Truck Tent!

[ertyqway]

A few weeks ago, shortly after acquiring my '99 F-350, I found a deal on a SportzIII truck tent (the deal being that they had free shipping and threw in a free Truck Bedz air mattress along with the tent...w00t!). I've been driving around with the thing in the cab, but had a chance to finally set it up and use it this past weekend for my son's birthday.

I've got to say, I'm really impressed with this tent. It's well made, and the setup and take-down were straightforward and fast. Unlike any of the other truck tents I've seen, it has a sewn-in bottom to keep the bugs from coming in through cracks at the tailgate, etc. Its instruction manual leaves a bit to be desired (it lacks pictures, for one thing), but does include one critical warning about the tent poles being color-coded to go in the correct locations in color-coded sleeves (paying attention to that warning will prevent you from snapping one of the poles, which is the biggest complaint from n00bs you read in the few negative reviews about this tent).

The Truck Bedz air mattress filled up quick and was a very close fit around the wheel wells. Unlike the 12v air pumps I've used to fill up inner tubes on my boat, the pump that came with this mattress has a cord that's at least 20 feet long. It reached the back end of the tailgate from the power point in the cab with no trouble at all. The mattress was very cushy, and I had plenty of room on it even though I'm 6'-5"/200# and was sharing space with my teenage son (YMMV...my truck is a long-box). Although the mattress has a kind of flocked surface on the top, I strongly recommend bringing along a blanket to put over it even if you're using sleeping bags. Using it the first time out of the box, it had a terrible fresh-PVC reek, though. We had to let the thing air out for a couple of hours before we could put the rest of our gear in the tent. Phew!

I've attached some pictures if you're interested in how it looks. The weather was decent, so I didn't extend the entrance cover, but we didn't know if it was going to rain or not, so the rain fly is on. The best part is, it cost about 400 times less than a camper and folds up into a duffel bag!

[Dasaliac03]

WOW! i want one!

do they make them for us short bed guys?

where di you get it?
how much was it?

i will deffiantly be purchasing one soon

[FordGuy100]

If you dont mind me asking, how much?

[ertyqway]

I got it from autoanything.com. They were having a pre-July 4th sale, and I got the tent and air mattress together for $220 with free shipping. The MSRP on the tent itself is $250, but you can usually find them for less than that. You'll definitely want the Napier Sportz III tent, since none of the other brands have a bottom in them. They make them in a wide variety of sizes, for short and long boxes, compact P/Us all the way up to my monster F350.

The mattress usually retails for $99, and I highly recommend getting one if you're going to go this route. They also come in different sizes fitted to different types of truck and bed size.

[bucwheat]

I have seen them before and wondered how they workout,thanks for the write up.

[Raul@Stealth Automotive]

i had one of these on my short bed and used it once... it did really good... ill have to see if i can find it if i do ill sell it if anyone is interested for cheap..... havnt opened up the case for it in about 2 years though