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Riv I Am

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Successfully finished an in-garage Hoister system for my R1T’s Roof Top Tent. My RTT is the iKamper Mini 3.0. The Hoister System is a Harkin 7806 off Amazon for $225 (I believe it’s cheaper on the Harkin website but I was considering an alternate hoisting system at the time I bought so I wanted Amazon’s return policy just in case). The system I got is rated up to 200lbs and for 10 foot ceilings.

I am NOT handy by any means. My goal was to do this completely by myself. I watched as many videos and read as many reviews on this system as I could and the consensus was that it should take about 2-4 hours to set up. Lol, I easily quadrupled that estimate. And although I almost threw in the towel half-way through, the job is done and it works great.

If anyone else is considering this system, here are a few additional tips if you too are handy-man-impaired like me.

- hand ratchet the lag screws into the rafters. I initially tried a power drill, then an impact drill and it definitely tore up the pre-drilled holes and ruined the integrity of my initial lag screw set up
- use a laser leveler to create a straight line on the ceiling of where you plan on drilling the holes through the rafters. It was nearly impossible to get my measuring tape to stay straight when on a ladder and the $20 laser off Amazon made the second 2x6 beam much easier to line up and install than my first beam.
- they recommend 2x6 x 6 ft grade 2 pine board planks. In my area the only wood available in that size is white wood or elm. White wood is cheaper, lighter, and plenty strong enough for the job and I just looked through Home Depot and Lowe’s to find ones with the fewest knots. First time truck owner and it was my first time hauling things with the bed open, so got some good practice learning how to strap things in (see pic).
- as far as the 2x6 planks, I recommend getting them in 8 foot length because I needed closer to 7 feet long to comfortably span 4 rafters, plus when you cut off the ends, you will end up using a 7 inch slab of the 2x6 in a later step to mount the main pulley on the front board.
- there’s probably a better way to do this, but I had a huge roll of tracing paper lying around and after drilling the holes in the ceiling, I taped the tracing paper over the area then pressed on the holes with my finger to indent the paper, then placed the paper over the 2x6 beams on the floor and marked exactly where the holes lined up and that it made it much easier to drill the holes in the beams so they would line up almost perfectly with the ceiling holes.
- the main rope you pull to lift the load does not have to be perpendicular to the system. The instructions are clear about how to angle it. Doing so allowed me to get just the right length to allow me to lower the RTT all the way to the ground.
- I wanted to be able to leave the Rivian cross bars on the tent’s racks for easy drop-and-click attachment of the tent… but then realized that I’d rather not buy another set of crossbars at this time. So my solution was to align the Hoister straps just right (about 42 inches apart) so that when it’s suspended and the brackets holding the crossbars are loosened, the straps won’t pull the loosened brackets toward each other thereby making it impossible to reattach the crossbars at just the right locations when suspended. With the 42 inch gap between straps, it will not do this. As those with an iKamper installed already know, it is nearly impossible to adjust the brackets close to the cab once it is on the truck due to the design. So by marking on the RTT’s tracks exactly where the brackets need to be for the crossbars to line up with the truck’s brackets, I will be able to remove and correctly reattach the crossbars whenever I want without dropping about ~$500 for a separate set.

This took embarrassingly long to complete and I can almost guarantee that any of you could finish it in half the time it took me, but I’m happy I stuck it through. Here are some pics:

ps I placed the Hoister closer to the middle of the garage to at least give me the option of also placing the RTT on the roof.

Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed AF413E59-A142-408D-818E-98706458F97F


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 659D34D6-AF55-49E7-9DEA-F66E9B226259


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 71785B1D-B670-40D9-99DD-98A9F00A2EE3


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 3EBE738F-6542-4926-A58C-0875C3EC344D


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 93ADD5B9-7470-457A-9A40-981C349A9164


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed EFC59134-AC4C-44F9-8DA1-1E980E864DDC


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 0A409428-D682-40F0-8F2E-DAF34280A6FA


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed C3A7FCF8-4D29-4E52-AF5A-133918208B59


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 4E011188-C96D-42A9-8110-1041CA0A6065


Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 5DA82342-D445-44F6-8ECE-8755E24B069F
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COdogman

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Nice install and write up.

