Thread: oztents

Is anyone here running an Oztent RV tent, or Darche xtender type?

I don't want a roof tent (my truck is thirsty enough), as we put the kayak on top of the truck when away.
I currently run a Rhino-rack side 2.5m awning with 3 walls. We put one wall up and put a small 2 person tent under that one side wall, with the chairs and cooking area under the main awning, but its limited in height, so was toying with the idea of an Oztent RV4 beside the awning instead.
This would allow us to use cot beds instead of air mattresses.

I’m looking at options also.
Have just done rear springs to accommodate something but haven’t as of yet purchased anything.
I also don’t want a roof-top tent unless it’s reasonably removable.

Watching…

there were a few roof top tents at ngawi a few weeks back, soon as the wind came up the tents went down lol.

Scottrods,
The RV tents are well made and very popular over here. A bit more expensive as reflected by the quality. There are two fabric weights. Go the heavier one not the lite.

Only issue maybe the size they pack down too. Quite long.


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I have an RV5. My brother has an RV4
The difference between the RV4 and RV5 is negligible and the way they get the extra floor space on the RV5 doesn't give you any real increase in usable space.
I also have the extra side walls and end wall to the awning flap on the front which essentially doubles the floorspace if fully set up.

The good:
Good quality build (mine is the heavy version).
Fast to set up and knock down.
Full head height for a large portion of the tent and awning.
The front awning design integrates well with a vehicle awning if you are using your vehicle as part of your cooking setup like your photo.
Side walls and end wall available as optional extras.

The not so good:
As others have said, not light or compact. You will need roof rack space to transport it. That said, this does promote the 'first off, last on' setup/knock down method for the tent, and if your tent is wet, its not being transported inside your truck making everything else wet.
When fully set up with the optional side walls and end wall, that section of the tent is not as stable as I would like. I need to spend more time with it to nail that portion of the setup for full on storm performance.
Cost.

If you have any specific questions I will try to answer them.

As another option, and I used this for my LWB V8 Landrover camping setup, I had a tarp custom made to suit my truck. It had eyelets fitted to one side that hooked onto a couple of pins on the end of the full length roof rack above the rear door. That side of the tarp was long enough that the corners of the tarp could then be pegged directly to the ground (no ropes) at a 45ish degree angle, forming a flat topped slopping sided shape (truncated A-frame). The tarp was 6m long from the vehicle to the far end. It had two eyelets on that edge, the same as the edge on the roof rack, which we put adjustable poles into with ropes to keep the tarp roof taught. The 6m long sides were then pegged directly to the ground (no ropes). We had one additional adjustable pole that w placed into the middle of the tarp, upside down, to take any sag out of the middle of the roof for water run off.

Good points:
Tarp was the first thing to be set up and last thing to be knocked down, giving you a dry work area for unpacking/packing if its raining.
If its raining when you are breaking camp, its way faster to fold up a tarp and throw it on the roof rack than it is to get a tent folded up and into its bag.
Pegging the sides directly to the ground keeps the wind out of your living space, unless the wind was blowing in from the ends. Position your truck accordingly at setup.
Massive floor space with full head height for the width of the vehicle, tapering off to the sides. This made good usable space under the sloping walls for work table, cots and gear storage etc.
Only uses three poles and two ropes.
Being attached to your truck, its not going to blow away.
Low cost compared to a full tent (excellent cost to size ratio).
You can have the tarp made to a size that suits your needs.
If need be, to clear your rear door or to get more head height, have a couple of vertical extensions fitted to the corners of your roof rack to lift the tarp higher.

Not so good:
Its attached to your truck, you cannot drive down the road to get some milk.

In my experience, the tarp is a much simpler setup, and is what I would go back to if I was touring again. I did a lot of 4x4 camping safaris and watched a lot of people struggling in bad weather with their setups while we sat back in out camping chairs and watched the comedy show.

Amazing what you can create with tarps,poles (off the kids tramp sides in my case teaches them to jump in the middle and be aware of where they will end up if goofing around) bungees, and some tent pegs.I only use a small tent for sleeping in these days tarps for the cooking,relaxing areas,only downside is they can be a bit noisy if the wind gets up but earplugs sort that.

Thanks guys.
Storage when at home is not an issue. I have a 75sqm shed.
And it would go on the roof rack which is full length of the Prado, when travelling.

Have you considered a canvas box tent, pretty nice having a fire for winter. I've got a Mia and pretty happy with it although the price has gone up a fair bit since I purchased mine. also a kiwi crowd makes them smiths attachments.

Mrs wants Mesh to stop the sandflies.
I am happy with the 2man on my own, but this is for summer camping with her.
MIA and Smiths are big and heavy and single layer, no floor sewn in and no mesh.

Me and the wife have been together 25 years, in that time we’ve spent ~5 years living under canvas in out there parts of the world.

In regions where you can get four seasons in one day, the #1 requirement is quality, heavier weight canvas, very closely followed by #2 the simplicity of tent erection and pack up.

We use Southern Cross Canvas swags and tents. We had an Oztent but it wasn’t up to what we needed and we sold it after just one trip.