Am One of the Many . Homeless and seeking advice on my one small step, with bigger steps later. Had the van and that jazz., not me at moment. Sold Motorcycle HD to just eat, and buy tent. Now as temp, after living in car for three months , regroup, and formulate plans. Rooftop tents , does anyone know about these diabolical inventions? I have seeked zMr. Googles Advice. Am looking at a Hybrid (hard shell with soft sides or such) . I have no knowledge of these things.Im 6 foot , need space. Need a roof , looks like they are quick setup , and pack. Like 3 mins. Any advice would be handy, looking at under 2 K, A Tent is just too impractical for me. Cheers and thank you. Travel happy and safe . Mike
I don't have a roof top tent, but I know enough to know I wouldn't bcope well at my age climbing up and down, especially to go to the loo at night.
Good luck mate
As we don't know why a tent is impractical for you, it is very possible that a RTT may be similar.
I had a RTT, a good one, but I hated it.
Sure I didn't have to deal with getting up & down off the ground, (something which hasn't got any easier with age) but 3 things about it drove me nuts, & I knew after just a few weekends away that no way could I live with the damn thing on a long term basis.
First & worst was the 'getting dressed issue'. Like all rooftop tents there is insufficient room to stand up. I find dressing in a seated position uncomfortable & difficult, more so if I don't have anything to lean against. And in a RTT there are only canvas walls & you cannot lean on those to aid the process.
Second is the ladder. Ours came with one which had round rungs, Very uncomfortable unless you have shoes on. Having to put shoes on to get up for a midnight wee is a hassle. I swapped to a proper ladder with flat steps which was better, bt there is no getting away that ladders & older folk are not ideal. The risk of a fall is always there, with greater potential for significant damage the older we get.
Third - even with an easy RTT as far as etting up & packing away goes, the height of the vehicle Roof can make life difficult. I tend to find working above my head harder than it used to be, & with our RTT it was made worse by it being at a height which required me to use a step to reach. Hard yakka & more potential for injury , similar to the ladder.
Our RTT had a good 'awning' enabling getting in & out in wet weather without wetting the inside & the bedding etc. Many of the hard top types don't have his , & IMHO are only suitable for dry weather.
Hope you come up with a solution you can get by with.
We have used a 3 (2 in reality) man tent for decades. It is too small to stand up in, but it is warm at night. Quite frankly too hot in winter in Tasmania.
We do have an additional ground sheet over the tent as the original waterproofing has eventually failed. It is an old tent.
We were in Munich with the tent years ago & after an overnight flooding we were the only ones with a dry tent in the entire camping ground.
Small tent will be warm. a large tent will facilitate standing. Something has to give.
Recycled foam packing sheet out of the bin works wonders to keep warm & reduce condensation. We also use the material inside the car window. Works a treat.
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