Do you see that over there? On the horizon, a steep, celestial mesa stretches above the clouds, whispering “surmount me” as your eyes widen with anticipation. That caveat: it’s going to make you work for that sweet, sweet vista. With only sheer cliffs and a narrow two-track leading to the top, your cumbersome adventure mobile [read: Toyota 4x4] is just a touch too wide and a lot too underpowered to make that climb, especially with all your camping equipment in tow. So, what is a dirt enthusiast to do? How do you reach the ultimate overlanding climax?
Answer: a UTV.
But wait! What about all the aforementioned “camping equipment”? Without it, how will you cook? Where will you lounge? What will you use to shovel toilet holes? But more importantly, how are you going to sleep at night with that bad back and an irrational fear of snakes slithering into your sleeping bag? Surely, a glorified golf cart (as the uninitiated might say) cannot carry a portable household into the barren wastelands we typically love to explore in our trucks and SUVs and Jeeps (indeed, it’s a separate category). Getting away from it all whilst having it all…literally. And even if you could stuff your odds and ends into the cage, would the suspension handle the load, or would the engine survive those demands at elevation?
Yes. With travel and horsepower to spare. These days, the full-cabbed iterations of UTVs are more than capable of handling the complex terrain variations you’ll be encountering on this hero’s journey to “heaven”. On the luxury end, they can offer many creature comforts found in today’s favorite road-going 4x4s: top-of-the-line sound, leather materials, silky soft touch points, HVAC climate control, LED lighting, auxiliary accessories, TFT displays with Bluetooth, GPS, and other tech amenities. The list goes on. And with more space and plenty of storage, you can take a caravan’s worth of crap along with you on those weekend ventures into the unknown without sacrificing your usual campsite setup.
They have evolved into quite capable mules, hauling more and heavier. With watertight “skin” covering the cage, a proper roof, and max load capacities that challenge those of a midsize crossover, it’s perfectly reasonable to carry more than just the bare essentials into the backcountry. Nowadays, you can indeed tote around a deluxe, albeit cumbersome, rooftop tent – once a trend, now a must for many overland adventurers who want a safer, less rugged option for rest. No longer do you need the biggest and baddest of automotive builds. No longer do you need to be on safari.
Before you pop the rooftop tent off your truck and onto your XPEDITION or any other side-by-side, there are some nuances to installing and using this product for that application.
Firstly, as capable as they are, UTVs still have a lower max load than most automobiles. Check the numbers to ensure your tent doesn’t exceed the vehicle’s limits before buying, let alone securing it. For example, Polaris’ XPEDITION has a max payload of 1,030-1,160, depending on the design. All that to say, considering passenger weight, plus the sum of all your equipment, and any auxiliary accessories that are slapped onto your rig, the tent should be light enough so that the approximate total doesn’t exceed what’s available to your specific model.
Other important safety concerns to note include the attachment points, the center of gravity, the inevitable strain on your suspension, and the overall change in driving dynamics. Each of these is a gremlin waiting to turn your dream trip into a high-dollar yard sale. The attachment points? Think of them as the sacred bond between you and not dying. You can’t just bolt this thing to the factory plastic roof and pray. No. That’s an invitation for the first big gust of wind to turn your mobile condo into a tumbleweed. You need a purpose-built metal support system—a real one, from a brand that understands physics—that anchors the entire affair directly to the UTV’s load-bearing roll cage.
Then comes the gut-lurching reality of a higher center of gravity. Suddenly, every innocent-looking sidehill feels like it’s trying to peel you off the mountain. The familiar, flickable handling is replaced by a top-heavy sway that commands a new kind of respect. This isn’t the rig for blasting through rutted-out chop anymore; it’s a long-haul explorer, one that can still scale a mountain like a Billy goat, just with more mechanical reverence. As for the suspension, modern UTVs are built to work, but adding a constant, elevated load means they’re working harder. While it’s more than capable of handling the task within load limits, a few tweaks like adding preload to the shocks will help maintain that plush ride you paid for.
Having addressed the challenges of strapping a rooftop tent to your UTV, let’s look at the advantages, because the payoff is immense. The real magic, the raison d'être for this whole crazy scheme, is access. The kind of soul-cleansing, ego-boosting access that turns you into that person—the one with the photos from a place no one else can get to. That knife-edge ridge overlooking the entire valley? That hidden alpine lake where the only tracks are from a wandering elk? While the 4Runner crowd is still debating tire pressures at the trailhead, you’re 20 miles deeper, threading a needle through a canyon just wide enough for your machine. You’re not just finding a campsite; you’re claiming your own stellar overlook. Prepare yourself to be revered—and a little bit hated. #SorryNotSorry
And the setup! Or rather, the glorious lack thereof. It’s a moment of pure, smug satisfaction. You roll into camp, kill the engine, and perform the two-minute ritual: unlatch, push, done. (Okay, maybe it's not that easy, but close.) Your sanctuary is open for business. Meanwhile, your ground-dwelling friends are just beginning their tent setup tango—cursing a tangled rainfly while you’re already reclined in your elevated kingdom, plastic wine cup in hand, watching the alpenglow paint the peaks.
That elevated position is more than just a good view; it’s a fortress of solitude. That irrational fear of snakes? Cured… er, pacified. The nightly symphony of crickets, scorpions, and other creepy shit? Muted. You are lifted above the mud, the dampness, the entire terrestrial drama. All that’s left is a perfectly flat mattress and the kind of deep, restorative sleep that only comes when you know for a fact that nothing with eight legs (well, nothing with less than eight; spiders don't give an F) is about to crawl across your face.
Pro-Tips from a Decade in the Dirt
Before you rush out, here are a few secrets the brochures won’t tell you:
- Go big on seats: it doesn't matter if you're a lone wolf; opt for a four-seat model if you can. That longer wheelbase is the secret to stability. It tames that top-heavy beast.
- Get on the Level: And do yourself a favor: bring a tiny bubble level. Spend two minutes stabilizing the rig perfectly flat with a few rocks or leveling blocks. Your inner ear will write you thank-you notes all night.
- Mind the Ladder: Before you deploy your tent, think about where the ladder will land. You want it on solid ground, not in a mud puddle or a patch of prickly pear.
- Strap Down for Safety: Before you hit the trail, do a walk-around and double-check every single strap and latch on that tent. A loose strap flapping at 40 mph sounds like a helicopter is chasing you and can shred itself, or your tent cover, in minutes.
So, can a UTV really have a rooftop tent? Damn right it can. RideApart's boss Jonathon Klein even strapped a Roofnest to his Can-Am Maverick X3 Max and went out hunting with it a year or so ago. It's currently off the Prinsu rack he snagged for RTT duty, but it's likely going back on in a few weeks time.
But the real question is whether you’re ready for what comes next. It’s an entirely different way to move through the wild. It demands more from you as a driver—more awareness, more respect for the machine—but the reward is a level of freedom the weekend warriors parked down below can only dream of. It’s the final evolution, turning your high-octane toy into a key that unlocks the deepest corners of the map.
Go on, that heavenly mesa is waiting. Don’t keep it waiting long.
