Roof Tent for a Van?

[GuinnessMK]

I'm considering changing my daily driver from a car to a small van (Renault Trafic / Vauxhall Vivaro sized).

Then I thought, if it has a roof rack, why not stick a roof tent on there for holidays / weekends away?

Has anyone done this? Any recommendations for a suitable rack / tent?

[Mave]

I can't remember what they're called,but I've seen them on land rovers. I guess you need to be careful if you get jiggy up there though....

[anonymous-user]

I've got a roof tent on my van, (but then again, it is a Defender 90)
Two types in general, the fold-open variety, and the expanding roofbox type.
I've had both.
Pros and cons:
Fold open type...less costly, less to break, bit bigger inside, more headroom BUT...not very aerodynamic, bit of faff to put away/get out, heavy.
Roofbox type...very quick and easy (30 secs), discreet (looks just like a roofbox to the untrained eye), lightweight, BUT eye-wateringly pricey if new (£2.5k anyone?), bit more complicated and if you lose the crank-handle you're screwed.

Overall I love having the rooftent on the Landy. Especially this "summer" it's beyond reassuring to know wherever you end up there'll be somewhere to sleep without getting soggy. About the only downside is having to take the tent everywhere you go once at your destination.

The Rolls Royce of roof tents is the Autohome brand, who pretty much own the market for roofbox types (their Maggiolina range), along with Moab who've pretty much sewn up the UK market place as a stockist. Autohome also make European-spec fold-out tents (Columbus and Overland ragnes) which for my money are slightly better value and more robust than the South African and Aussie brands of Hannibal, Howling Moon or Eezi-Awn.

My old fold-open roof tent (An Autohome Overland) looking for a new home if you're interested?
It's "old" as in I've upgraded to a Maggiolina, not "old" as in "knackered".

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 12th July 15:22

[Fishtigua]

Nene Valley Landrovers are agents for all sorts of rooftents, their site redirects you to this one.

http://www.rooftent.co.uk/

[Skubaru]

Could always fit a raising roof and fit pull out bunks a la camper van style, fitted one to my VW T3 Transporter a few years back, not difficult to fit if you're OK with cutting and drilling sheet metal !
http://www.ne-camperconversions.co.uk/elevating.ht...

Edited by Skubaru on Thursday 12th July 15:29

[Zelda Pinwheel]

Fishtigua said:

Nene Valley Landrovers are agents for all sorts of rooftents, their site redirects you to this one.

http://www.rooftent.co.uk/

Trouble with a lot of those is that they are cheap Chinese copies of decent South African tents and many won't last for more than a couple of years.

I would urge you to take a look at www.mywayrooftents.co.uk as well - we've had two of these, and they're brilliant. There was a thread earlier in this forum about pro's and con's of various types. There's no reason why you couldn't put one on a van, as far as I know!

ETA Found it: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...