Also, I plan to steal your idea for transporting long lumber…
 

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I have the same setup (x2) for my RTT and shower/awning setup. It is fairly easy to install and works great. I can have everything back on the truck in under 15 minutes.

My rafters are 16" OC, so I bought 12 ft 2x6, and used the outlet in the bed to power my circular saw and cut them in half in the parking lot of Home Depot. This let me span 5 rafters, and gave me some flexibility on moving them side to side to align with the truck.
 

diehlryan

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Successfully finished an in-garage Hoister system for my R1T’s Roof Top Tent. My RTT is the iKamper Mini 3.0. The Hoister System is a Harkin 7806 off Amazon for $225 (I believe it’s cheaper on the Harkin website but I was considering an alternate hoisting system at the time I bought so I wanted Amazon’s return policy just in case). The system I got is rated up to 200lbs and for 10 foot ceilings.

I am NOT handy by any means. My goal was to do this completely by myself. I watched as many videos and read as many reviews on this system as I could and the consensus was that it should take about 2-4 hours to set up. Lol, I easily quadrupled that estimate. And although I almost threw in the towel half-way through, the job is done and it works great.

If anyone else is considering this system, here are a few additional tips if you too are handy-man-impaired like me.

- hand ratchet the lag screws into the rafters. I initially tried a power drill, then an impact drill and it definitely tore up the pre-drilled holes and ruined the integrity of my initial lag screw set up
- use a laser leveler to create a straight line on the ceiling of where you plan on drilling the holes through the rafters. It was nearly impossible to get my measuring tape to stay straight when on a ladder and the $20 laser off Amazon made the second 2x6 beam much easier to line up and install than my first beam.
- they recommend 2x6 x 6 ft grade 2 pine board planks. In my area the only wood available in that size is white wood or elm. White wood is cheaper, lighter, and plenty strong enough for the job and I just looked through Home Depot and Lowe’s to find ones with the fewest knots. First time truck owner and it was my first time hauling things with the bed open, so got some good practice learning how to strap things in (see pic).
- as far as the 2x6 planks, I recommend getting them in 8 foot length because I needed closer to 7 feet long to comfortably span 4 rafters, plus when you cut off the ends, you will end up using a 7 inch slab of the 2x6 in a later step to mount the main pulley on the front board.
- there’s probably a better way to do this, but I had a huge roll of tracing paper lying around and after drilling the holes in the ceiling, I taped the tracing paper over the area then pressed on the holes with my finger to indent the paper, then placed the paper over the 2x6 beams on the floor and marked exactly where the holes lined up and that it made it much easier to drill the holes in the beams so they would line up almost perfectly with the ceiling holes.
- the main rope you pull to lift the load does not have to be perpendicular to the system. The instructions are clear about how to angle it. Doing so allowed me to get just the right length to allow me to lower the RTT all the way to the ground.
- I wanted to be able to leave the Rivian cross bars on the tent’s racks for easy drop-and-click attachment of the tent… but then realized that I’d rather not buy another set of crossbars at this time. So my solution was to align the Hoister straps just right (about 42 inches apart) so that when it’s suspended and the brackets holding the crossbars are loosened, the straps won’t pull the loosened brackets toward each other thereby making it impossible to reattach the crossbars at just the right locations when suspended. With the 42 inch gap between straps, it will not do this. As those with an iKamper installed already know, it is nearly impossible to adjust the brackets close to the cab once it is on the truck due to the design. So by marking on the RTT’s tracks exactly where the brackets need to be for the crossbars to line up with the truck’s brackets, I will be able to remove and correctly reattach the crossbars whenever I want without dropping about ~$500 for a separate set.

