Roof Top Tents are great for “serious “overland travelers, but is it the right setup for you?
Roof top tents have become increasingly popular in recent years, mainly due to becoming substantially more affordable. From the bargain CVT units, to the super high-end Maggiolina’s, you can see them on a wide variety of overland vehicles. Yet a large segment of the market still strays away from owning them, here’s why I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet.
First I’m going to have to out myself, I still sleep in a ground tent on a ground pad. Yes my “ground tent” is a OzTent, and yes I sleep on a Nemo ground pad, but I still sleep on the ground none the less.
Home Sweet Home
I haven’t bought a roof top tent because I live in an a condo, frequently utilize parking garages, and I’m not a fan of the higher center of gravity. Yet if these factors weren’t and issue for me I most likely would have bought one by now. Here’s a quick breakdown of my perceived pros and cons:
Pros:
High off the ground – Higher is always better, it’ll keep you out of range of peasants bears, drunk friends that can’t climb ladders, and out of the mud.
Quick setup time – They only take a few minutes to setup, and they pack up just as quickly. All you have to do is park the truck and open up your tent.
Always ready to deploy – Having a comfortable place to sleep wherever you take your truck is a pretty convenient. Imagine the next time you’re too drunk to drive home, pop this bad boy up in the bar parking lot and watch the ladies line up.
Cons:
Increased vehicle height – When you’ve got a 3″ lift or more, adding another foot onto your roof has you pushing 8′ in height.
Higher center of gravity – Try not to roll your rig, any roof top tent owner will tell you that it makes the truck a little more top heavy.
Difficult to take on and off (Unless you have a hoist, I hope your friends don’t mind dragging this thing on and off the truck.) – Your roof is already 7ft off the ground, have fun lifting it up to the top of the truck.
Right now, a ground tent just makes more sense for me, but if you’re willing to live with a few compromises, a roof top tent makes a pretty sweet addition to any rig.
I watched a guy mess with his RTT in Moab and nothing about that said “I want one of those!” It looked to be more hassle than my ground tent except I have to inflate an air mattress. But my trade off is I do that once and I’m set for the week if I am base camping. I don’t have to pull the RTT down every time we head out with the truck.
We had a big windstorm in Moab and our ground tent was low and tucked behinds a windbreak while the guy in the RTT was up in the wind getting blown around.
I’m a techy gear junkie type person so in theory I should be all over a RTT, but honestly I can figure out what’s the point…well beyond having some bit of gear on my roof that screams “I’m overlander cool!”
I have an RTT but mounted on a m416. Because the RTT is on the trailer I can avoid all the problems of mounting it on the roof of my car as described whilst also having all the advantages of a RTT.
Biggest advantage of trailer mounting a RTT is that I don’t have to break camp to use my vehicle.
I have ground tents too for eating in and spill over storage. Its nice to eat in shelter whether its hot, cold or wet.
I agree that having a RTT on a trailer is the best option, I’m just not 100% sold on hauling a trailer around the woods. Some of these trailers get heavy pretty quickly and they definitely start pushing the capabilities of some of our rigs.
That being said, for the average Overlander a trailer is probably the best compromise when mounting a RTT.
Alex, I have camped with a RTT and I currently have an ARB awning w/3 wall kit & floor. Both pro’s & cons are accurate both are protective against all but the severest of weather. Here in the NW getting wet is considered ‘the cost of doing business’ out here. I also like the fact that the awning is much cheaper than a RTT. Thanks & keep the posts coming.
Glad you enjoy the blog, I never considered the awning and wall setup. I’m going to have to give that some consideration for the next tent setup.
I get the RTT up easily by leaning a ladder against the roof rack, protected by a pillow or a moving blanket, and literally just push the RTT up on my own. To take it down, I do the same.
After owning and traveling with the RTT, I can say I’m never going back. I sleep more comfortably, don’t worry so much about weather, feel safer, and let’s face it, it just looks cool. I don’t feel the extra weight so much with the OME heavy suspension on my rig. For me, the RTT adds value.
I will say the ONE THING that sucks about having an RTT is the fact that once you set it up, you’re stuck. If all of a sudden you feel the urge to wheel at night, or if you forget something at the store down by the turnoff, you can’t just hop in your car and go. So be mindful of when you pull her open.
That’s a great point that I completely forgot to add, having to setup “permanently” for the night can be a inconvenience in a few situations. One of the other reason we keep the ground tent is that I’m not too keen on dragging up my dog to the rtt on that tiny ladder.
Great idea on mounting the tent also, I’ve seen a few setups that use a hoist in a garage, but this is definitely an easy DIY setup.
I have a Mombasa RTT mounted over the bed of my 2004 Tacoma Doublecab. I have had it for 6 years and it has held up to some pretty nasty storms while on trips. I just re-waterproofed it last summer. My big reasons for purchasing it was the setup time and to be off the rocky ground where we travel often to. The having to pack it up if you want to go some where is a PITA I will admit. I am in Michigan and there are not a lot of them. I was going to write this earlier but had some chores to do. While I was outside I had an older gentleman stop by and ask about my RTT! He had seen it went I had it open out in the yard a couple of weeks ago and was curious.
Would be interested to dig into details like storing the Oz Tent wet. I know from experience that storing the RTT wet stinks, literally after a few days. And in places with considerable wet wheeling, I avoid the RTT unless it is convenient (i.e. base camp on a trailer). Products like the Oz Tent purport to offer the same ease of deployment and breakdown, at similar costs to the RTT. Would be nice to see this go a little deeper.
David,
Thanks for the input, the post was just meant to be a quick pro’s and con’s of roof top tents. We’ll be featuring a post in the next few weeks covering our long term review of our OzTent’s, so feel free to add any other questions you might have.
My quick reply to your question about the OzTent though is that it’s significantly easier to work with when wet. I’ve packed it wet numerous times, and I can just pop it up in the driveway when I get home, it’s even stayed wet in the bag for a few days without issue.
Good write up Alex. I wrestle with what makes an overlander an overlander. After you have spent $20,000 on fancy equipment does that make you a “real” overlander? Two summers ago I took my family on a 4 week trek west. We visited 6 national parks and put 6,800 miles on the Astro Minivan. Yes, we were on back dirt roads in the mountains of Montana, yes we camped in our Kelty tent. We connected with locals and my daughter was able to be part of the 4th of July parade in the small town of Condon, Mt.
Sorry to go off on a tangent. I like fancy equipment too. I just wonder if there is room in the overlanding community for those who don’t have the rooftop tent and on board air.
Keep the write ups coming.
Thanks for reading our blog, and thanks for the comments.
I agree that there are a lot of overland travelers out there that think you need all of the cool guy gear in order to travel. Then again I’m also guilty to owning way too much SnowPeak stuff and have been known to wear a TAD jacket. I’m a big proponent of just getting out there and running whatever equipment you have. A friend of ours goes to pretty much all of the same places we do in his beat up stock Jeep Cherokee and has just as much fun as the rest of us.