Rooftop tents

Not sure how desperate you are, but if you can hang in until Feb then why not come to the British Indoor 4x4 Show, Sun 15th Feb @ Donington Park race track. Several exhibitors will be selling rooftents and you will have the opportunity to see all the choices in one place on one day before making your mind up.....

Hope to see you there

David LLAMA 4x4

Hi Scott, I did a personal review on a few tents which i've included below. In the end we have gone for the BOAB tent as we felt that the few pounds more give us a better quality tent (we will see how it fairs in the desert soon). pick it up next week. Second hand ones dont come around very often so you may have to buy new, would recommend to try before you buy tho even if its just a display one. Try and open and close it, check its zips, straps, ties, hinges etc.

Hopes this all helps

Mark

The girlfriend and myself are going to morocco next march and a roof tent is what we have decided to go for.

I'm fitting the tent on some rhino roof bars as the full rack option wouldn't work for me, they are generally something you tend to leave on once fitted which would mean I couldn't get into any of the carparks or the local tip. If I was pushed I would have gone for the patriot, extremely well/over engineered (British too) so you can strip each section off i.e. side rails, then floor sections then finally the roof bars.

We recently had the opportunity to use a Hannibal 1.2 roof tent for 2 weeks in France, once we were back I went and had a look at my mates 1.4 ezi awn to compare. I'll list the good and bad points of each below:

Hannibal:

Good bits:

Protective cover very easy to remove and refit, zipped along lower edge then strapped. Fly sheet has side panels by exit thus shielding entry points from rain better. Base seems thicker and more stable!? Has porthole entry meaning totally sealed panel once zipped up. Side windows zip all the way round Thick mattress, split in the middle which helps opening and closing

Bad bits:

Lower half of ladder is stored separately in side landy Top support pole for fly sheet falls out of pockets everytime its folded down thus you have to re fit this everytime you erect the tent. no air vents, need to leave windows or doors slightly open to allow air flow through tent fly sheet is very thin nylon type material and prone to damage Internal support bars need repositioning once tent is fully open Stitching of seems and zips are poor. When opening zip of protective cover tends to get pinched between the mating parts of the base board.

Ezi awn:

Good Points:

Ladder is light weight aluminium and both section are part of the tent Stitching of zips and seems are better quality but still no where near what I would expect +£700 worth of tent to be. Has continuous air vents to allow air flow through tent Tent opens out well and internal support bars are in correct positions Fly sheet is of a rip stop material and very hard wearing

Bad Points:

Door has vertical side zips but nothing attaches the bottom of the door panel to the tent base: thus fly's (mozi's) can enter, gather the fix for this is to add Velcro along the bottom. Side windows only zip up on sides this means that in windy conditions the sides balloon out/flap around. Protective cover is completely removable and very difficult to resecure around tent when packing up! There is a strap around the base of the cover which has a ratchet on one side, this is tends not to pull the cover tight all the way round. Mattress is one piece which means that when opening the tent the joint of the base board pinches the mattress meaning it wont interlock to gether properly. No side panels on fly sheet by entrances Protective cover a tad thin and corners of the tent base tend to damage it when it being secure up

Well I think thats it!

Both tents are canvas made which means that even on the brightest days the tent stays very dark inside! The ezi awn has alu section rails along the bottom which makes fitting easier, Hannibal is bolt through the floor type but I would bolt the ezi-awn through the floor I think if rough offroading was to be encountered.

For a Tent costing + £700 you are not getting a very good quality built tent but instead I believe you are paying to the concept, as I was told these tents are made in south Africa and quality is very poor even when they sack the workers and re-employ the quality soon drops down again.

The ezi awn is better made but has poor design for something that is to be used in Africa (door/window sealing is very bad), all the issues on the ezi awn can be fixed fairly easy but if you want a tent that works straight out the box then Hannibal is in my opinion better.

I would recommend going to the land rover shows and having a look at them in great detail, also check the difference between the 1.2 and 1.4. We were going to go for a 1.2 but after seeing the difference in the 1.4 I think we shall be going for that instead after all we will be spending over

We had a look at a AUTOHOME overland at billing, there made in Italy and have a good mattress, good ladder and the quality as I remember is very high, only bad point that I saw was that i think the material is not canvas so not as hard wearing or as dark when inside. see BOAB.biz, chaps name was Chris I think. we are going to the LRO show to have another look at these first before we decide.

The only other make that I know of is Howling moon but seen or heard much about these.

I have a roof top tent that I use here in Australia.... Howling Moon is the make....have a look at

Choose..... "Chateau Tent" Link

Cheers

Rex........ if u need to reply change the news below to rex

-- snipped-for-privacy@rexmorrow.com

If you can stretch to the cost, there's nothing so convenient as the Italian "Autohome" type - I've got the Maggiolina model. It's a rigid case for protection (and it looks like it's just a giant storage box so is possibly less likely to be nicked.) Goes up to complete, usable state in less than ONE minute and comes down almost as quickly. Fully weatherproofed with an optional second skin too.

I could go on... but they're fab. You get a ladder which you'll need to store somewhere (but it can go IN the tent) - mine fits in the roof-rack under the tent.

There are a few dealers importing them. I won't mention them so nobody thinks I'm an advert ;-)

Hi Scott, Here in Oz I have a Defender 110 and an Aussie Traveller rooftop tent. It is made of very strong canvas unlike some South African brands and has a large area on the floor. The door of which is about 2 metres wide and can be held open by poles. Idea for kart repairs etc.