This took embarrassingly long to complete and I can almost guarantee that any of you could finish it in half the time it took me, but I’m happy I stuck it through. Here are some pics:

ps I placed the Hoister closer to the middle of the garage to at least give me the option of also placing the RTT on the roof.

AF413E59-A142-408D-818E-98706458F97F.jpeg


659D34D6-AF55-49E7-9DEA-F66E9B226259.jpeg


71785B1D-B670-40D9-99DD-98A9F00A2EE3.jpeg


3EBE738F-6542-4926-A58C-0875C3EC344D.jpeg


93ADD5B9-7470-457A-9A40-981C349A9164.jpeg


EFC59134-AC4C-44F9-8DA1-1E980E864DDC.jpeg


0A409428-D682-40F0-8F2E-DAF34280A6FA.jpeg


C3A7FCF8-4D29-4E52-AF5A-133918208B59.jpeg


4E011188-C96D-42A9-8110-1041CA0A6065.jpeg


5DA82342-D445-44F6-8ECE-8755E24B069F.jpeg
Looks good. I did something similar to store our roof box. I'd recommend looking at electric hoists on Amazon. You can get them for under $200 and it looks like you have an outlet nearby. Beats manually lowering and raising, even with the pulley reductions.

Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed Image from iOS (11)
 
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Riv I Am

Riv I Am

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I have the same setup (x2) for my RTT and shower/awning setup. It is fairly easy to install and works great. I can have everything back on the truck in under 15 minutes.

My rafters are 16" OC, so I bought 12 ft 2x6, and used the outlet in the bed to power my circular saw and cut them in half in the parking lot of Home Depot. This let me span 5 rafters, and gave me some flexibility on moving them side to side to align with the truck.
Love the ability to just whip out a corded circular saw in the parking lot and do that! Would love to see your shower setup. That’s gonna be my next project when it gets warmer.
 

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Riv I Am

Riv I Am

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Looks good. I did something similar to store our roof box. I'd recommend looking at electric hoists on Amazon. You can get them for under $200 and it looks like you have an outlet nearby. Beats manually lowering and raising, even with the pulley reductions.

Image from iOS (11).jpg
Yes! That’s exactly what I was considering as an alternate. They had some even cheaper (than Amazon) electric hoists just like that one at the local Harbour Freight but given my lack of know-how when it comes to this stuff I figured it’d be best to start off with a kit that came with precise instructions to minimize the risk of any shoddy work or boneheaded mistakes on my part. But if I do another one I will definitely consider copying this set up.
 

Prime

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Successfully finished an in-garage Hoister system for my R1T’s Roof Top Tent. My RTT is the iKamper Mini 3.0. The Hoister System is a Harkin 7806 off Amazon for $225 (I believe it’s cheaper on the Harkin website but I was considering an alternate hoisting system at the time I bought so I wanted Amazon’s return policy just in case). The system I got is rated up to 200lbs and for 10 foot ceilings.

I am NOT handy by any means. My goal was to do this completely by myself. I watched as many videos and read as many reviews on this system as I could and the consensus was that it should take about 2-4 hours to set up. Lol, I easily quadrupled that estimate. And although I almost threw in the towel half-way through, the job is done and it works great.

If anyone else is considering this system, here are a few additional tips if you too are handy-man-impaired like me.

