Roof Top Tents and Base Camping

When purchasing the rooftop tent i went through all scenarios, including this one mentioned. In the end i decided to go rooftop for ease of setup and the fact it is nice and high off the ground, pleasing SWMBO. I dont carry a second ground tent as i want to keep the amount of gear down as much as possible so i simply pack up and explore if i feel the need.

However, taking your bedding and mattress out of the tent and putting it in the ground tent would be, certainly for my Eezi-Awn, no hassle at all. Assuming of course your ground tent is big enough to take the mattress.

Hope this helps.

Some rooftop tents are a disadvantage and some are a true 5minute job.
I have had both kinds,,, but if you buy the right one first then there is no disadvantage because you can even leave ALL of your bedding in there when packing up...

We either plan a little bit and spend a day in an area looking around, camp that night and spend the next day doing stuff locally around the camp (walking distance). When in towns replenishing, washing etc we quite often get a cabin or motel it for a couple of nights.
Otherwise we just pack up each day, it doesn't take more than 5 minutes as we don't actually get much stuff out, just close the Shippshape, put the chairs away, the rear awning and go.
Don't bother with a tent as don't have the space or want to carry the weight. Pulling the innerspring mattress out of the Shippshape isn't really a viable proposition either.
You really have to consider what type of travelling/camping you are going to do.
If you are constantly on the move with only say two or three occasions in say a month in more than one place and predominately remote bush camping then the rooftop tents work well. If on the other hand you tend to travel for a day or so then camp in one place or in a caravan park for a few days you might want to reconsider a rooftopper.
We've mostly done the constantly on the move type travelling over the years and last years we away for 3 1/2 months which was much slower travelling, sometimes only travelling for a few hours then camping for a few days. Combined with wet and windy weather we soon got sick of being outside in the wet and cold and really wished for something that we could go inside and shut the door to keep the elements out.

Hi Peter,

You can see from the two previous posts, there are different set ups. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Camping is a compromise as everyone says and this is certainly true. (except for my wife of course).

I have a hannibul and it has some good points and some bad as well. They are expensive but strong and well made. This counts in the middle of a wet windy night. You can add a skirt to these that will enclose the back of the vehicle. This is great for base camping when there are bugs. Not to mention in bad weather, visiting the bathroom in the middle of the night and food preparation.

Disadvantages are that you need to remove the bedding to pack up. This can be a bit of a pain. It takes longer to set up as well.

A flat roof length roof top is quicker to set up and you can leave your bedding there to pack up. Their disadvantage is that they offer less weather protection.

It is amazing what you hear sleeping in a roof top camper. Great for listening to the birds in the morning but in a caravan park you hear everything as well. Women love it because you are off the ground. We got ours for Cape York and are certain that crocs cannot climb a ladder.

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Peter,

I understand that everyone's needs are different. As some above have explained there are ways to make the roof top work, but for us it never could. That's why we tow a trailer.

We can set up as quick as most roof tops and have more room than just about every form of camping available. There are compromises on and off road but we travel just as quickly as most others, our friends never wait for us. In the bush my trailer has never stopped me going anywhere. As for fuel consumption, anecdotal evidence suggests that a roof rack costs about the same amount of fuel as a trailer.

Obviously we leave everything set up when we go exploring in a town we are visiting.

Duncs

It's makes sense what people say about a trailer vs. roof-top tent in terms of extra fuel used and time to set up and pack up but personally I'd rather not tow anything - I prefer the extra manoeuvrability and parkability of a single vehicle.

Bedding is fairly bulky but with my Howling Moon roof-top tent the bedding is left inside when I pack it up - if you are going to be using a ground tent as well as roof top, you'll need to either open the roof top to get the bedding out or plan ahead (get it out the previous stop) and have enough space in the car to store it for the day - you'll also need some sort of mattress that you can use in the ground tent as the mattress in the roof-top tent is not as easy to remove (ie. doesn't just roll up) and will be very bulky in your car!

I don't usually base camp for more than 2 or 3 days in one place so packing up each day isn't too much of a hassle (realistically, it took 10min from start to finish). On one occasion I did base camp but there were other vehicles with space for me so I just left my tent/car set up at the campground and travelled in one of the other cars for the day.

