I’m looking more into a roof box tent as the price of campers and van’s is stupid as we all know. Anyone here with experience of them, pro’s and con’s
I’m looking to open up for more solo adventure weekends away in Scotland (Aberdeen based), primarily wild camping in FC car parks etc where allowed and beaches as I like to surf.

cheers for the feedback

Considered it, then discounted on the basis of loo expeditions in the night and the ladder situation.

Now have a sleeping box in teh back of teh VW Caddy and an inflatable Berghaus event shelter.

I’ve been looking at some of them for pretty much the same reason. It’s also pretty convenient to be able to park and set them up in a few minutes.

The main problem I had was that, for a tent, they are very expensive, and they relay on the vehicle you use having roof bars strong enough to support the tent and you. That pretty much stops it being used on the car I have.

It’s also going to ruin any sort of economy.

wild camping in FC car parks

You can’t stay in an FC carpark unless you are in a self contained campervan. A roofbox tent would not count.

Given this restriction you might be better off with a proper tent.

A roofbox tent would not count.

Might if the car has a sun roof and you are handy with some scissors 😉

Considered it, then discounted on the basis of loo expeditions in the night and the ladder situation.

You mean you go camping without a Lenor bottle?

cheers @richmtb, that’s a good point for FC stay the night parks

Wide mouth Nalgene flexible bottle. Less prone to leaking.

Just mark it up properly so it does not get used for water.

Try before you buy would be my advice!

We hired one for a week in Iceland as I really wanted one. Had a great set up on a Mitsubishi l4000 truck thing with roof tent – it looks amazeballs.

Reality was you could sit up in the tent of an evening, but couldn’t really look out at scenery as door was very/uncomfortably low. Secondly, nowhere to put muddy / wet boots – you don’t want them inside the tent which is all sleeping space, but don’t want them at the bottom of the ladder all night getting wet in the pissing rain – similarly for wet jackets.

I came away disappointed at them being a bit too rubbish but relieved I never found out before I bought one…

The main advantage of roof tents is your on the roof away from the lions and snakes

The main disadvantage of roof tents is your on the roof in the wind.

Can’t see the advantage over a pop up or even an inflatable tent.

How ever I do see a huge increase in them driving around…… Either that or the roof boxes for wheelchairs have changed ….

It’s also going to ruin any sort of economy.

Collapsing the tent back in to the box before driving helps with this.

I too have never seen the advantage in these over a standard tent, expensive and exposed.

Late summer tent entry in Scotland involves running thrice round the tent whilst brushing midges off clothing/hair then unzip tent, dive in and zip up in less than two seconds. I’d like to see someone achieve that with a roof tent.

I too have never seen the advantage in these over a standard tent, expensive and exposed.

They look mint on Instagram innit tho.

I might be in the minority here as the owner of one.
We have a transporter, with the little man getting bigger the addition of a penthouse makes a difference.

It’s also like having a portable treehouse. Things can be fun they don’t have to be ultra practical.

Late summer tent entry in Scotland involves running thrice round the tent whilst brushing midges off clothing/hair then unzip tent, dive in and zip up in less than two seconds. I’d like to see someone achieve that with a roof tent.

nailed it – clearly being on the roof in the wind has its advantages.

I’ve got a Tent Box cargo copy from Direct4x4

Pebble Grey Expedition Clamshell 2 Person Roof Top Camping Tent

Had it just over a year and it’s brilliant. Very cosy to sleep in. Loads of room. The mattress is ridiculously comfortable. Pops up and down in seconds. Completely waterproof and having camped in a horrendous storm in Harris last year, it’ll stand up to an absolute pounding from the wind. Comes with a little storage bag for shoes that you hang from the outside under the porch. The track all the way round allows you to add accessories like awnings etc.

That being said, I am considering selling it. The only reason being my 5 month old pup is going to be a monster, and there’s zero chance of us being able to lift him into it and as he clings to my missus like his life depends on it, there’s zero chance of him sleeping in the back of the van himself 🙄

You can’t stay in an FC carpark unless you are in a self contained campervan. A roofbox tent would not count.

Stayed in dozens of FC carparks in mine. Never once had an issue.

We camped next to a family that had one this summer. Seemed pretty nifty, and their extended out over the rear of the vehicle so it gave it a sort of awning below that you could shelter beneath in bad weather.

Seemed a PITA when they wanted to drive somewhere though – had to empty it all out of bedding etc and fold it down.

I’ve also seen ones fitted to other vehicles which work with other external awnings to give a sort of all round shelter round the back of the vehicle. Those looked cool, but I’d hazard better in desert conditions than wet and windy Britain!

Given the rating on most car and van roofs is 100-150kg max (or 75kg for many cars), how do folk get away with these plus 2 occupants? Mrs a11y and me weigh in at 170kg (split of weights not being divulged) then there’d be the weight of the actual tentbox.

Given the rating on most car and van roofs is 100-150kg max (or 75kg for many cars), how do folk get away with these plus 2 occupants? Mrs a11y and me weigh in at 170kg (split of weights not being divulged) then there’d be the weight of the actual tentbox.

static load vs dynamic ? ie vehicles not moving while your in the roof tent i assume.

roof tent resellers being economical with the truth

and like the FC carpark user above – ignorance.

I had one and wasn’t impressed by the product or the company. On the first night I used it, in June in Innerleithen, the fabric wet through to the extent that the mattress got wet. The owner of the company agreed that I could return it. When I drove to the warehouse at the arranged time he was nowhere to be found and couldn’t be contacted. Luckily I found someone else who let me in to the warehouse (it was a shared space) so that I could deposit it. Said person told me that I wasn’t the first return he’d seen.