- hand ratchet the lag screws into the rafters. I initially tried a power drill, then an impact drill and it definitely tore up the pre-drilled holes and ruined the integrity of my initial lag screw set up
- use a laser leveler to create a straight line on the ceiling of where you plan on drilling the holes through the rafters. It was nearly impossible to get my measuring tape to stay straight when on a ladder and the $20 laser off Amazon made the second 2x6 beam much easier to line up and install than my first beam.
- they recommend 2x6 x 6 ft grade 2 pine board planks. In my area the only wood available in that size is white wood or elm. White wood is cheaper, lighter, and plenty strong enough for the job and I just looked through Home Depot and Lowe’s to find ones with the fewest knots. First time truck owner and it was my first time hauling things with the bed open, so got some good practice learning how to strap things in (see pic).
- as far as the 2x6 planks, I recommend getting them in 8 foot length because I needed closer to 7 feet long to comfortably span 4 rafters, plus when you cut off the ends, you will end up using a 7 inch slab of the 2x6 in a later step to mount the main pulley on the front board.
- there’s probably a better way to do this, but I had a huge roll of tracing paper lying around and after drilling the holes in the ceiling, I taped the tracing paper over the area then pressed on the holes with my finger to indent the paper, then placed the paper over the 2x6 beams on the floor and marked exactly where the holes lined up and that it made it much easier to drill the holes in the beams so they would line up almost perfectly with the ceiling holes.
- the main rope you pull to lift the load does not have to be perpendicular to the system. The instructions are clear about how to angle it. Doing so allowed me to get just the right length to allow me to lower the RTT all the way to the ground.
- I wanted to be able to leave the Rivian cross bars on the tent’s racks for easy drop-and-click attachment of the tent… but then realized that I’d rather not buy another set of crossbars at this time. So my solution was to align the Hoister straps just right (about 42 inches apart) so that when it’s suspended and the brackets holding the crossbars are loosened, the straps won’t pull the loosened brackets toward each other thereby making it impossible to reattach the crossbars at just the right locations when suspended. With the 42 inch gap between straps, it will not do this. As those with an iKamper installed already know, it is nearly impossible to adjust the brackets close to the cab once it is on the truck due to the design. So by marking on the RTT’s tracks exactly where the brackets need to be for the crossbars to line up with the truck’s brackets, I will be able to remove and correctly reattach the crossbars whenever I want without dropping about ~$500 for a separate set.

This took embarrassingly long to complete and I can almost guarantee that any of you could finish it in half the time it took me, but I’m happy I stuck it through. Here are some pics:

ps I placed the Hoister closer to the middle of the garage to at least give me the option of also placing the RTT on the roof.

AF413E59-A142-408D-818E-98706458F97F.jpeg


659D34D6-AF55-49E7-9DEA-F66E9B226259.jpeg


71785B1D-B670-40D9-99DD-98A9F00A2EE3.jpeg


3EBE738F-6542-4926-A58C-0875C3EC344D.jpeg


93ADD5B9-7470-457A-9A40-981C349A9164.jpeg


EFC59134-AC4C-44F9-8DA1-1E980E864DDC.jpeg


0A409428-D682-40F0-8F2E-DAF34280A6FA.jpeg


C3A7FCF8-4D29-4E52-AF5A-133918208B59.jpeg


4E011188-C96D-42A9-8110-1041CA0A6065.jpeg


5DA82342-D445-44F6-8ECE-8755E24B069F.jpeg
Curious what’s the total weight of the ikamper + side rails. Would it be pretty tough to have someone help and remove it each time and lean it somewhere. Hoist is was more practical, great implementation. Just wondering for myself, was considering the same ikamper mini setup.
 
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Curious what’s the total weight of the ikamper + side rails. Would it be pretty tough to have someone help and remove it each time and lean it somewhere. Hoist is was more practical, great implementation. Just wondering for myself, was considering the same ikamper mini setup.
I had the same thought. The RTT is 125 lbs and the bars add an additional 30-60lbs (I forget if each bar is listed at 28lbs or the pair is listed as that). But either way it’s under the 200lb limit of the Hoister but too heavy for my wife to help me lift it on and off the car. Had a friend over and he and I were able to get it on the truck from the ground initially with not too much effort, but I didn’t want to call someone every time I need it moved. iKamper says it’s totally fine to store it against a wall and they recommend buying and cutting up a pool noodle to keep it cushioned on the ground. One thing to note, if you do go with iKamper, you’ll need to fully install the brackets (especially the one close to the cab) and Crossbars precisely where it needs to go on the tents rails BEFORE putting the tent on the truck because you can’t adjust it once it’s on. The back crossbars closer to the tailgate though will still be adjustable when on the truck bed so that one you don’t need to be as precise with the pre-attachment. If I had a teenagers or someone at home who could help lift it on and off then I probably wouldn’t have installed the Hoister…. But it sure is nice having a little more garage floor real estate. Plus, knowing myself, the burden of lifting it off and on would like lead to me hardly ever using it or leaving it on the truck way too long.
 

