Rooftop Tents

[harrym64]

Planning on doing a bit of travelling this Summer and was wondering how good these were?

Mate recommended me this one: http://www.johncraddockltd.co.uk/land-rover-parts/...

Are they roomy? Comfortable? Easy to pack up?

[camel_landy]

There are pros & cons...

Personally, I don't like roof tents for a numer of reasons:

• Weight... By the time you've got a suitable roofrack, there's a lot of weight up top which will change the handling of the car.
• Shelter... If it's windy, you'll know about it. With a ground tent, you can shield it with the car.
• Roof... If it's going on a Defender, by the time you have the tent, roofrack & 2x adults, you're going to be well over the design limits of the car.
• Height... Car park options become even more limited!!

M

[anonymous-user]

harrym64 said:

Are they roomy? Comfortable? Easy to pack up?

1. Not really. About as big as a two/three man "normal" tent. They're very much for just sleeping in.
2. Oh yes siree. Given the choice of sleeping in a nylon sausage on a wad of 10mm packing foam with a shoe to support your head and a tree stump under your arse, or on a completely flat full length memory foam mattress and a traditional 15tog duvet with a nice fluffy goose feather pillow.....which would you choose?
3. Yes, some more than others. We've got a Maggiolina so it takes thirty turns of a crank handle and three case clips. All the bedding stays inside too. The biggest faff with the fold-out style (used to have one) is putting th cover on it.

Downsides:
Nowhere to do anything other than sleep.
Goes everywhere the car goes so no setting up camp then popping back to the last village to get some bread.
Raises the CofG, in some cases significantly, all depending on weight obviously and complicated (or not) by suspension set up.
Not exactly £12.99 from Halfords.
Where to store it when not in use....won't got in the loft.
Attracts inevitable "Where d'you think you are? The Seregenti? " comments from the hard-of-thinking.
.....plus the other bits Camel has mentioned.

Roof tents are a bit Marmite. I've used ours on a three week exped to the Sahara and back and for that it was brilliant, bordering on essential, as the ground we were camping on ranged from Tarmac (at ferry terminals), to rocks, to soft sand, none of which a traditional ground tent would've handled. Plus the further South we got there was the wildlife to consider.
In a more European setting they're a little harder to justify and I find we end up using ours sometimes simply because we've got it although in wetter climates being off the ground is a bonus.
It was dead handy on the in-laws driveway at Christmas. Perfect child-free hideyhole for a lie-in on Boxing Day.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 30th April 14:29

[paintman]

This looks like the one you linked being used in anger: http://forum.lro.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=96083