Thread: Roof Top Tent

Hey all, does anyone have a roof top tent? are they the be-all and end-all they appear to be? Looking at doing some camping with the mrs and my little 2 man tent might be a bit cosy. If anyone has some recommendations of styles/brands I'm all ears. Cheers

Cheers, I'll have a bit of a look into those ones

Have a look at Feldon, they are AKL based. See quite a few of those on vehicles these days.

Ive often thought about mounting one on a trailer

Originally Posted by chric1

Hey all, does anyone have a roof top tent? are they the be-all and end-all they appear to be? Looking at doing some camping with the mrs and my little 2 man tent might be a bit cosy. If anyone has some recommendations of styles/brands I'm all ears. Cheers

All depends how 'rough' or 'glamp' you and the mrs want to go. Rooftop tents are pretty snug. Not good for the more generously proportioned or creaky of joints
Then you need a working/kitchen area, that some do not have. OK in fine weather but not flash in Kiwi weather patterns. Remember that a lot of rooftop tents are designed for African or Aussie climates, not ours.

If setting up conventional tents is seen as too time consuming, the pop up tents from Russia that Sarvo is selling are primo. Plus they can be more NZ climate friendly. Worth a look.

A friend used one last year in morroco,camped on the coast on each night for the first few days and it was damp with coastal fog.they found as they moved each day they never truely dried out and began to get damper,they travelled with experienced german overlanders who were always travelling and their opinion was they were great in dry climates between 20 to 40 degrees celcius but otherwise not really practical on longer trips as they got gradually damper inside and also get condensation from breathing and they needed to put a breathable layer between the mattress and the floor otherwise you tend to get a layer of moisture on the floor ....which needed you to lift up the mattress each morning to wipe up the dampness.

My sister has a pull out awning mounted on her truck and then a large swag, she goes away fishing quite a bit and loves it, good setup that's really quick and easy to set up and pack away as the swag has the mattress etc all built in and can cook and hang out under the awning.

Did a big mission round South Islandcouple years ago. Ran in to a couple using-roof top a few times on the trip. They were happy with it at the start then hated it at the end. Ladder a pain to get out for the loo. Wet as inside condensation. Worst point was no sleep in a gale as wind noisy as. They were ready to dump it 6 days later they had done so. Got from Nelson to Grey Mouth uncomfortably was her description

Looked into them a few years ago and decided not to get one for the reasons listed below
Once you're set up, if you want to drive anywhere you have to pack up, unlike a tent where you can drive off and come back a few hours later.
Bloody scary in high winds.
If you are like me and need to take a piss or two in the night then climbing up and down a ladder is a pain
If you have a dog that sleeps in your tent, forget that idea, most dogs don't do ladders.
There may have been a few other reasons but cant remember now

If its just camping out the back of the truck then why not just buy a heavy duty tent. Way cheaper and we don't have all the snakes and spiders etc like Aus that you want to be well off the ground for so don't really see the need in NZ for one

Yea i can see having to climb up into them getting old pretty fast,plus you need to pack it up if you want to drive off

Yeah that's more or less what we are doing now but a 3 pole 2 man tent which is abit of a task to set up then pack up, got a 2.5m x 2.5m RMR awning which is great. Maybe a double swag would be a better idea.

New set up concieved during lockdown. Rolling eggs and sandflies on Branch.

I have one of the Oztrail trailer mounted tents.
Means you can set it up and dont have to pack it up everytime you want to go somewhere.
Also able to have it set up quickly as a small 2-3 person or if you are staying a few days you can put up the awning.

If you want to use just the trailer its jus a few bolts to take the tent part off.