Reply With QuoteJazzman has a Kings and I believe he's very happy with it.
Wizard
Roof Top Tents - Are the mounting dimensions all the SAME?
Gents,
I'm in the process of converting our boxtrailer to accept a RTT to it and was wondering if the bolt hole dimensions on the RTT is ALL THE SAME, no matter what Brand of RTT?
I haven't decided what brand to buy yet, but I'm wanting to make up a bracket to bolt the RTT to my trailer & I need to know if ALL RTT mounting holes are the same?
I've checked Darche and the 4WD SuperCentre (KINGS brand) RTT and it appears that the mounting is similar around the 830mm mark one way and also about 830mm the other way (square).
Would this be correct for all brands???
also.......
If u would listen to the BIG RTT Brands, they would have u believe that theirs is worth more $$ because of their quality control; finish, etc..... but is this really true?
I'm in the market for a RTT (hoping more to find a good 2nd hand one though) & to date I've checked out Darche and the Kings Brand and I don't see much difference bar the price..... some $600 or more....
Other brands I'm interested in looking at (and hearing other people's opinions) are the Gordigear; Austrack; Ironman; TJM and Kulkyne .....
thanks in advance.....
rob
AT RESTJazzman has a Kings and I believe he's very happy with it.
Swaggie
I have an Aussie Traveller.....it's the fold up full length.
Can leave doonas and pillows and three solar panel while folded up
Our is mounting on a trailer
They give you a big room at ground level.
AT REST
You'd better hope the Ironman RTT are better than their roofrack mounts then.Originally Posted by Robmacca
Martyn
1998 Defender
2008 Madigan
2010 Cape York
2012 Beadell, Bombs and other Blasts
2014 Centreing the Simpson
VKS-737 mob 7669
Wizard
I did originally think of one of these, but changed my mind as now half the roof area on the Trailer will be for the RTT and the other half will be for a Roof basket where I can chuck firewood, etc as we travel.....
rob
Wizard
From the few that I've checked out, I'm starting to believe that there is very little difference between them all..... Probably the only thing mainly is the thickness of canvas ???
Swaggie
SubscriberIf you want a quality RTT, try getting your hands on a ShippShape. Made in Australia. We've had one for over 20 years, and it's as good as the day we bought it.
I think they stopped producing for a while, but then started up again. Even a 2nd hand one is a good proposition.
I reckon we paid something like $3,500 20 years ago, so they are quite pricey.
I know that this is a delayed response to your question. However I wanted to provide some feedback on the various problems that I have uncounted over various tents, if nothing more just for your interest.
Not all RTT's are created equal, there are a number of brands on the market that are made from the same cheap nylon that you find in regular tents, while that works fore regular (ground based) tents, their durability tends to be lower than canvas based tents. You may not think much of it, but when the tent is on the roof all the time (which in many cases it is) which means often it will be exposed to the sun/UV/heat. Something that I have seen on mates nylon based tents is that the water proof layer has become sticky. Once it becomes sticky the tent fly is often no longer water proof. The benefit of the Nylon based tents is that they tend to be lighter which is a good thing if you want to take it off your roof regularly, reduce your centre of gravity etc.
The other downside of these tents (from my own experience) is that they tend to be very flappy when it is windy. While that is normal for people who sleep in tents on the ground that are made of similar fabrics it is something to be aware of if you tend to camp in windy areas.
Now the alternative to the nylon tents is likely to be canvas. There are a number of different types of canvas, treatments etc available so there are some generalizations in this context. The canvas tents tend to be a little heavier, but that is offset by comfort in the summer months as you can cool them down a little easier. They also tend to be much darker inside so you can sleep in past 5-6am in the summer months (DST).
There are generally two different types of mounting brackets/methods for RTT's. There are north south and east west. Both types tend to be C brackets where they have a u bolt or similar and a plate to hold them down to the racks. Both types tend to be easier to mount to roof bars as opposed to roof racks like the Eezi Awn K9. However if you are going to go along heavy corrugations for long periods of time make sure that you get good quality roof racks and have ample ones for the weight etc. A mate of mine bought a 4 person RTT and only put two roof bars on.. after 2500km of corrugation he had a roof top tent sitting on his new prado's shiny roof. To stop further damage he had to put his bedding between the tent and the roof. A very expensive error. Buy high quality brackets with good quality bolts. Many brands tend to have mild steal with crappy bolts. While that is not a problem from a strength perspective it can be difficult to get rust stains off paint, particularly if it's under a full length rack. Most brands tend to follow the same dimensions across all models. There is little commonality between brands in terms of the mounting dimensions (from what I have seen).
As for the design of the actual tent. Make sure that it has a door that has a cover with sides so that you can get in/out without cross wind/rain coming in the side. Many tents will come with a baseline and then have upgrade/offers for additional fly's that provide what I view as the baseline level of entry protection. example image of ARB tent with the fly/entry protection.
Many of the hard-shell type roof top tents do not cater for this type of entry and are therefor a pain to use when the weather is abysmal.
In terms of sizing. Go for one size above what you think you need. Many of the roof top tents that we looked at, hired etc tended to following hiking tent sizes which for some people (adults and larger people) tend to be on the smaller size. Remember that when looking for the size remember that if you do not have an annex (and even if you do) it is likely that you will need to get undressed, dressed in the tent, particularly if the weather is crappy outside. The extra space means you don't have to sit on your partner to get changed. It also means you can have a few books up there or whatever extra goodies you want. I've found this to be useful when the weather has been bad and we end up taking the day chilling and reading.
