Rooftop Camper - practicalities?

You've hit the nail on the head with that. If you want to stay put for a few days, and then head off exploring - you will need to leave maybe a small tent or tables & chairs around - otherwise you might find your favourite camping spot occupied when you get back! You do of course also need to pack it up (and set it up) every time you want to move the car as you pointed out. It would also need to be a pretty small family to accommodate everyone in the roof top bit! You can get annex's to fit - which does help a little. Good for convenience, and keeping out of the road of all the nasty land based creepy crawlies though!

Start with reading this thread...

http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/109648/Best_Roof-Top_Tent.aspx?ky=roof+top+tent&sn=&p=%2fForum%2fDefault.aspx%3fs%3d1%26ky%3droof%2btop%2btent%26pn%3d1

I have one, but my setup is for touring. the longest I have spent in one spot with it was 3 nights with a day trip in the middle. To set up the tent it is around 5 minutes, realistically close to 15 to pack it all away and 1/2 hour to pack up my whole camp, so not a huge drama if you want to go for a drive, but a bit of an inconvenience.

Having everything with you though, at least you know where it all is when you get back.
Some love their camper trailers, but too much weight and too complected for me. I also got sick of unpacking and folding up tents while the kids disappeared. roof top tent, I just flatten out the sleeping bags, fold it up and swear at the cover while I tuck everything in and zip it on. For me the only down side is I can't take the canoe. Each to their own though.

We lived in mine for 3 weeks, 6' 4" dad and 2 kids. My son had the option of a swag, but after seeing his first crock the roof top tent held a lot more appeal.

Re practicality. How old are you and spouse. My SWMBO vetoed rooftop tents saying she didn't want to fall off a ladder at 2am when needing relief. This was confirmed by friends who sold theirs after the wife caught a leg between rungs with luckily non breakage results,and they are champion sports people.
Regards Philip A

Our RRT has had a fair amount of use in 5 years being on the roof. Like most things, there are good and bad points with everything. We tend to see more of towns and places as we tend to wander around instead of driving. You need to be fairly agile to unzip, setup and pull down and re zip, it is a bit of a task although not that hard. RTT's are warm in winter being off the ground and fairly cool in summer,as you tend to get a breeze being a little higher.No dirt in the tent is great, take your shoes of at the top of the ladder and hook them on the awning frame. We have a thirsty 90 litre fridge so if we are staying somewhere for a few days, we normally run the Patrol for 30 mins just above idle in the afternoons to charge the dual batteries and heat the onboard shower. We like it and saves a heap of fuel compared to towing a van but as we are not getting any younger, I guess a van will be our next step for comfort as we age. regards, Michael

G'day, after taking a RTT to the Cape on the roof rack of the Patrol, I decided that a RTT on the top of a trailer would be the way to go, similar to the Drifta unit, raisable tent and all, but much cheaper, LOL. I have the biggest RTT, so plenty of room in the annexe. Put up and pack up are much, much easier and if you want to tour around, no pack up issues. The RTT on the trailer handled the trip to Arnhem Land this year wonderfully. My knees are R/S, so have decided that a hard floor camper is the way to go, so my trailer will be up for sale shortly, so keep an eye on the For Sale section............. Sorry, for some reason I can't insert pics.



Drifta Offroad Tourer

Looks like it'd still gonna be the old fashioned way for a while. But thanks as always for the opinions and advice to all