BEST Cap/Top out there...... RSI SmartCap ?

[Bikeyaker]

<Long Sigh> No, I haven't. My dealer had trouble getting solid information from them, but finally got connected to some-one in the company who actually knew something. Here's what I was told:

"Estimated arrival time in Sept. They had to run more caps through their South Africa plant since the Texas plant took so long to get up and running. Texas will only be producing the backlog of Tacomas all the way through October at this time"

The Texas plant was meant to be in production months ago but it seems it only really got running production in May or June. I didn't call my dealer back yet, but my interpretation of the message they sent me is that mine is coming from the South Africa "mothership" and not the Texas plant. They do at least have my order and it is on their books to build it. These caps are popular in the overlanding community and I guess RAM 1500's are not as popular in the Overlanding community so we are obviously at the back of the line :-(

I’m probably in the same boat then. I agree I’m not really interested in other caps, but I had to put a full deposit down and I’m not interested in keeping it tied up indefinitely. I’m taking my last trip of the summer in July and don’t have anything planned until next year, so I might just cancel if I have to wait until September or later.

 

[TSL]

I’m probably in the same boat then. I agree I’m not really interested in other caps, but I had to put a full deposit down and I’m not interested in keeping it tied up indefinitely. I’m taking my last trip of the summer in July and don’t have anything planned until next year, so I might just cancel if I have to wait until September or later.

This weekend I'm at Overland Expo PNW in Redmond, OR. I found the Smartcap booth so I went up to them and said "Where's my cap"!!
The guy I talked to said that if I had my order number he could look it up and tell me exactly where it is in the system.
He said that given I ordered in Jan it's probably on a ship now .

I don't have my order number, I need to get it from my dealer.

The guy gave me his business card. He said to pass it on so here's the details

Dan Ward, ph 682 294 8373, email [email protected]

If you haven't pulled the plug on yours yet and can get your order number from the dealer, maybe hit this guy up and see what happens

 

[Bikeyaker]

That's great, thank for sharing the info. I'm really on the fence, but if he can confirm that mine it actually on the way to me I might hold out a little longer.

 

[TSL]

Just got confirmation that mine is on a shipping container, expected in port in Houston around Aug 23rd. Customs plus the delivery chain will add another 2 to 3 weeks and then I should have it.

 

[Bikeyaker]

I'm glad to hear that yours is on the way. I ended up cancelling my order already since I didn't get the idea anyone was being straight with me. Reportedly, they tried to withhold part of my deposit as a restocking fee, which is pretty funny considering they never even shipped my cap.

They have a really cool product and I hope you love yours. I'm kind of bummed that I won't be getting one, but ultimately I'm out of patience for the whole thing.

 

[gpbst3]

Since more of these caps are rolling out I wanted to see if anyone has color matched yet?

My truck is metallic silver with chrome package and I’m doubting the standard black will look good. Im having a hard time justifying a 4k cap then having to pay another 1k to have it painted.

 

[roaminwiththeromes]

Since more of these caps are rolling out I wanted to see if anyone has color matched yet?

My truck is metallic silver with chrome package and I’m doubting the standard black will look good. Im having a hard time justifying a 4k cap then having to pay another 1k to have it painted.

I tried to get the white smartcap but they were out of stock. I looked for pictures of white trucks with black caps and thought it was better than white on white. I'm not sure if silver with the black cap would look good but you could look for images online, see if you like it.

 

[RamNomad]

We just picked up our EVO Sport Smartcap yesterday. The build quality is awesome and I think it looks tough.

 

[TSL]

Finally.....after close to 10 months of waiting ( ordered mid-January'23 ).... it's arrived and installed. I had my dealer install it. It took 2 guys + a forklift about 4 hrs to get it done.
With the long wait, I was tempted once or twice to consider bailing out and ordering an Alucab, but I do prefer the looks of this one and decided to hold out.
I chose the "A" model ( "adventure" ) rather than the "sport" model because I didn't really need the side window glass ( although it does look sharp ), and decided it was one more set of seals to potentially leak down the road.
Only thing now is that, here in the Pacific Northwest, camping season ( the primary purpose for which I got it ! ) is pretty much over, the "switched has been flipped" and the rain has started. It was a pouring wet day today when I went to get it fitted. So I may have to wait till next camping season to really get out and use this thing.
Next step is to make sure I can still get into the garage with the RTT on top ! From my measurements, the roof rails are no higher than they were with my Thule rack, which allowed me into the garage, so I should be good.

 

[meidmann27]

Loading a bed of a truck with a topper has never been easier.

I just had my RSI smartcap installed and noticed a 2-3 millimeter gap between back door and top of tailgate. Did you have the same issue? Installer said it was because of multifunction tailgate.

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[outdoorco75]

No. The weather stripping pushes right down on it. I will get you a photo.


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[outdoorco75]

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[The Critic]

Finally.....after close to 10 months of waiting ( ordered mid-January'23 ).... it's arrived and installed. I had my dealer install it. It took 2 guys + a forklift about 4 hrs to get it done.
With the long wait, I was tempted once or twice to consider bailing out and ordering an Alucab, but I do prefer the looks of this one and decided to hold out.
I chose the "A" model ( "adventure" ) rather than the "sport" model because I didn't really need the side window glass ( although it does look sharp ), and decided it was one more set of seals to potentially leak down the road.
Only thing now is that, here in the Pacific Northwest, camping season ( the primary purpose for which I got it ! ) is pretty much over, the "switched has been flipped" and the rain has started. It was a pouring wet day today when I went to get it fitted. So I may have to wait till next camping season to really get out and use this thing.
Next step is to make sure I can still get into the garage with the RTT on top ! From my measurements, the roof rails are no higher than they were with my Thule rack, which allowed me into the garage, so I should be good.

