typical camping.So, lets find out are truck bed worth it.
Now you may ask, are truck bed tents worth it? Well, Truck bed tents are definitely worth it for those people who want to spend their camping days in an inexpensive way to sleep above the ground. This is also perfect for those truck owners who like to have a greater feeling of security while sleeping during camping days. It also keeps you safe from wild animals and any sort of dirt and mud accumulated in the camping area.
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What are truck bed tents?
Truck tents are tents that are specially designed so that you can set up them in your truck bed. These truck tents were invented in late 1990, which are the best solution for the different types of make-shift tents that campers generally need.
These tents can open up in the back of your truck and hence help the campers to comfortably sleep inside the truck bed. They work as a good replacement option to the temporary ground tents that people use to construct so that they could spend the nights during the camping days.
These tents also facilitate ease of movements and help minimise the hassles of setting the tent at night and then removing it in the morning. You can find these truck tents in different kinds of materials. Hence, you are free to choose the material of your truck tent depending on your requirements.
Are truck bed tents worth their price?
The general cost of the truck tents would be around 200$. So, it is a good decision to buy truck tents, if we compare the price of the truck tents and the advantages, disadvantages it provides. If you are a journey person and like to travel much with all your valuable belongings, then these tents can be very helpful on the journey that you can set up almost instantly, anywhere without facing any hassles.
Many people are using truck tents as a great alternative to the ground tents these days because of their various advantages. If you are a traveller and a camper as, then you must want to have a hassle-free tent set up. In this case, you should buy a truck tent. It is an effective and comfortable way of camping that comes in great shape and varieties as per the personal needs. You can buy them from any online e-commerce website or any sports shop easily; we recommend you to choose amazon.com for shopping these tents.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Truck Bed Tents
Advantages:
- Truck Bed mounted Tents are inexpensive as compared to other options like roof top tents. These type of truck tents are also more practical and versatile than ground attachment tents.
- You can easily pitch the tent since it is mounted on the truck bed rather than searching for level ground to pitch. You do not have to worry about overhangs or ladders to worry about while pitching. It also does not require extra space as it takes up the same space as your truck’s footprint.
- Truck bed tents are an easy way to utilize your truck bed for sleeping.
- These tents are light weight and can be stored into a small space.
- With truck tents, you do not eed to worry about smaller wild life as you sleep safely above the ground. The truck tent can also give you shelter from the wind.
- You can use these tents for hunting and fishing.
- If you have kids, then this can be a good way to take them for camping, which will be safer than the ground tents.
- You will stay higher and drier without facing any sort of problems.
- If you go for truck tents, you can utilise your work truck for recreational usage.
- These are an inexpensive way to get into over-landing.
- You will achieve a clean set up and take down as the tent does not come into contact with dirt, mud, and wet ground.
Disadvantages:
- You need to unload all gear out of the bed of the truck each time you want to set up your tent. However, if you are building up the bed above the storage, then you do not have to worry about this..
- The tent will still be affected by wind and rain. Rain water can run down the bed underneath the tent floor.
- If you are building a truck tent, then one size does not fit all. You must look for a specific tent that fits your truck bed.
- The truck tent can be mounted to pick-up trucks only.
- You will face difficulty while driving away with a truck bed tent set up. However, only slow short moves are possible with all the set-up.
Materials Used To Construct The Truck Bed Tent:
Initially, polyester was used to make truck bed tents. This fabric is water-proof and features a coating known as PU. The fabric you choose for truck camping should be fire resistant and also able to meet the fire-resistant standards in both Canada and the US.
Some truck tents that are manufactured by the brand Napier, also adopt taffeta weave technology. However, polyester is a commonly used fabric in tent construction, which is comparatively light weight and also easily be waterproofed with a coating like PU.
These tents can be work properly from one season to four seasons. Most of these tents feature a separate fly that you have to attach to the tent so it can resist rain and wind.
You can choose a slightly more expensive material used in truck bed tents, known as canvas. Canvas is a natural material and is extremely breathable, durable, and water-proof. Canvas has also insulating properties.
If you are camping during summer or winter, then It is a really good choice if you want to camp comfortably. It helps you to stay cool during summer.
We recommend you to go for a tent having a hydrostatic head (HH) rating of at least 1000mm, which is the minimum legal requirement for a tent to be called waterproof. This type of tent will resist light rain showers also.
A much safer range for tough situations would be the tents having HH rating between 2000-3000mm. You need to check that all the tent seams are properly taped or sealed. If you do not seal the seams properly, then the tent will leak.
You can choose the poles used in constructing truck bed tents in aluminum, steel or shock-corded fibreglass material. The straps used to secure the tent should be polypropylene ropes.
Set Up Difficulty
Setting up a truck tent bed is comparatively straight forward; however mounting times may vary depending on the type of tent you are going to use for your truck bed. A truck bed tent is generally more time consuming to set up compared to traditional camping tents..
More Related queries
What size of mattress should I use in my truck bed while camping?
Ans: Most of the mattresses are 8 ft long, 6.5 ft, or 5.25 ft for really short beds. Since most truck beds are short due to the room being taken up by an extended crew cab, you need to choose a shorter bed instead of choosing really a big one. Always make sure to measure the length of the inside front to the inside rear with the tailgate up. The majority of truck bed mattresses will fit over the wheel wells.
How are truck tents different from usual tents?
Ans: Truck bed tents are somewhat similar to regular tents that feature tent poles and a fly. The difference between truck tents and traditional tents, is that the tent uses the truck bed for sleeping and is mounted and secured on the truck using tension straps rather than being secured to the ground like with a regular tent.
Can I install a regular tent in my truck bed?
Ans: Yes, you can put regular tent in your truck bed. However, if you just place a regular tent in the truck bed you have to find a different and innovative way to secure it. You have to secure it properly and make it sheltered from rain water as rain water can easily pool underneath your truck tent. So, we recommend you to use a truck bed tent instead of going for regular tent to avoid unforeseen problems in future.