Prime

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I had the same thought. The RTT is 125 lbs and the bars add an additional 30-60lbs (I forget if each bar is listed at 28lbs or the pair is listed as that). But either way it’s under the 200lb limit of the Hoister but too heavy for my wife to help me lift it on and off the car. Had a friend over and he and I were able to get it on the truck from the ground initially with not too much effort, but I didn’t want to call someone every time I need it moved. iKamper says it’s totally fine to store it against a wall and they recommend buying and cutting up a pool noodle to keep it cushioned on the ground. One thing to note, if you do go with iKamper, you’ll need to fully install the brackets (especially the one close to the cab) and Crossbars precisely where it needs to go on the tents rails BEFORE putting the tent on the truck because you can’t adjust it once it’s on. The back crossbars closer to the tailgate though will still be adjustable when on the truck bed so that one you don’t need to be as precise with the pre-attachment. If I had a teenagers or someone at home who could help lift it on and off then I probably wouldn’t have installed the Hoister…. But it sure is nice having a little more garage floor real estate. Plus, knowing myself, the burden of lifting it off and on would like lead to me hardly ever using it or leaving it on the truck way too long.
Thanks for the insight. Great info to be aware of!
 

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Thanks for this. I bought the same hoisting system but have not installed yet.

John
 

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Like @diehlryan, I also DIYed. My install is completely overkill being able to hold several hundred pounds without issue, but how can you not go overkill with fun projects? 😏

 

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I went back and forth with different systems and really wanted to get the Racor system but it seems maybe they discontinued it as I can’t find it anywhere, even on their own website.

I ended up with the Thule one because it was the next cleanest looking install in my opinion without cables going across the ceiling. It works but I’m still looking for a budget motorized solution that looks clean (and not cost $2k like some of the solutions out there)

Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed 93F68CAE-7ABF-4937-A338-3D4956F858B1

Rivian R1T R1S Hoist Lift System for Roof Top Tent Successfully Installed D54A9061-3583-4649-8D1C-4ED80F3D3A69
 
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Like @diehlryan, I also DIYed. My install is completely overkill being able to hold several hundred pounds without issue, but how can you not go overkill with fun projects? 😏

Can’t wait to watch this tonight. Surprised I didn’t come across this when I was doing my research.
 
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I went back and forth with different systems and really wanted to get the Racor system but it seems maybe they discontinued it as I can’t find it anywhere, even on their own website.

I ended up with the Thule one because it was the next cleanest looking install in my opinion without cables going across the ceiling. It works but I’m still looking for a budget motorized solution that looks clean (and not cost $2k like some of the solutions out there)

93F68CAE-7ABF-4937-A338-3D4956F858B1.jpeg

D54A9061-3583-4649-8D1C-4ED80F3D3A69.jpeg
That is a clean clean set up 👌. I like that’s it’s all black and white, matches your truck well. I somehow didn’t see this one when I was looking up hoisting systems and probably would’ve chosen this. I too was looking for the older cheaper Racor system everywhere with no success.
 
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Like @diehlryan, I also DIYed. My install is completely overkill being able to hold several hundred pounds without issue, but how can you not go overkill with fun projects? 😏

Strong work and Great video and narration! I really like that homemade system. All these pulleys are bringing me flashbacks of my physics classes which I have entirely forgotten. Also, the iKamper is looking good in green. Did you paint it like that because your previous truck was green? Camouflage?
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