Rooftop Tents

[bigpete]

Gday all,starting to look at rooftop tents with the idea of mounting one to my RTV ute to make life a little easier on the missus and myself when we go on trips.
Just after advice,reviews,or tips on them from EXPERIENCED users.
Currently we just set up a tarp fly camp with a swag and an inflatable mattress which is actually pretty good but it'd be nice to have a bit extra comfort and speed of set up.

[DaveZ]

About 10 years ago I bought a Chinese made tent off eBay, it had a brand which I can't remember, but it was identical to all the other branded Chinese tents that were being imported at the time. I went that way because the ARB/TJM etc tents were three times the price at least, up around $4000, more than I wanted to spend. I loved that tent. Had it permanently mounted to the top of a 150 Prado and used it heaps over the 4 years I owned that car. The tent was getting pretty tired by that time so I let it go with the car. It was quick and easy to set up/put away, it kept the rain out, was not very midgee proof, mainly all the gaps where the tent folds in half I think. The mattress was pretty crap, but I put up with it for a couple years and then replaced it with a 70mm high density foam from Clark rubber, much better. The floor sections underneath the mattress, some sort of alloy sandwich I think, cave in pretty easily if you get up to too much acrobatics in the night time, but the Clark mattress hid that pretty well.



A year or two ago, we bought a TJM Yulara rooftop tent as they are now significantly cheaper, we paid $1300. I'm buggered if I can pick any difference between this one and my old one, I would assume it's made in the same place my old one was. The mattress has already been replaced with the HD foam as I'm now 10 years older and get uncomfortable easier it seems, and the TJM mattress is just as crap as I remember my old one to be. All in all it's an OK tent, they're worth what you pay for them, but gee those mattresses are bad lol

Cheers,
Dave.

[GQshayne]

I love mine, but do not use exclusively. I have a swag as well, which I use sometimes. Both of them are cheap Adventure Kings. As Dave says, mattresses are not the strong point, but easily improved. I put a self inflating mattress in my swag which is good, but in the rooftop tent I just added a layer of eggshell foam and put a mattress protector over the top.

I have had both in rain, and after doing YOUR job to season them properly, they are waterproof. I had the rooftopper in a tropical downpoor that was bad. Wind and rain had us putting up tarps and tying stuff down as best we could, but I did not look at the tent at all. It started at 11am and stopped at 11pm. Not a drop of water in the tent.

Unless you have it fitted to a slide on/jack off canopy, your vehicle is immobile when erected.
If you happen to need to get up during the night, this is not quite as convenient as when you are at ground level.
Ladders can be hard on your feet if they are narrow.
When using in wet weather, you often wonder where to put your shoes/thongs after you climp up. (hand them from the ladder if it is covered)
They increase the centre of gravity of your vehicle and lower clearance.

Keep you off the ground in hot weather - nice.
Very well ventilated.
Away from snakes and crocs etc. On one occasion when I had wild dogs around my camp at about 4am, I was pleased to be not on the ground.
Allows a good level of comfort and space, and you can still tow a trailer or boat.

[northdude]

See a lot of them over here on vehicles but hardley ever see them being used.

[MtnMan]

they're great if you want to pack up camp and leave your camp site to go do anything.

[wrenchman]

being a old fat guy i am scared of rolling out and falling when getting up to go pee in the night lol

[JohnV]

Good idea in Crocodile country and getting off the ground also avoids snakes fairly well.
Not so good for older people .

[womble]

The crocodile safety argument is good. I like it.
Because my wife has no idea where crocs live or how they behave.
And I’ve found it useful to pacify her when she complains about using the rooftop tent in caravan parks overnight.
If you want it op just buy it. Don’t stress. There are endless ways to justify it. Mosquitoes can’t fly over over 5 feet etc.

[JohnV]

Yeah you never sleep on the ground in croc country . The buggers will walk a long way away from the actual water to attack what ever they can . https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... d-him.html That's one brave Grandmother .

[niteowl]

The crocodile safety argument is good. I like it.
Because my wife has no idea where crocs live or how they behave.
And I’ve found it useful to pacify her when she complains about using the rooftop tent in caravan parks overnight.
If you want it op just buy it. Don’t stress. There are endless ways to justify it. Mosquitoes can’t fly over over 5 feet etc.

Geez you must have poor quality skeetas. We work all night at times on a 3.5 m high stand and they get up there all right. Maybe our WA ones are better than your East Coast ones

[duddley75]

Barrington Tops.jpg (247.91 KiB) Viewed 1495 times

I mounted my roof top tent on a custom tradie trailer I had made. That way when you set up on site you can still take the 4wd off site. Also the trailer can carry most of the camping gear. Also includes 60 litre water tanks which feed an electric pump for running water.

[JohnV]

I really like that tent on the trailer idea , very flexible setup .