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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 12, 2016 20:45:46 GMT -8
So REI sent me an email and one of the associated links was new stuff, one of the listings was a Tepui tent for on top of vehicles. I vaguely remember seeing these in photos but have never seen one "in the wild" as it were. The one rational I can see is that for anyplace you can park your vehicle you've got a tent place without needing the extra ground space. But there must be others? Snakes? ? Setup doesn't seem any simpler. tepuitents.comAnybody use them? |
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Post by Lonewolf on Mar 13, 2016 5:48:24 GMT -8
It looks like it would take more effort to set one up because you're off the ground. Plus would you really want to trust those roof racks to hold the weight of multiple people?
I'd either just set up a tent by the vehicle or bivy out.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 13, 2016 6:00:27 GMT -8
And they cost a small fortune for a relatively small space.
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tigger
Trail Wise!
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Post by tigger on Mar 13, 2016 9:13:37 GMT -8
I grew up with a roof top tent on our station wagon. It was stored hung from the roof of the garage and we would crank it down and latch it on to the roof rack. It was very stable and gave us room inside for other things. It had a picnic table and benches, a shower that attached to the side along with two 25 gallon tanks of water for drinking, using the sink, shower, drinking, etc.
I've seriously considered getting one again...but a tent trailer does the same thing and we can leave it at camp and go places without having to pack it down.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 13, 2016 11:11:56 GMT -8
The one thing that occurs is for those dead end road trailheads where there's no room for a tent and barely room for throwing a sleeping bag down next to the vehicle the night before for an early start that sort of shelter would be useful.
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almostthere
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putting on my hiking shoes....
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Post by almostthere on Mar 13, 2016 17:59:33 GMT -8
You could always rent one of those Jucy campers to try it out. www.jucyusa.comI've been seeing the things all over the place for the past few years. |
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 13, 2016 18:03:46 GMT -8
You could always rent one of those Jucy campers to try it out. www.jucyusa.comI've been seeing the things all over the place for the past few years. yeah I just saw a review of them a week or so back and their offseason prices anyway looked reasonable. |
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Post by Lonewolf on Mar 13, 2016 18:15:11 GMT -8
dead end road trailheads where there's no room for a tent and barely room for throwing a sleeping bag down There's so little space that if more than 1 vehicle shows up, the first ones are blocked in until later arriving vehicles leave? And you have to back out "X" miles because there's no turn-around? |
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dh024
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Post by dh024 on Mar 14, 2016 18:07:15 GMT -8
Good rooftop tents can be set up in seconds. More time is spent unpacking the protective cover -- then they just fold out. No stakes, no poles, no hassle. Most people will just leave all their bedding folded up inside when travelling, too. And because you are off the ground, you don't have to worry about finding a dry, unobstructed piece of ground to pitch your tent.
These tents are most popular with the overlanding 4x4 crowds who are travelling on tough trails where pulling a trailer is difficult or impractical. They are more convenient than a regular tent and more portable than a tent trailer.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 14, 2016 18:46:16 GMT -8
Saw one last year at a campground. I assumed it's good for safaris where you want to be out of reach of lions. I didn't like the idea of having to climb up into one, and the comment about the weight on the roof rack/roof seems valid. I know that our system is only supposed to have 150 lbs or something (not that we don't overload it every time).
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 14, 2016 18:47:53 GMT -8
You could always rent one of those Jucy campers to try it out. www.jucyusa.comI've been seeing the things all over the place for the past few years. I think that's a pop-up top, accessible from the interior, which is a somewhat different thing. Oops--I take that back. I found another picture and it is a tent on top, kind of a cool set-up, actually, with the hard-shell pod so it just opens up. The one we saw last year looked a great deal more complicated, and sat atop a sedan or station wagon. |
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