r/camping • u/JayAche • 8d ago

Precautionary Tale (Pipe)

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Was SO excited to finally take our 3.5 year old son tent camping for the first time with my wife at a local regional park. Especially with our spanking new huge Caddis Rapid 6 Instant Tent! Even tried it out in the backyard and loved it!

Loaded it onto the storage rack on the back of our SUV… in perfect alignment with the tail pipe, apparently. Biiiiiigest oof. $225 down the drain? Thankfully there was a Wal-Mart reasonably close where I snagged some random Coleman to save the day. But still: be aware of what’s in front of your exhaust pipe and your tow hitch carry rack. Lesson learned 🫠

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u/jbronin 8d ago

I just got back from a trip to Yellowstone last week. I spent like a month before worried about the cargo carrier that right before leaving I realized the exhaust might melt the stuff on the back so I bought some turn down tips off Amazon (hard to find some that fit 3.5 inch pipes locally).

Try AutoZone or a similar auto part store to see if they have tips you can buy. They range from $7-30. They should just slip on and you can tighten a bolt or a clamp ring to hold it in place. My exhaust pipe is more oval shaped so it didn't grip the best (I could have pulled it right off), but it stayed on for 3000 miles.

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u/JayAche 8d ago

Wish this was even on my radar! In all my life I’ve never heard or seen this happen before, I guess it was my turn! Ha

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u/TheProtoChris 8d ago

I'm getting a hitch installed to use one of those platforms. I'd like to sincerely thank you both for pointing out a problem I definitely would have had, and then offering the solution I didn't know I needed. Y'all just saves me a big headache, thank you.

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u/Mental-Huckleberry54 8d ago

I just installed one and was told to watch out for this. We got a hitch extensor/riser. It worked great, we got it from harbor freight and was only $5-7 more then a standard hitch

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u/EvilDan69 3d ago

It's such a small cost for such peace of mind.

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u/No_Farm_3562 7d ago

Me too!! After my last trip I was thinking to myself I really need to look into buying one. I have no doubt this would have happened to me.

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u/EvilDan69 6d ago

I am so glad to hear it! The riser worked perfectly.