Roof top tent on the trailer

[joel0407]

When I bought my roof top tent I towed it back from Brisbane to Darwin on the top of my trailer almost exactly how it's fitted now. On that trip I hardly noticed anymore fuel usage than the Disco on it's own.

Once I fitted the tent to the roof of the Disco, the fuel usage went through the roof. I'm taking jumping from 10.5L/100km to 15L/100km. These figure are calculated by Litres at the pump and the Odometer, none of this X km per tank rubbish.

So it's off the roof and back on the trailer but setup to camp now.

Just interested in peoples thoughts on Axle Flips. To get the trailer to sit level behind the Disco, I flipped the axle from on top of the spring to under.

I also bought a new box to put the wife and kids in while traveling. LOL. I'm only joking. But yes my wife jumped in the box, in Bunnings, without the kids. It's just what she does. Then the kids had to try it out after they saw her photo.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/638.jpg (http://s560.photobucket.com/user/joel0407/media/Disco/91D12E0A-67F6-4F17-8DD7-700A29543D3A_zps6volfvdd.jpg.html)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/639.jpg (http://s560.photobucket.com/user/joel0407/media/Disco/2C977B74-F413-4C5B-A2D8-AC13AE37ED2E_zpsbppfwkmf.jpg.html)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/640.jpg (http://s560.photobucket.com/user/joel0407/media/Disco/CF8E1B79-084A-4516-AA4F-C97112910AFC_zps7w4sodvz.jpg.html)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/641.jpg (http://s560.photobucket.com/user/joel0407/media/Disco/BE66A24F-9DF1-47D1-BD45-2F09C058909D_zpsu3r67yv8.jpg.html)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/05/642.jpg (http://s560.photobucket.com/user/joel0407/media/Disco/ED57C84F-4981-4131-9590-F12730066748_zpswfgpi4yn.jpg.html)

Happy Days

[cjc_td5]

The main thing I would be worried about with weight that high on the trailer is the risk of flipping it on rough roads. I know our camper can jump around alarmingly on rough tracks, and it has a low center of weight.

Otherwise it has to be more fuel efficient that having it on the roof.

Cheers.

[joel0407]

Yeh. I was a bit worried about that but apart from the tent, I've kept all other weight as low as possible and also use a Hayman Reece load transfer hitch on the draw bar. I'm keeping the trailer under 500kgs so the hitch is more about transferring weight from the Disco to the trailer. The hitch should also help keep the trailer level.

Happy Days.

[joel0407]

Oh, and I'm glad you're more worried about my trailer rolling than me putting my family in boxes. LOL

[C00P]

The aerodynamics of rooftop tents are best if the tent is mounted as far to the back of the roof as possible. There is an article about the aerodynamics of Land Rovers here:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-chatter/155266-wheel-bonnet-aerodynamic-improvement.html

I had a cargo pod mounted on roof racks on my Subaru Forrester. Initially I had it mounted too far forward. Upon moving it back about 30cms I got an immediate decrease in fuel consumption of 1L/100km. So location of these roof-mounted objects can make a lot of difference.

Cheers

Coop

[joel0407]

Well it wouldn't go back any further. It was already right over the back door.

[p38arover]

I had my trailer flip over whilst on a LROC trip many years ago.

[C00P]

There's an application for the iPad (called W/Tunnel Pro) which models airflow in 2-D. I used this to select the best location for the pod by drawing it at various points and seeing what effect this had on the overall drag coefficient.
Maybe you could try that to see if an intermediate location might improve matters. While only a rough model of the real airflow (no 3-D) it might give you a clue for the best location.
Like others I'd have reservations about mounting it on top of the trailer due to the potential for it to tip the trailer over in a tight corner. If it wasn't for that it's a great idea.

Coop

[Robmacca]

Putting a Roof Top Tent (RTT) on a trailer is something I also am considering , but I'm interested in finding out how these RTT are in the wet and whether folding up wet & then unfolding them ends in u having a wet bed ??

The plan was for the missus & I to be in the RTT & the kids to be in a 30sec Tent..... All this on our 7x4" Gal Box Trailer with Slipper Springs.... which I don't know if its the best/simplest setup ??

[Redback]

Drop the height of your hitch if you can, will work better and less risk of a flip over and make it more stable also.

Baz.

[carlschmid2002]

I am looking at doing the same thing in the future. I was going to put a large flat water tank under the floor just above the axle to sort out the high COG.

[strangy]

Putting a Roof Top Tent (RTT) on a trailer is something I also am considering , but I'm interested in finding out how these RTT are in the wet and whether folding up wet & then unfolding them ends in u having a wet bed ?? The plan was for the missus & I to be in the RTT & the kids to be in a 30sec Tent..... All this on our 7x4" Gal Box Trailer with Slipper Springs.... which I don't know if its the best/simplest setup ??

Just tossing up the RTT on a fitted out canopy or Trayon unit for us.I
f we go RTT it will be a hard shell unit.
I had a soft cover RTT for a while and while it was ok, felt the bigger trips where weather wasn't always assured, made packing the soft top RTT unpleasant. For an extended trip with a few bad days I think we would end up with a bit of moisture in the bedding from packing up. Particularly climbing around the steps etc securing the cover in rain or dew meant a bit more care with my footing, but mounted on a trailer would probably be much easier.

I'm not a fan of slipper springs on trailers for off-road . I've seen many suffer significant wear in the slipper area and/ pop out after tougher use.