Yakima Skyrise medium RTT < $1000!

[Mellowyellow]

Just a PSA: REI is selling the Yakima Skyrise medium roof top tent for just less than $1000. This is not the HD version. It sleeps 3. It’s 25% off and then you get another 30% off. And free shipping if you pick it up at your local REI.

Yakima Skyrise Medium RTT

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[Rivdog]

Solid tent and I have one, but it doesn’t fit the Rivian crossbars without quite a bit of wrangling. I’m not sure how the tariffs have affected the prices, but there have been lots of really good hard shell RTTs on Amazon over the past year for the same price that I’ve wanted to upgrade to but just couldn’t justify it when I already have this one.

 

[Mellowyellow]

Solid tent and I have one, but it doesn’t fit the Rivian crossbars without quite a bit of wrangling. I’m not sure how the tariffs have affected the prices, but there have been lots of really good hard shell RTTs on Amazon over the past year for the same price that I’ve wanted to upgrade to but just couldn’t justify it when I already have this one.

Can you elaborate? It looked like just some clamps you tighten down? Should I keep it or return it? My other option is to get the Rivian branded one using some gear shop points

 

[Rivdog]

Can you elaborate? It looked like just some clamps you tighten down? Should I keep it or return it? My other option is to get the Rivian branded one using some gear shop points

If you haven’t opened it, I’d return it and get a hard shell one off Amazon from Bamacar (or one of the many that are just like it), no doubt UNLESS you must fit it solely over the bed of the truck. If you are putting the RTT on the S, then definitely go with a hardshell. Set up and takedown is 1-2 minutes vs 15-20. I didn’t think it would make a big difference that it takes so much longer to deploy/pack, but it really, really does. Moving campsites is a pain and, if you get a sudden and unexpected rainstorm in the mountains, you can close it quickly. Yeah, I know you can just always deploy the Skyrise with the rainfly but there’s lots of drawbacks to that too.

The standard Rivian crossbars are extremely wide and the clamps for the non-Rivian branded Skyrise don’t open wide enough. The part of the crossbars in the center that allows for the telescoping ability is a little more narrow so you can get the clamps on there and then slide them into place. Since you have to do it for both sides, you absolutely must have 2 people to slide it back and forth. If you’re strong and have a strong person helping, it’s not all that bad, but it’s definitely not fun and you’ll have to do this every time you want to use your crossbars for something else.

The Rivian-branded one has different mounts specifically designed for the Rivian crossbars. I inquired with Yakima about buying them and they refused to sell them to me.

If you keep the Skyrise, I think you’ll like it because it’s got a very comfortable mattress (IMO), tons of room with the 96 inch length, and is very airy and open without the rainfly. The hardshell RTTs I mentioned used to be like $3,000 so they weren’t in my budget when I bought my Skyrise, lightly used, for $800. But at almost the same price, the functionality of any hard shell tent beats any soft shell, at least for me. Other than the clamping issue, I don’t see any softshell that performs better other than the Skyrise HD with the improved waterproofing. It’s a great tent if you keep it.

 

[R1TMDSD]

FYI, EV Sportline sells this tent too and has some videos showing the install process.

https://evsportline.com/collections...land-roof-top-bed-top-tent-for-rivian-r1t-r1s

These guys also did a video about the same tent (the video title is needlessly clickbait-y):

Can you elaborate? It looked like just some clamps you tighten down? Should I keep it or return it? My other option is to get the Rivian branded one using some gear shop points

 

[Mellowyellow]

These guys have a good idea to mount it onto the crossbars first and then put the whole thing on the truck. Even in kneel mode it would be sketchy to lift it up over our heads and set it down over the mounting points without hitting the glass roof.

 

[Laserboy1054]

Can you elaborate? It looked like just some clamps you tighten down? Should I keep it or return it? My other option is to get the Rivian branded one using some gear shop points

I have one and agree that it takes some "wrangling," but it's not too awful. The RTT has four clamps that open like jaws. When they are fully open, they are just a smidge too narrow for the Rivian roof bars. However, the roof bars have a narrow segment in the middle--the part that slides in when you collapse them. The open clamp _will_ fit over the narrow segment and then can be slid to the wider parts and clamped shut. I think the first time we set it up it took about twenty minutes of fiddling to get it figured out. But now that we have the technique down, I bet we can do it in about ten minutes--it's really not a big deal. Once the tent is mounted on the truck, popping it open can be done by one person. However, getting the tent onto the truck initially is _at least_ a two (strong) person job. Three is way better and a fourth doesn't hurt.

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