The other things you might consider:
Does it really make that much difference whether you're packing up to move on or packing up to come back to the same place?!
And, the roof top tent is not so convenient around town (undercover parking, carport/garage etc.) so it's best to remove it and then stick it back on for trips. This is okay for longer trips but if you're often taking off for a spontaneous weekend away and you don't have a ground tent (or good way of installing/removing the roof top tent - see thread 68645 for ideas) this might be enough of a hassle that you will rethink a weekend away.

Personally, I had the roof-top tent for longer and better planned trips, but used the little dome tent for weekenders and spontaneous trips but I only ever carried one or the other (and when I used the dome tent I surely (or sorely!) missed the comfort of the roof-top tent).

Depends on what sort of camp you set up. We are fairly minimalist so set up and pack up times are very short ie a 5 minutes tops. In 10 minutes camp is set up, fire lit, tea ready to go on the fire and beer in hand. So we pack up and go. If you set up a camp with 20 fold out bits and pieces with a kilometre of clothes line it is likely to take too long and it will become painful. At that point leaving some sort of set up would be better.

Steve

hi peter.
im going up to Tamworth this weekend, as has already been said do i lower the roof top onto my ute or do i take the tent as im only going for three days, and will be driving the ute each day,I have often thought about putting racks on the trailer so it will take the roof top, cheers for now bill.

No hassel to pack it up each day and move on - or put it on a slide off camper as we did.

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Cheers Tony

I have no experience with roof top tents, but we have had camper trailers before. However it's always on mind because we're thinking of what kind of set up we will go with when the kids leave home....hubby already has his beloved Cruiser Ute but it will be a fair while until the kids are old enough to fly the coup).

I like the idea of not having to tow a trailer. Not quite convinced on roof top tents though. What sort of vehicle do you have anyway? If it's a ute then you could cosider one of many designs of trayback campers? My father in law has one that pops up kind of like a pop top caravan, so packing up isn't as much of a hassle and it's not as high off the ground as the roof top tents are.

One problem I see with having to pack up the roof top every day (or even a tray back camper) is that it's harder to reserve your camping spot if you wanted to stay there all week, and I'd worry about theft being more likely if gear was left out with no car and no tent around.

And what about hiking tents, they don't take up much space at all and they are really light, most brands relatively quick to set up as well, it could be an option if you want to carry a secondary tent for two people, just get a 3 man hiking tent. But if you're going to go for a touring tent then I would think there wouldn't be much point to having a roof top tent as well...maybe just an awning off your vehicle instead.

Peter,

Here's an option.

http://www.bestoffroad.net.au/camper.html

We have developed a rooftop tent/camper unit with awning. It is designed for Motor Cycle Travellers but is also an excellent for people who travel in cars/4wds who want to travel light and not have a big set up time.

Jim.

We used a roof-top tent on top of ‘The Landy’ for a while, but recently took it off as we had outgrown it as a family and I didn’t necessarily want to go to the trouble of adding awnings etc.

A couple of our observations….

Other half always preferred the touring tent (single pole Southern Cross) as she didn’t like the climb up/down especially if it was the middle of the night..

If you don’t add awnings it will be a bed only..Nowhere to stand and dress (can be an issue for some),

Can be a weight/stability issue in some applications,

On the plus side it is very simple and effective if touring every day or every other day,

Not usually too much trouble to pack/unpack, although we always carried the touring tent for extended stays..

Having had a camper trailer, roof-top tent, and touring tent, I would say that each has its application and each will outperform the others depending on what the application is. Something worth considering for those leaning towards roof-top tents and camper trailers is to build a simple off-road trailer that is capable of taking the roof-top tent. This way you can have both a camper trailer and roof-top tent, so you cover two different applications…..and this should come in cheaper than purpose made off-road campers.

I actually had the roof-top tent for sale, but withdrew it as I might actually do something along these lines at some stage.....

For us..It is the Southern Cross Touring tent for now, and must say that we don’t notice the additional set-up time….

Good luck with your choice……and travels!

The Landy