Roof tent preferences

[Roodeberg]

Opinions please! (and apologies if this should be in a different forum)

If you suddently had £1,000 to play with......... what would be the roof tent (with or without awnings) of your choice????

Thanx :D

[Darren]

Maggiolina. Robust, easy to erect and pack away, have a useful capacty when closed and are at least vaguely aerodynamic. The biggest downside is that they take up more rack space than the fold out varieties.

[Budgie]

Given the choice I'd go for Howling Moon.
Good quality, good backup and they are the only one's I've seen that have an awning where you exit the roof tent inside the awning. All the others I've seen you have to go outside to get into the awning.  :?

[DurtyDisco]

I've got a Hannibal 1.4 Deluxe, smashing bit of kit, for about £75.00 you can get an extended flysheet (nene overland call it a 1.6 Jumbo tent if you buy both bits together) that means when you put your awning round the bottom, you can enter and exit in complete privacy....

Ideal for those 3 am pee's..... :oops:

Ahem, I mean to save the ladies blushes you understand.....

http://www.rooftent.co.uk/webpages/hannibal/rooftent.html

[Bulli]

think carefully before you buy one. I have had 2 and do like them but they have major drawbacks.
The thing that i like is you are off the ground and comfortable, they also set up pretty quickly.
the major drawback is that you must pack up camp every time you want to use your truck....which is one reason i often leave the rooftent at home.
For what you will pay you can get a multi bedroomed vango ground tent with enough space to stand and cook as well as entertain 8- 10 people, a decent fridge, campbeds, all your sleeping bags cooking gear and still have change for a few trips away...food for thought.
Dont forget they also have an effect on the offroad handling with the weight so high up.

[Skibum346]

Buy a sankey trailer, convert it for exped and stick your roof tent on top of it. Might not be as high as yer Disco... but camp can be left in place while you go and play!

Keeps the weight low down and frees space in the Disco as well.

[Tyke]

He, He, . . . . been thinking of doing just that mate.

Over Christmas we cwent native and camped out three nights and had the Sankey set up with tarps rigged over the top with the cooking gear and beer stash set up in the tub. Made a proper nice shelter and cook house cum bar . . . . then I thought what if I rigged a platform on top for the tent  

[Skibum346]

Check the Douglass Motors site as they build exped trailers and I think you'll see some pics with a tent on board.

The only weakness of their design is that if the tent is up... I don't see how you can gain access to your cargo easily.

I've seen another exped trailer firm (from SA I think) who have a high trailer with side access doors, fitted with arctic lorry style closing mechanism's... F'expensive though!  :shock:

Skibum

[Darren]

Heh, heh, if you're going down that route then you really need something like my Desert Wolf trailer (which is for sale, by the way :)  ).

Purpose built for the job with (almost) all the comforts of home, although admittedly a bit more pricey than a Sankey :)

[mmgemini]

Should I be looking at a RTT I'd go for the original make..Maggiolia.

Apart fron the comments already passed your bedding can alsoget wet if it rains.

Me I have a nice ground tent made by Greensport.

[Tyke]

Like the Destert Wolf idea Darren . . . but as you say, a bit more expensive than the Sankey.

Still having a think about doing a few conversions to it though to make it a more usable piece of off-road camping gear. Would be quite easy to rig a proper canopy and awning over the top with a few poles and a bit of bracketry welded to to trailer.

Thought about the roof tent idea as well but as Bully says, they do have their disadvantages if you want keep mobile while your pitched up. Now bung one on top the Sankey and we could be rocking  

[discodave]

hi i have an eziawn roof tent it packs away quick and fits a discovery fine
not cheap but cheaper than a howling moon mine has just been touring around europe and no problems getting in or out

david edge
300series tdi es
brownchurch roof rack
safari snorkel
eziawn roof tent