roof top tents

Hi Coolie

I would never add that weight to a roof as rollovers are still number one way to suffer serious injury but they fill a market niche and some friends have used them.

Most though have had issues with folding them up , and also folding them up when wet.

Often its not the tents fault but people leave blankets in or get a thicker mattress as many are poor and this makes them hard to use - so be aware of this issue.

Also I have to get up a few times during the night and sleeping in our Patrol makes it a lot easier to get out than either a roof top tent , ground based tent , or even crawling out the rear end of a troppy.

You have to pack it up everytime you want to use the car. I think a quick setup tent would be more practical.

When we were tenting it, the tent was ALWAYS closed, because there is no telling what could slip inside when we weren't looking.

G'day, this may be of interest to you.




Drifta Tourer

I have an Austrac campers roof top tent and love it, being up high keeps all nasties out, it's a lot cooler with the breeze flowing through also. I leave pillows and sleeping bags inside and fold it up in under 6mins, set up just as quick if not quicker, yes only down sides are having to pack it up if you wana drive somewhere but they are designed for four wheel driving moving from location to location. Mattress pretty comfy and plenty of room. No issues having the weight up there when driving, even on extreme tracks, some ppl who comment on here have never owned one and shouldn't comment. Mine weighs 55kg. You will find having the tent up there will create more drag and more fuel use but worth it, you can fit a wind deflecter to help with aerodynamics or buy a hard shell slim line one from mad camp or similar! I also have a side awning which completes the set up!

One year my brother took his trip up the gulf with a couple more mates than usual.

They where setting up camp.....the brother always camps in the back of the ute..he's well set up for it.

One of the blokes just had his swag.

He looked at the Crocodile caution signs, the sleeping platforms, and the little coppers logs crock barriers.

Then announced....." I'll be rolling out the swag on me roof rack"

Since then it has been more or less standard practice.

It gets him up high and safe, out of the muck and in the breeze....and he still has a full capacity roof rack for what ever....and it cost him nothing extra.

So...try rolling ya swag out on ya roof rack.

cheers

We use both a RTT and swags depending on the trip. Both are great for different reasons but personally I don't see the need for such a drastic change if you are just worried about a few uninvited visitors.
I assume you don't have a fully enclosed swag, have you considered getting one that has the zipped in mesh and solid flaps as they are 100% bug proof.

On a side note, I have the ARB style RTT and whilst it is excellent I am looking to change to the James Baroud solid shell type as they look easier again to operate and a bit more aerodynamic

The RTT adds a fair bit of wind resistance and a lot of weight to the top of your challenger. Also you have to climb up and down there to use it.

So my question is do you have a side awning? - You can buy good fully enclosed tents that can either clip on underneath the awning (we have one of these) or to the end of the awning like an Oztent - for the nights where you may feel theatened by the insects or joe blakes. Must say I'm still happy to use an open swag on a good night, but for the threats you mention, we have the awning tent as backup.

We are tickled pink with ours. When open the bed area is 1.6M x 2.4M. Enough room for two adults and a coup;le of small grand kids. We do that often. Yes it is heavy but you modify your driving to drive safely. After all no matter what the story or regs are if I was to roll the car and kill someone then I would feel it, Not the regulations, mathematical formulas, engineers or regulators. ME!!! So you play safe amd do the right hthing.

We also got the full sized annex with a forward opening that matches the cars rear split tailgate and lifting upper do to give us a fully enclosed and private room.

Expensive but a very good buy. The only drawback is that we find it a bit hard to set up camp, go for a drive and come back to camp. It has a bad habit of sticking to the car as you drive off.

They say a picture says a thousand words.

Phil

And just out of curiosity, what was your guest? Many guests that can get in your swag, can also climb, or fall out of trees.