View attachment 168066

Looks great. Any leaks?

 

[TSL]

Looks great. Any leaks?

So far, no, but limited experience so far. The day I got it fitted was a really wet day, so the bed of the truck was soaked before it went on. Hence even though I drove home in heavy rain, it was not a good test since everything was wet inside already. Although I will say there was no evidence of additional moisture coming through any of the seals.
The bed has since dried out, ( had a good drying day and left it out with all the doors opened up on the cap ) and yesterday I was up in the mountains for the day and drove home in the rain. It was steady rain although not super heavy. But it stayed dry inside. So I will say so far, so good.

 

[roaminwiththeromes]

Finally got my Evo Sport installed a couple weeks ago. @roaminwiththeromes did you ever relocate your camera? I'll be ordering the cable shortly. Thinking I'll find someone with a 3D printer to spit out an enclosure/mount.

I finally moved the rearview mirror camera to the back of the Smartcap. I had to take off the c-clamps and move the Smartcap back in order to get access to the rearview mirror camera. Used a fakra cable from amazon, good image and the up/down motion of the camera works. I have a 6 foot bed and this 10ft cable was long enough. Put the cable through the pass through window on the smartcap to feed it straight back along the roof of the cap to the rear hatch. The camera is inside a PVC pipe, cut at an angle to match the slope of the rear hatch. Start the cut 2 cm back on the top, then cut down to the front of the bottom to get the correct angle. Used 3m tape to attach the PVC to the glass and camera to the PVC. Not as pretty as a 3d printer solution but it works. @mgoodness, you've probably already done your mirror but maybe this will help someone else. Below is an image of the diameter of the PVC pipe and attachment to rear window

 

[jimothy]

As an alternative, I've pre-ordered the Xtrusion Overland XO Skeleton. It's modular, and can be simply a bed rack, a fully enclosed topper (like the RSI Smartcap), or a wedge tent camper (like GoFast Camper, Lone Peak Camper, etc.). It's the camper option that has me most interested.

I'm taking a bit of a gamble ordering a product that isn't yet released, and the tent hasn't been revealed yet. (They said they're waiting on their IP lawyer to give them the green light; sounds like they're waiting on patent filings before they reveal the design).

Their Instagram live video (long, un-edited) reveals a bit more about the topper, and a description of some of the tent features (but again, they don't show the tent).

Elsewhere, maybe in the video too, they note that they will have panels with windows in the future. I think that applies only to the front and back, but maybe the sides as well.

Putting this out there in case anyone wants to compare this to the RSI Smartcap.

 

[TSL]

I've had the SmartCap on my truck since last fall. No complaints with water intrusion so far.
One of the marketing points RSI use is the "positive pressure vent" on the roof which they claim keeps dust out.
I never got a chance to test that until this past week when I had a camping trip out to a dusty part of SE Oregon, with plenty of miles of gravel roads. ( Steens Mountain area )
Well... the bed of the truck got VERY dusty inside and everything in it coated in dust.
However, I am not yet ready to blame the cap. It fits very tightly to the bed with a good seal all around, including on the tail gate. The access doors on the cap also have good seals.
I think the reason is the tail gate itself, there's a significant gap between the tail gate and the side of the bed.
I need to figure out some way to seal that up. I see plenty of products out there for tail gate seal kits. Just wondering if anyone reading this thread has any recommendations for anything that has worked well. Elsewhere on the forum I saw someone mention a brand called ESI.

 

[millerbjm]

I've had the SmartCap on my truck since last fall. No complaints with water intrusion so far.
One of the marketing points RSI use is the "positive pressure vent" on the roof which they claim keeps dust out.
I never got a chance to test that until this past week when I had a camping trip out to a dusty part of SE Oregon, with plenty of miles of gravel roads. ( Steens Mountain area )
Well... the bed of the truck got VERY dusty inside and everything in it coated in dust.
However, I am not yet ready to blame the cap. It fits very tightly to the bed with a good seal all around, including on the tail gate. The access doors on the cap also have good seals.
I think the reason is the tail gate itself, there's a significant gap between the tail gate and the side of the bed.
I need to figure out some way to seal that up. I see plenty of products out there for tail gate seal kits. Just wondering if anyone reading this thread has any recommendations for anything that has worked well. Elsewhere on the forum I saw someone mention a brand called ESI.

No idea on brand but the place that installed my topper used a standard tailgate seal kit to fill in those gaps and I don't seem to have any issues with dust from gravel roads etc.

 

[TSL]

No idea on brand but the place that installed my topper used a standard tailgate seal kit to fill in those gaps and I don't seem to have any issues with dust from gravel roads etc.

I think my installer missed the memo on the tailgate seal. Which is odd because they are an Overland outfitter and use these caps on their own rigs. You would think they would know that. Anyways, I should just get a seal kit and see what happens. Glad to hear you're not having any dust issues with the tail gate sealed

 

[vinnieloo]

I think my installer missed the memo on the tailgate seal. Which is odd because they are an Overland outfitter and use these caps on their own rigs. You would think they would know that. Anyways, I should just get a seal kit and see what happens. Glad to hear you're not having any dust issues with the tail gate sealed

I used this. I don't have an RSI though. I also have a flap that cover the gap along the bottom.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000CN5QG8?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title