If you have young kids that will be sharing the RTT with you make sure that you can secure the doors. I have seen numerous roof top tents that you can't zip the door closed without closing the whole outside fly layers. To me that is an epic fail in tent design, not only from a child safety level but also from a mosquito/bug free perspective. If you can't have a mosquito free tent without all the doors being closed then the tent's out in the Australian summer. The same goes with the size of the mosquito net. Some of the cheaper ones are not midge proof as the size of the holes in the netting is greater than the size of the midge. Nothing worse than being eaten alive by midges while you sleep.
With that in mind there are really only a few brands that meet all the above requirements. They tend to be a little more expensive but the money spent will be returned many times over in good nights sleep. I will not explicitly list any brands because tent purchases are a personal choice. I do however recommend going and looking at all the models, lay in it for a while, look at the construction and think "Can I sleep in this for 100 nights" and not get the buyers remorse.
Swaggie
SubscriberA great summary - thanks for all that info.
Can you make a short list of brands that have impressed you (with no preference or order) just give people an idea of the good ones to look at when deciding?
We've got a ShippShape RTT that would be 25 years old now, and whilst it was expensive at the time, we've got heaps of use out of it and it's never let us down. Australian made, so maybe that's why they are in the upper price bracket.
Also - any comments on GordiGear RTTs? They've got a (basic) video on YouTube but that's all I've ever seen of them - never met anyone who actually has one to see what they thought. Sounds interesting though.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhi1nkWYWiU[/ame]
I did not get the opportunity to see the Gordigear tents myself. It was unfortunately unavailable locally at the time. I do however agree with most of what he said in the video.
We looked at
- kings
- arb
- tjm
- ironman
- hannibal
- eezi awn
- autohome overland
arb, tjm and ironman got knocked out in the first round because they either did not have the size we wanted (two adults and two kids). Or they had what we saw as being crappy designs. Most Nylon ground based tents have an internal mesh layer with an outside fly. Many of the RTT's that we looked at in this range did not have the dual layers and therefore did not have a breathable internal tent. Which might be fine for two adults in some circumstances however for us it was stuffy and generally pretty crappy inside the tent(s). If the tents did have good air inside they often felt cramped anyway (which is obvious given that most of the are two person tents and with two adults they are tight anyway and therefore completely wasted with kids). This leads me to one of my points above about going for a slightly larger tent than you need so that you have space to get dressed etc if you don't put the annex up (which is often the case if you are touring).
That left hannibal, eezi awn, kings and autohome in the running for what we actually hired, tested or borrowed. The kings tent was ruled out because it was just too small for two adults and kids. However for the price it was a great deal although the build quality in some area's of the one we borrowed seemed dubious. There was a number of obvious stitching holes and while it was wet and did not get wet or damp inside we wondered how long that would be the case given we plan on long term intensive use. (planning a 9 month trip plus our regular several nights a month). The people we borrowed the kings from have since had no leaks so our wonder may have been unfounded.. however they have only light usage so we can't confirm either way.
That left us the following Eezi Awn, Hannibal and Autohome. All of these tents are high quality canvas tents that have a large variety/model that can fit two adults and two kids. However the Hannibal and Eezi Awn are much heavier but you do get more tent than the Autohome. For example both the Hannibal and Eezi Awn's have eve's over the windows, the autohome does not (it does have a dual layer canvas protection layer that is usable from inside the tent by an ingenious rope system). They also have a low level annex without needing a full length (down to the ground) annex which is great for entry protection etc. Unfortunately we ruled out both of these tents primarily on weight grounds. One of our requirements was that we could easily take the tent off the car and put it back on. That was because the area we lived at the time in Sydney only had car parks with a low roof height and on-street parking was not possible (15, 30 or 1hr parking time limits or no parking zones/bus zones).
So we ended up buying the Autohome Overland large and importing it ourselves. It's very light for it's size and is highly durable with spare parts easily available, or they use standard components which are easy to fix in most hardware stores. Having said that it is not without it's problems. The fly screen does not zip closed at the bottom, but rather hangs down which makes it not-so-child friendly. However it does have ample overlap to ensure that no mosquitoes etc can get in. the other problem that we have had is to do with the cover. We have it mounted on an Eezi Awn K9 full length rack which is a north south rails rack. Which corresponds to the north-south approach for the autohome c bars. That means that its flush with the rack and therefore difficult for us to reach under to clip the cover on with standard adult hands. I've made a tool (out of some gum wood and a pocket knife which solves this problem). It would not be an issue if you mounted the tent in the recommended way using 3 roof bar's with the supplied mounts. However in our case we had a K9 and use the full length rack very frequently. Additionally the size of the tent allows us to walk from the rear ladder to the front of the rack along one side of the car which is a super big bonus. It means we can access the entire rack without issue meaning that we can bolt lockable boxes to the front of the rack and still easily access them.
I would like to reiterate that tent purchases generally come down to personal preference. Buying a tent that has the basics right is the important first step then find one that matches your sizing, ventilation, color etc. Noting that your requirements will probably change depending on the intended usage. If your going to the tropics it is likely that nylon is out and canvas is in.. probably in a light color. (just an example).
If you do plan on using the tent in serious offroad situations weight will be an important factor because it does make a noticeable change having a large weight up high on the car. If you only tour then it will be less of a problem.
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