Packing up a rooftop tent. How much hassle?

I haven't played with an Oz Tent, but I find the roof topper easier to pack away than all other tents I have had, simply because I leave almost all the bedding in it. I take 2 kids camping and they always have somewhere better to be when ever this job is to be done, or they get in the way trying to help, but making it harder.


To pack a normal tent 1st you pull out and roll up the mattresses, pack away pillows, stuff sleeping bags into the stuff sacks and load all that into the car, and that is before a peg has been pulled.


Roof top tent: Pillows into the car, extra blankets too if it has been cold. from there fold the sleeping bags in 1/2, make sure the car keys are out of the tent (you only need to get caught with that once), hook up the bungee straps, pull 2 tent pegs and fold the tent up. Zipping the cover on can be a bit of a stretch as you need 1 hand to tuck the canvas out of the way of the zip, so one of those tyre steps might be a good idea, or just open the back passenger doors and stand there.

It's a lot better than a tent if the ground is muddy. It can be a pain depending on the car and tent model. Setting up is always easier from my experience but packing up is sometimes a little harder.

The pros- easier quicker setup, can be setup anywhere you can park, cleaner being up in the air.

The cons- climbing up and down the ladder at night, carrying all that weight up top, once set up the car is out of action no driving into town for a pizza, a pain to get on and off the car if you don't want to carry it around fulltime between trips.

Cheers

This link to youtube is worth a watchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhi1nkWYWiU
It'll give you some tips to watch out for. Cheers, Kanga.

You have to be a little agile to pack and up pack! 5 minutes pack or open up, Up out of the dirt and mud and you can generally get a breeze on a hot night being 2 metres off the ground. Very snug in winter with the insulated floor and off the ground. We have been using ours for 4 years and works well for us! Michael

Maybe the easiest way to answer is like this. From what you see in the picture below to driving off took us 20 minutes and we were not rushing. You don't have to be tall not agile. We are a little lucky with the tailgate allowing me to hop up top easily to do the final tying down before the canvas goes on. We also pack a small set of steps under the canvas to help with the side zippers.

20 minutes to drive off including all the "stuff" you put around the inside of the annex.

Phil

Chris and Lindsay,

Hard to imagine anything as simple and practical as the Oztent.
Just think, where do you cook or sit under when its raining?
We have the peak side panels and the extra living space under the awning is worth the additional effort of putting them up and pulling them down.

If you are just looking for somewhere quick to sleep, maybe consider swags and a side awning on the vehicle.

Phil has a Hannibal RTT the same as me. Had over 600 nights in mine would not have anything else. Camp on any ground no matter how rough, it withstands howling gales and drenching rain with ease. I have a larger cover which does not look as neat but makes packing up extremely easy. At seven years old and never been off the Cruiser it maybe a bit faded but still as good as the day I got it. They are really great in the hotter places as you are off the ground (away from creepie crawlies and things that want to eat you) and you can get any breeze that might be around.

Hi all, some good replies here, I hate to hijack the thread, but I have a question for you.
FYI, Im 6'10" in the old scale, and weigh in at about 160kg, I love the idea of a Rooftop Tent, but the whole cantelevered base off of the Rack worries me a little, is the only thing that stops the Tent from "Falling" the Ladder? (Im assuming it stops the Base from dropping)
Does the Hannibal have a weight limit?
My Troopcarrier is pretty tall too, does the Hannibal have an extendable Ladder for higher Vehicles?

Any feedback appreciated! :-)

Matt. :-)

Chris and Lindsay,

I don't have a roof top tent but I have a Troopy and have driven the CSR a few times.

I see from your profile that you have a dual cab ute and I have taken a few of those vehicles along the CSR in a convey and they also had a roof rack with a lot of camping gear stored up there.
One of the vehicles lost his roof rack (slid forward and sat on the bonnet). The roof rack was not strong enough to take the corrugations and all the bolts worked loose also the track does get over grown a bit on the Northern section.

If you still want to take a roof top tent make sure it is over the cab only. The amount of twist and movement between the cab and the tray is quit a bit and having a roof rack between the two will cause no end of problems.

Taking a tent would be fine for the CSR.

We have an Oztent and a rooftop tent. We did a Simmo Crossing last year and used the Oztent. If my daughter hadn't of come on that trip I would have left the tent at home and used the rooftop tent.
We have since got swags for the family now and if I did it again tomorrow I would swag it. A lot less mucking around I reckon.
We live up Cape York and it's the swag all the time now over the others when we camp out

We have used both a Southern Cross centre pole tent and we have a roof top tent, the latter gets little use these days and in fact we did try to sell it at one time. No experience with an OzTent other than to say they appear to have a very easy set-up.

There are a number of reasons as to why one alternative might be better over the other.

But specific to your question, which is easier to pack up?

I would say there would be little difference, and in fact for us we find by the time we take out some of the bedding in the rooftop tent to enable it to be closed then timing is marginal either way versus packing up the Southern Cross tent. Whilst some bedding can be left up there, it will depend on how much bedding you have.

So it leaves other reasons as to why you might select one over the other, and I'm sure there any number of pros and cons for that.

Cheers

had an Oz tent for 10 years and went to a rooftop last year to explore the Pilbara.

I am 130kg so not small and have no issues in getting in or out. (My partner lost money as she thought that I couldn't)

I have extended the bag height 90mm and this allows me to keep 4 pillows and bed made up at all times.

After the first time up and down its so easy.

Bur still have the oz tent as when I have the tinny on cant have the roof top.

Enjoy