Thread: Roof Top Tent

Originally Posted by The Cone of Silence

• Wind resistance does affect fuel consumption, no question about it.
• Space taken up on roofrack is considerable - no good for a firewood run.
• Once you're set-up you can't go for a drive and explore. This is a biggie.
• Ladder can seem like an impossibly big effort when you need a wee and it's cold!
• Ladder can be impossibly hard to navigate when you've had a few

Bobby

Bobby. Great post. Although I do not have one I do plan to get one. First I have to get a roof rack.

As for the cons.
Firewood Run. Carry an old blanket or tarp. With the extra space in the vehicle carry it in side.

Need a wee. At my age getting up in the middle of the night in a tent is a hassle. A two litre fruit juice bottle takes care of this.(for a male, and preferably not a bottle with an apple juice label)

Can't go and explore. When I am base camping I will not take it. It does not matter how much stuff is in the vehicle as when you arrive at base camp I empty most of it.

When my trip is one where we are on the move every day, upon arrival at the camp site I set up, and that is it for the day. No more driving.

Silly question on mounting/installation, but I hate making assumptions - do they all have a rigid base? I.E. Are they all best mounted on 2-3 cross bars?

We are very keen to buy one in the future, but I will also be making a new custom roof rack for the 110 - probably before we can afford a RTT - so the method of mounting a RTT later on is a big factor in roof rack design/size.

Justin,
RTT's just bolt onto two racks. I'm fairly sure they all have hard floors. I think some of the differences between supposed "good/bad quality" is in the boards used, and the canvas used.
We've had ours for 3+ years, and at the time, it was probably the cheapest on the market. We paid $1500 for ours, with all the extras, eg; awning and matching annexes etc, and ours is a "long unit" which means when you climb up the ladder, you don't get wet.
We've had it parked beside an ARB unit, and they looked/felt identical, but ours was only half the cost.

As Bobby has pointed out, it has good and bad sides to it, and I think he's been pretty fair and honest in his appraisal.

I think one of the other things to consider is which way you place it on your roof. I've seen quite a few that are positioned sideways to the car. When you see them, they always seem to "balloon" out and look crappy. If I had a station wagon, or a 90, I'd be tempted to have it opening over the front of the car, not the rear. We have the dual cab, so that's not the case for us. For us, being able to remove it when we're camping for more than one night will be a good.

So with all that, when I'm on my own with the dog, I have only used the awning/swag, but from now on, I will probably use the tent,, the dog can have the back seat,, The last couple of times I've been out on my own, I've frozen,, so I figure its much better on a cold night to be in the tent with a doona,,

Originally Posted by Chops

Justin,
RTT's just bolt onto two racks. I'm fairly sure they all have hard floors. I think some of the differences between supposed "good/bad quality" is in the boards used, and the canvas used.
We've had ours for 3+ years, and at the time, it was probably the cheapest on the market. We paid $1500 for ours, with all the extras, eg; awning and matching annexes etc, and ours is a "long unit" which means when you climb up the ladder, you don't get wet.
We've had it parked beside an ARB unit, and they looked/felt identical, but ours was only half the cost.

As Bobby has pointed out, it has good and bad sides to it, and I think he's been pretty fair and honest in his appraisal.

I think one of the other things to consider is which way you place it on your roof. I've seen quite a few that are positioned sideways to the car. When you see them, they always seem to "balloon" out and look crappy. If I had a station wagon, or a 90, I'd be tempted to have it opening over the front of the car, not the rear. We have the dual cab, so that's not the case for us. For us, being able to remove it when we're camping for more than one night will be a good.

So with all that, when I'm on my own with the dog, I have only used the awning/swag, but from now on, I will probably use the tent,, the dog can have the back seat,, The last couple of times I've been out on my own, I've frozen,, so I figure its much better on a cold night to be in the tent with a doona,,

If you do a search on RTTs and ïmages" there are a couple of examples where the tent opens forwards over the bonnet of a 110 or 90 series and the ladder is attached to the top of the bullbar. This is rather clever for the fit and agile! One benefit of opening over the rear of the vehicle is that with an annexe you can enclose it all and have some privacy as well as enter/exit in the rain without "going outside".
The Aussiecamper? RTT supports the cantilevered floor without the ladder, so that you can use the whole annex floor area during the day without bumping into the ladder...

In very cold conditions you're (strangely) warmer sleeping in a tent than sleeping in the vehicle... so my cross country skiing friends tell me!

Originally Posted by Judo

Silly question on mounting/installation, but I hate making assumptions - do they all have a rigid base? I.E. Are they all best mounted on 2-3 cross bars?

We are very keen to buy one in the future, but I will also be making a new custom roof rack for the 110 - probably before we can afford a RTT - so the method of mounting a RTT later on is a big factor in roof rack design/size.

Most RTTs have a base of plywood or sandwich alu sheets with plywood core (or variation of that design). Isuzutoo-eh (Mark) has a soft floor RTT. The mattress is supported on a spring base. Not appealing to me, but they are lighter than the hard floor RTT. They are also smaller than the standard size hard floor RTT.

Most RTTs come with a pair of alu mounting bars that bolt to the base of the RTT. The orientation of the alu bars is dependant on whether (a) you mount it to counter lever off the rear or off the side; (b) the direction your roof rack bars are orientated (ie east/west for bars & some racks (wind cheetah) or north/south (hannibal and Rhino).

Some people forego the alu mounting bars and bolt it direct to the rack. Depending on your rack design there might not be clearance to get your hand in to finger tighten bolts.

I have a chinese made one that is of common design to 99% of the ebay units and non branded units. My unit if you want to mount the tent off the rear and have roof rack bars (east/west orientation) you had to cut the alu mounting bars to fit to the short side of the RTT base. That may limit your options if you later want to mount off the side and have to change orientation of the alu mounting bars.

If you are building a rack, steal the design from Hannibal. I would recommend 4 feet to spread weight. My recommendation is to look at all the varieties of racks out in the market and pick features from each that you like/think will work and incorporate that into the design. Also give consideration to accessories available for the various brands. Rhino, wind cheetah and hannibal are well catered for.

A few tips i learned the hard way:

(1) buy a set of ratchet/geared spanners to do 95% of the tightening of the mounting bolts. Getting a standard bent ring spanner in the space between the RTT and flat roof rack is a PITA. Long handled 0 deg ring spanners also desirable.

(2) splurge on quick release/mounting plates for the RTT to rack. Makes subsequent removal and remounting a fraction of the pain. The alternative is 2 strong men to lift tent onto roof, one climbing on the roof of car to position sliding bolts inline with holes while the other moans under the weight because its difficult to leverage the weight of the RTT with 1 hand while positioning the bolts with the other.

I've gone a rope & pulley system mounted to the garage roof frame to lift it on and off. It's stored in the rafters of the garage while not in use.

MLD

Justin, I've got the same soft floor tent as Mark (Isuzutoo-eh), which you're welcome to come and have a look at if you're still after mounting ideas (and can be swayed away from the hard floor type...!)

Dan

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

Need a wee. At my age getting up in the middle of the night in a tent is a hassle. A two litre fruit juice bottle takes care of this.(for a male, and preferably not a bottle with an apple juice label)

Indeed the bottle would work....and, should you ever be cold, it's a canny hot water device for a little while. I met a bloke at the EXPO last Sunday who said he just gets out at the for'ard end, steps out onto the roofrack and enjoys the view while taking a pee over the side. I guess that's less effort than climbing down the ladder so I'll give it a go next time (over the passenger side of course lest there be any disobedient drips) but all things considered I'd rather just have a bigger bladder! Probably not one made by Land Rover though.