Hello there wise collective, Has anyone ever used a roof tent on their tintop? I'm thinking one of something like this (see link), which if flipped over the back of the van gives me the Holy Grail option of wild (free) layby camping with the children. https://venturarooftents.com/collections/ventura-deluxe-1-4 It would require some roof bars, so suggestions for these too please...
Try these http://www.rooftentslimited.com/ I think they should be able to advise. I've definitely seen t2's with these roof tents before.
I hadn't thought of that! I have an revolutionary (though very reliable) decibel/oestrogen powered speed limiter that cuts in at around 55mph
Epic, what sort of tent is that? Are the cages for the daughter too? I have 3 boys, so would need an extra cage.....
Probably but ours were for two young Cairn terriers. Daughter slept in the roof tent, Mummy tuft in the van with Dinkie, Dougal and I slept in the tent. Loads on here go to Outdoor they do paypal etc and ship to the UK https://sportsshop.de/offroad/?p=1
I saw one similar to the Ventura one on a Dutch T25 tin top on the Isle of Wight about 10 years ago. It looked pretty good if I remember. And the Dutch always seem to have cool bits of kit don't they ? For shure!
Cheers it is quite heavy though, about 80kgs and that on top of a fully loaded camper is tipping the payload scales a little.
Sorry for the late reply but no. It all folds down like a concertina with a zippered cover and stays on the van.
UPDATE... Well, I bought one eventually! Roof bars were a dilemma, but eventually scored some 'Manbo' bars to fit a Land Rover (which I had to shorten to fit the bay). These are good because the tent can be bolted direct to them which saves an inch or two in height. Here's how she looks... It is 1.4m wide, so top to tailing, you can sleep 3 in there but it is quite tight. Mattress is comfy. Takes about 10 minutes to put up, though we learned that you need to peg the ladder to the ground or if the wind blows it will close the tent back up while you are in the pub.... Folded down it looks like this, not very aerodynamic! There is enough space to leave sleeping bags and pillows in there when stowed, saves moving them in/out each time. I actually got 3 roof bars in the deal, so I plan to mount the other one further forward and eventually be able to attach a wind-out awning on them. The bars/tent come off (as one unit) in about ten minutes with a two-man lift required. I reckon with an awning fitted it will be about 20 minutes to remove and refit the whole lot. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it . Just need to get a few trial runs in before France in July .
Hiya @nobbly just seen your setup - now i've got the roof tent at a cracking price, and have taken possession of the thing! Now i'm looking at roof bars - reading VW literature it states the max loading on the roof is 100kg, but as you say thats kicking in about the weight of the tent - How have your trials gone and the run to France go? Its just about to turn summer here and its the reason I bought the roof tent as I suffered from heat stroke over the last weekend and the temps are not raving yet - so really interested to hear how you went.
Hi @Wonty. My tent was one of the lightest I could find at around 45kg, the roof bars are a couple of kilos each - I deliberately mounted the rear roof bar over the structural part of the 'D' pillar and have no concerns about strength. The test runs and 2 weeks in France went really well, our tent is 1.4 x 2.4 metres when deployed which is a really big bed, no doubt we used some extra fuel but on the whole it is a great success. It takes well under 10 mins to put up now I'm practised, probably more like five - the only thing is because I'm only 5'9" tall I need to stand on a step or stool to fasten up the straps on the raincover. I love the fact that you just leave all the pillows etc up there so they don't clutter up your van I think in horizontal driving rain,some water may get onto the mattress, but we've had a good bit of wet weather with no problems. It sounds like heat, not rain is your problem, but there are 4 big windows/doors with mozzie nets on, so with those open and the sunshades out you should be OK. Best of luck and enjoy your summer, Nobbly
