Roof Top Tents

Rod I used one of the ARB - Pilbara tents for many years. They are great and I loved mine. Tthe tsunami of chinese made copies onto the market has bought the price right down.

The fabric on these are a poly-cotton type stuff not the cotton canvas of old. I purchased one of these to outfit Scott and Gaby's 100 series last year.

For the money they are fine. The upside is that camp set up is a lot easier, you are off the ground. Only down side is they can sway a bit in strong winds so make sure you point the nose of the tent appropriately when setting up.

A few pieces of advice. Make sure the ladder supplied is the same as the aluminium one in the pictures provided. Many come with a telescoping pole ladder (about 8 sections that slide into each other) that are a pain in the proverbial. You need the two piece sliding ladder as pictured. Makes set up and pack up a breeze.

If I was purchasing another tent such as this for myself, I would go with the one with the extended fly over the ladder. This gives you a bit more privacy and shelter from the elements when required. You can also strap a screen room to it when in caravan parks/campgrounds etc for privacy and shelter during inclement weather.

Get a large, closed cell foam mat and put it under the mattress. They are about $20 at most good camping retailers This will help with insulation and prevent condensation

In the photo below, note the telescoping ladder. This is the one you DON'T want.





Cheers Mick

We have had a howling moon rooftop tent for well over 10 years now. It has been well used, including trips to Cape York, Victorian High country, and various places up and down the eastern side of Australia. It is still looks almost brand new on the inside, albeit we probably need to think about replacing the cover. We don't like to mess about with our camping gear and we do use it for the purpose it is intended. It's tough. It has stood up well in some pretty windy/dusty/wet/cold/hot conditions. We would definitely recommend this as a purchase over the thinner cheaper versions.

I think we have the tourer version that you can zip a lower tent into. We also have a sort of extension to the entrance which means when I'm getting out of bed in the morning and turning around to go down the ladder I'm not mooning the rest of the campsite. Mind you, you can get the roof topper into more remote places than you can get say a camper trailer. You are off the ground, and they tend to catch nice breezes when it is hot. It's convenient, taking only a genuine couple of minutes to set up or pack up. The grandkids love the "cubby house". We have a mattress that doesn't need blowing up. You can get to camp sites quicker as you are not towing.

Inconveniences we have noticed are. If you want to go on a day trip away from your campground then you need to pack it up. If you are likely to need to go to the loo in the middle of the night you have to go up and down a short ladder, or put a port-a-loo on the roofrack and use it through the other removeable end (this was a marketing tool that the company used on us, mind you we have never attempted it). It's a little heavy to get off the roof of the car and so then tends to stay on the car which doesn't fit in the garage. Fuel consumption is a little higher due to the height of the tent.

If you get one, get a good quality one that is going to last the distance.

youve still got your troopy MK2?

not a cheap option but have you though about making it a pop top?
i bought one a while ago and the upstairs bed is great.only thing is the mattress cushions are a bit thin so im going to look into putting a thin self inflating matress - pretty sure theres enough room with the top down although i probabally wont be able to leave the sleeping bag and pillow up there then

G'day, only had the closed entrance RTT, found it to be very good, as the others say a bit more privacy. With a bit of thinking, you can utilise a couple of tent poles attached underneath the floor to hold the extension out, so no poles and ropes to walk into on the way to the loo in the dark. Agree about the ladder, makes it easy to open and close the tent with the two piece ladder. Mine is a South African one, very well made and robust available on Ebay from Melbourne. One thing I would suggest is a set of "Bonking Bars", to stabilise the whole shebang. Can't add pics or links using the tabs below, so please follow the link. http://liveimages.quicksales.com.au/quicksales/general/classified/gc5269624888535689221.jpg?width=830&aspect=fitwithin&padcolor=ffffff

Get the covered entrance one.
If it is raining, then you can get into and out of the tent without that 1st cold dribble of water running down your bum crack. It also gives you somewhere to dry to store your boots and hang jackets, towels etc. that is out of the rain.

Personally, I'd go through a bricks and mortar store for something like this. I have bought a lot of stuff from eBay because it is cheap. The one time I bought an expensive item it crapped its self after 8 months and by then the company didn't exist any more.

This is where I got mine and it is great. http://www.austrackcampers.com.au/roof-top-tents/

A good mod (that I have yet to do) is get some shock cord and ute cover loops and stretch the shock cord around the under side of the floor. Instant clothes line/towel rack.

You may or may not be interested in the Shippshape rooftop tent I have just advertised, but if you check it out in the classified section you’ll see there is a link to a photo album. As well as plenty of photos of the tent set up in a variety of ways, some of the info I included below the photos may be of inteest when it comes to choosing the tent which is right for you.

Regards
Cuppa

I have a Tigerz11 with the cover over the ladder & absolutely love it! If Im only staying a single night then moving on to another camp it is excellent. If staying somewhere for more than a couple of nights or taking the family I take the camper trailer instead. As stated by others don't get one with the collapsable ladder as they are Spain in the butt!

Your right it has been done to death. Go here and all will be revealed.
http://www.exploroz.com/Members/261669.250/2/2015/Roof_Top_Tents__RTT_.aspx