Search results

Hi KiwiEd You are most welcome, and these are good questions, basically you are asking about high winds and how your car will handle the weight on the roof. High winds, a Maggiolina will handle higher winds better than you can. High winds aren't comfortable and it gets loud, makes sleeping...

Hi Yotajorge, Yes, I have noticed a trend to lighten up the Maggiolinas, they used to be made of polyester resin and now they are more high tech and lighter. Like I said, very little in the way of instructions and they are usually out of date. Let me go into my "Dr Science" mode here. One...

Hi Edwin, hope I can help out, I too had to import my first Maggiolina direct about 25 years ago. A Maggiolina is well designed for very wet weather, after you climb out, you bang on the fabric sides and the water flies off and you close it up. All your stuff in the tent is well sealed. If...

yotajorge, you are actually lucky the med wasn't in stock, from what you say, I think the small will be a better fit with your lifestyle. I had a Large Maggiolina Adventure, a very cool tent, and I thought bigger is better. Back then about 20 years ago the largest tent only cost a few...

Yotajorge I wouldn't sweat it. AutoHome test their tents extensively. The main problem I've seen with AutoHome and Zifer before it is the documentation that comes with the tents, namely very little. Maggiolinas have always had a closing procedure where you need to fold the fabric and put it...

Hi Colin, years ago there was a debate about no-see-um netting. By nature it has to be very fine mesh, so it restricts air movement when you need it most. Personally, I've never had good luck with durability because it is so fine. The work around is to spray the net with a repellant. The...

Fresno, Wow, that takes me back. Those instruction no longer apply, let me explain. One of the innovations that Zifer (AutoHome) made was to integrate the roof tent's deck with the bars so the bars were and integral part of the tent. Before that all the tents like Hannibals and the lot...

Fresno, I've put some tents directly on shells, mostly Columbus' like Mike's because of the height. They will cut a trap door in the bottom of the tent so they can have the added height to change into gear like wetsuits away from the wind. Normally I do not recommend it because your tent will...

You know, I was thinking, Thule xSporter is an excellent system but it is a little pricey and you may not need the versatility is offers. If I were doing this I would probably go a slightly different path. What about something like this? This is an ancient Maggiolina on an old Can Back...

Sorry, larger photos are on my old server which is in storage. I've been traveling for the past few years. Here are a couple photos that are still too small but are a bit better.

Here is a picture of my old med Columbus on a Tacoma extra cab so you can get a sense of scale. This was the first Variant, even though it was the old green fabric, so the shell size is about the same size as the new Maggiolinas. The xSporter system is really strong and well crafted, the...

Thank you, nice concept, I believe it will work well with the Columbus. I'm on my third one, a Carbon Fiber and while AutoHome has made great advances in the composite shell, the mattress is better but I see three advantages and only one disadvantage. Advantages Weight - The mattress in my...

You are fine, AutoHome simplified all the winter hoods about six or seven years ago. The new hoods are a reflective silver and the old one are a lightweight blue nylon. The old mounting method was a retrofit where you had to modify your tent, the new tents are all set up for the silver hoods...

Lift systems are great, it allows you to just release the crossbars and lift the tent and bars together, ready for use. The Thule system works very well, it is especially good for carports because all the mechanisms are up high and no one can mess with the tent. It can handle the weight...

You can make some modifications that will help a three season tent. I sold my old Maggiolina to a fellow who had a very early Hannibal Tent. He wanted a better "cold" weather tent. While I think a Maggiolina to be good cold weather tent out of the box there is a lot you can do to make a...

WD40 takes the tape residue off in a heartbeat. 3M Fiberglass Restorer takes of the black marks easily. Takes forever if you use car wax. enough endorsements Rich

Corey, The old 12v lights were just a place marker. I replaced mine with two halogen chart lights. This way they were both adjustable on goosenecks and give really good light for reading. Best place to find these are at a marine store like West Marine. The ones I had were made be Hella...

Corey, Glad you were able to get an ACS mat. Regarding fit, I think you will be fine either way, there are two schools of thought. One group let the ACS mat overhang to gain better airflow under the mattress. Personally, I just trimmed it to fit my tent as my mattress fits very tight in...

Really miss Moss, MSR did a good job taking over but I don't know the new stuff. If I remember right these were polyester, nylon stretches like rubber, especially when wet. Your Howling Moon is great too but would be really heavy. I have a 3 man, 3 season Marmot. Used it as a base camp for...

Good point, usually there is a gentlemen's agreement in most industries not to infringe. In reality, how feasible would it be for a very small Italian manufacturer to sue a large Chinese firm for infringement in the US? Autohome won Chrysler's DEX (Design Excellence) award a few years back...