Thread: rooftop tents

yay post no 200

A weekend away camping with mates and four wheel driving - a PITA coz you have to put the tent down when you want to pop out for a drive. This missus might not like that if she wants to "relax back at camp' while you are gone !

Yeah, well, we normally set up a big tarp, if we intend to staylonger than a couple of days in one spot, so food, fridge, geny, deckchairs go under that!. I must say that it is a concern, and normally we don't go to far, just in case some mug decides to help him/herself to any of our stuff.

This said, I don't see how the situation would improve if we didn't have a roof-top tent.......we'd just be leaving more behind on those short trips! ie the tent.

The other advantage of the Maggiolina and similar, is when packing up in the rain, the bedding remains dry, we've done it a number of times!, and then moved on to another spot, to set up again......this would be a major PITA with any other tent.

Another issue that I think warrants discussion in the northern areas, is that if you want to camp in coastal areas, close to water, it pays to be off the ground, we get some decent sized croc's, snakes and spiders in these regions!!! & flooding can also be another problem on the ground.

Have heard, but can't confirm, that dust & dirt gets in the Maggiolina windup mechanism. That'd be a PITA fishing out the WD40 to get the tent up.

I've never had even a remote problem with the winding up/down of our roof-tent, but could see how it could happen if you didn't 'make your bed' prior to closing the tent..... I guess some people aren't as tidy as others!!....We're also used to the ladder, it's easy.

All in all, my missus enjoys camping a whole lot more, with the roof tent, despite what our 9 month old son gets up to!.....and lets face it, thats 99% of any problem sorted!.

I wouldnt consider a roof top when you can get a great tent from OZTENT.
Erect it in 30 secs (no bull) Arent cheap but are very convienient.
Got POd closing the roof top up every time we wanted to drive somewhere and getting back to find your spot taken. Hope this helps.

Oztents are an excellent product, but too long when folded for most people....

I have got a amper trailer still at the momnt an yes they do have there merits, the only problem with them s if you want to take a boat with you, which we often do. At the moment I am in two minds to either build my slide on camper for the flat tray or go with a roof top. With theroof top I figure I can use it on the defender wagon no problems and use it on the defender flat tray as well. I am thinking of installing the kind of legs they put on those slide on campers that you can drive out from beneath.

We are thinking about a rooftopper. Already have a very very nice Katmandu Basecamp 500 4 man with an awning that we would carry for longer stays with day trips away from camp.... Roof tops are mostly for overlanding I thought. Pull up, fold out, sleep, pack and drive off. That's the appeal. And no nasty things crawling over you!

Mrs already has a P..s bucket, actually designed for nappies so no Stink and if it gets knocked over no spillage. Good idea for the scaredy cat chicks out there. Makes campning a breeze.

We were worried about fuel consumption mostly (D2 V8), so are looking at speedy set up tents that pack away!

The lions don't realize that the food is inside the tent. I have a friend who has overlanded all through africa and he says the lions sniff, wander around, growl but never rip into the tents. I don't actually believe him!

Hi guys,

we have just spent 9 months then a years break to earn more money and then a further 9 months travelling around Aus and we have a 300tdi Disco with an Eezi awn rooftop tent, they are great and we love ours, but they do have a few drawbacks as previously stated:

1, if you want to pop out anywhere then you have to pack up.

2. If the weather turns nasty then you have no decent indoor space to hide, we have a 2.5m x 3.5m awning but the rain still comes in sideways!

on the plus side you can watch the crocs swimming around up in the top end and not worry about getting munched during the night

plus you ntend to catch the breeze being up higher.

we have cracks around our b pillar from having weight on the roof rack (tent,spare tyre, solar panels) but these only appeared after having driven the Tanami track which was shocking when we drove it! the weight of the tent and people on the roof isn't a problem when stationary as there is no wind loading, which as you can guess gets quite high once doing 100kms!!!

but as i say we love ours it has served us brilliantly

Andy.c