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I want to do some camping this spring and summer; have not done much of that in a few years and I am looking to increase the comfort and convenience level.
As I've mentioned I don't really have much desire to go do hard rock crawling anymore. My interests are centered around going to scenic places both on and off the beaten path. I am pretty content to spend a weekend next to a mountain lake or somewhere on the coast, and go hiking with my dog and maybe do a little fishing. I am in it for the destination, not necessarily the journey.
I'll cut to the chase - my interest in a rooftop tent has increased lately - primarily looking at the hard shell "wedge" style - some of which can contain bedding when closed. The idea of rolling into camp (wherever that may be), popping up the tent and being able to just crawl in and go to bed with minimal fuss appeals to me. Call it laziness or what have you.. I don't mind camping in a ground tent; I have comfortable sleeping mats and nice sleeping bags, but it only ever gets so good, and when you're going from place to place, having to set up and tear down camp several times over gets a little old.
My thoughts are that since a rooftop tent can be mounted to anything, I'd basically just move it back and forth between my bronco and my F150 depending on the kind of trip I'm taking. On the truck, I would make or buy some load bearing bed rail bars and mount it to those. For the bronco, I'd fabricate a system to mount it to the roll cage. If I go to any of the various Bronco events I could tow the bronco with my truck, and have the RTT mounted to the truck as a base camp.
So... for those of you who own a rooftop tent and/or have experience with them - do you find them to be comfortable and convenient? Some say it kinda sucks to wake up in the middle of the night to answer nature's call - frankly that's not much fun in a ground tent either. Others say it sucks because you have to find a level place to park. I am pretty resourceful and creative - there's always a way to level the vehicle. Finally some Say it makes it less convenient if you want to take a day drive and leave your campsite. I can see that argument, however most often once I set up a spot, I stay there until it's time to drive to the next stop. I am not the biggest fan of setting up in a designated "RV Park" however I will do it if it puts me near somewhere cool.
Anyway - again I'm just looking for feedback. My focus is on aluminum hard shelled wedge style tents such as the Roofnest Falcon Pro. They are not cheap, but I've seen some very lightly used models for sale, as well as "scratch and dent" models heavily discounted by several of the manufacturers. Most of the models I've looked at have room darkening fabric, offer better insulation and have a memory foam or similar mattress included. All of these seem like plusses that outweigh the negatives.
What am I not considering here?
As I've mentioned I don't really have much desire to go do hard rock crawling anymore. My interests are centered around going to scenic places both on and off the beaten path. I am pretty content to spend a weekend next to a mountain lake or somewhere on the coast, and go hiking with my dog and maybe do a little fishing. I am in it for the destination, not necessarily the journey.
I'll cut to the chase - my interest in a rooftop tent has increased lately - primarily looking at the hard shell "wedge" style - some of which can contain bedding when closed. The idea of rolling into camp (wherever that may be), popping up the tent and being able to just crawl in and go to bed with minimal fuss appeals to me. Call it laziness or what have you.. I don't mind camping in a ground tent; I have comfortable sleeping mats and nice sleeping bags, but it only ever gets so good, and when you're going from place to place, having to set up and tear down camp several times over gets a little old.
My thoughts are that since a rooftop tent can be mounted to anything, I'd basically just move it back and forth between my bronco and my F150 depending on the kind of trip I'm taking. On the truck, I would make or buy some load bearing bed rail bars and mount it to those. For the bronco, I'd fabricate a system to mount it to the roll cage. If I go to any of the various Bronco events I could tow the bronco with my truck, and have the RTT mounted to the truck as a base camp.
So... for those of you who own a rooftop tent and/or have experience with them - do you find them to be comfortable and convenient? Some say it kinda sucks to wake up in the middle of the night to answer nature's call - frankly that's not much fun in a ground tent either. Others say it sucks because you have to find a level place to park. I am pretty resourceful and creative - there's always a way to level the vehicle. Finally some Say it makes it less convenient if you want to take a day drive and leave your campsite. I can see that argument, however most often once I set up a spot, I stay there until it's time to drive to the next stop. I am not the biggest fan of setting up in a designated "RV Park" however I will do it if it puts me near somewhere cool.
Anyway - again I'm just looking for feedback. My focus is on aluminum hard shelled wedge style tents such as the Roofnest Falcon Pro. They are not cheap, but I've seen some very lightly used models for sale, as well as "scratch and dent" models heavily discounted by several of the manufacturers. Most of the models I've looked at have room darkening fabric, offer better insulation and have a memory foam or similar mattress included. All of these seem like plusses that outweigh the negatives.
What am I not considering here?
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