Edit: this specifically relates to the TentBox brand, but all the hard shell roof box tents appear similar.

and like the FC carpark user above – ignorance.

😆

I saw loads on my recent trip to North Scotland.

Nothing says intrepid explorer like a tent on a kia Rios roof. Or on the roof of a tossy hired 4×4

Just seem to be the in thing for **** insta posts….

OK in the African Bush but shit in argyl.

Don’t see the point

I’ve got a Tentbox Lite (i.e. not hardshell).

Good:
Super super easy and quick to set up and tear down
Extremely comfortable to sleep in
Going down ladder for a pee didn’t bother me
Leaves your car free for the important stuff, like bikes

Bad:
Pretty spenny
Average mpg went from mid 50s to mid 40s
Felt like I needed to take it off over winter and it’s a two (at least) man job

Overall though, I think it’s excellent. Well thought out, seems well made and genuinely could not be easier to operate. You’ll be sat in your tent with a beer by the time someone has worked out which bag their pegs are in.

Mine is mounted on a 2010 Golf estate on the cheapest Thule bars you can buy.

Saw some these in Scotland recently, our main question- do you have to be short to fit in them?

Saw some these in Scotland recently, our main question- do you have to be short to fit in them?

Not especially ours has a base that’s 3m * 1.4m or so. Plenty of space for two people and about 4ft of sitting space. 4” mattress all the way throughout

me and MrsRNP had a Howling Moon rooftent setup on our Defender 110 for about 5 years, used it everywhere from Morocco to Pyrenees etc. It continually pissed me off – now that decent inflatable tents are a thing I’d have one of those instead.

You need to be tall or climb on your vehicle to tuck stuff in when folding it all away so shortarse MrsRNP was no use.

The Kedar rail detachable room that went underneath the rooftent was okay as a tent/room but took time setting up so detracted from the relatively short time the rooftent took.

The 110 rocked about in winds with the tent deployed – you can get ‘bonking bars’ to wedge in the coils but 🤷🏼‍♂️

The little fiddly metal arm things used to prop open the Instagram windows used to annoy me trying to bend them in position.

No way would you bother opening it to shelter under it to cook.

They are massively expensive nowadays – I broke even on ours when I sold it as they were relatively unknown at the time we bought hence they are a theft magnet nowadays and need shear bolting to the roofrack then the roofrack shear bolting to the car. Ours was on a Patriot roofrack so could be securely fastened.

It was cringy enough being part of the ‘one life – live it’s brigade, I’d feel a proper **** now that Instagram is a thing.

Nowadays have a 6man tent for the two us, big mattresses, duvets, kitchen etc and a normal van. For less hassle.

They are very popular in North America. I suspect that part of the reason here is that most “campsites” are actually RV sites. Having tried multiple times to pitch tents on what is a very compacted and firm ground I can see the attraction. I’ve resorted to carrying fence post nails and a mallet as normal tent pegs just won’t go in.

So for me the key advantage would be that they can be pitched quickly in places where a normal tent would struggle (assuming you can park on flat, level ground…)

In the lakes at the moment and seem to be a lot around. Most on the roofs of small cars which to me seems like the ideal use for them. Tenting requires a lot of space in the car to carry all the gubbins so putting the tent on the roof seems like a practical solution. No less practical that camping in a small tent as a couple or something.

I’d imagine most are probably rented rather than bought so solves the problem of storage and avoids the eye watering cost of renting a camper or motorhome. Plenty of ‘van life’ type of vids on YouTube on them if you really want to investigate them. Like anything to do with camping, it’s a compromise solution, you just need to make sure which compromises you want to make.

My setup from the EWS a few weeks ago.

The main advantage of roof tents is your on the roof away from the lions and snakes

The main disadvantage of roof tents is absolutely everything else

FTFY

utterly stupid things in the UK

You need to be tall or climb on your vehicle to tuck stuff in when folding it all away so shortarse MrsRNP was no use.

Solved for less than a fiver. ie

FTFY

utterly stupid things in the UK

Why? It’s faster to erect than an awning? It takes up less space, and it provides a shelter to the side of the van.
It also pleases my inner 8yr old and my actual 8yr old.

Can’t see the benefit at all myself but like others saw loads on campsites this summer, not something had seen before.

In my head most of the owners look like this

It also pleases my inner 8yr old and my actual 8yr old.

Good point. 🙂

Boardinbob highlights most of the issues in one photo

Has roof tent. Needs other tent to store the stuff in.

I’d imagine he’s using it more as a living area, it’s a compromise isn’t it?, like everything else, including that big red behemoth you trundle aboot in 😁

Boardinbob highlights most of the issues in one photo

Has roof tent. Needs other tent to store the stuff in.

Fair comment, ours is on top of a T2 Camper. It’s hardly practical to start with but it means we can have two double beds and a lounge and kitchen as soon as we park up.
If not then the kiddie bunk takes the lounge / kitchen space and everyone goes to bed at 8:30
Putting bijouspud in the penthouse means we can read / drink / chatter much later.

Having tried multiple times to pitch tents on what is a very compacted and firm ground I can see the attraction. I’ve resorted to carrying fence post nails and a mallet as normal tent pegs just won’t go in.

Screw in tentpegs and a little 10.8v impact driver are your friends here.