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My wife asked to change from a Maggiolina to a Columbus. She gets up in the middle of the night to make a run to the sandbox. It is much easier to put on clothes in the Columbus because of the headroom. She has never warmed up to the idea of having a jar up with us in the tent. My wife is a...

Difficult choice, both the tents will serve you well, but very different tents from different eras. They differ in size, shape, weight, materials and even the manufacturing process. Both are rare tents. I would personally jump on the Carbon Fiber. The weight is amazing, you can put it on...

Rob, Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought you were going to attach a special awning system to the roof. You will be fine. I have a really big parawing awning that I drape over my Columbus. The Columbus is not nearly as stout as a Maggiolina. I have a hook that I attach on the far side...

Hi Rob, I don't think you will find any official weight rating. Only listed rating I know is not to load more than 165 pounds on the roof of your vehicle, but you are in Canada so the rating is 100Kg or 223 pounds. In the real world the tents take serious abuse but the only Maggiolina...

Hey WillysWagon, I'm 6'4" and have a standard length medium Columbus. The length is fine for me because I sleep on my side. If you sleep on your back and sleep with your head in the high side, your toes will touch the roof. I was with some friends that also have Columbus tents and...

Nice rig Thules are a good way to go, they will save a lot of weight up there. The tent really limits the usefulness of a basket. Another nice thing about Thules is that if you want to carry something home, you loosen the tent's mounts, slide it over and tighten back up, then you have room up...

Doesn't surprise me. The supply chain is really difficult. These are made by a little German company, then shipped to Italy to wait for a container. If there is room, then these can come with the tents. It is like shipping air, well, it is shipping air. If Mike has the choice of shipping...

The mattress on the Columbus is a little thicker than the ones on the OverGroup by about a half inch. In cold weather, you really want another inch of foam. We tried a couple solutions with mixed results. My wife brought home this fluffy mattress cover from Ralph Lauren, worked OK. I got a...

The black top should be pretty easy to turn matte. It is gelcoat, so it is relatively soft and thick. Just take some very fine grit 400+ wet or dry paper and wetsand. It will be pretty messy. Don't wax or else the shine will come back. I would recommend this over painting because gelcoat...

I would suggest that if you want a dark colored tent, get one like a "Black Storm" to start with and then you know the tent was engineered and tested to handle anything you can throw at it. AutoHome does a serious amount of testing. For example, when AutoHome came out with the OverLand, it was...

Guys, Please be careful if you decide to paint your tent a dark color. I think the heat generated by a dark color needs to be taken into account. You could turn your tent into an oven. I don't know what AutoHome uses for a fastening and bonding adhesive, so this may be off base. The...

I think it is pretty difficult to compare AutoHome's Columbus to Hannibal's Impi right now. The Impi is a pretty rare beast. My guess why the Columbus is more expensive is because it weighs less. I've worked with fiberglass and it used to be that hand laid glass was the bee's knees. The...

I have an ancient OverCamp which I've used on several long journeys. This tent uses a similar poly cotton fabric but not as thick as yours in the OverZone. After a long trip to Moab and back, nasty conditions, lots of snow and rain, I was dog tired and unloaded my tent and dumped it in a very...

You'll have no problem sitting up in a Maggiolina. I believe it is the top that raises up 36 inches but you also have more room under the roof. This space varies by Maggiolina model. For example the Grand Tour's roof is something like four inches higher than the AirLand's. This is for more...

Played with the Jeep pop-up concept years back. We started with the TJ but they are were a challenge. I'll get into it but first here was our project showtruck. (click the "Camper Top" box) http://www.landrunner.com/workshop.html Looks a little dated now, this was one of our early...

Looks like a modern variant to the old Optimus or Primus stoves from Sweden. They are a little tricky at first until you get used to them. The fuel has to be preheated so it is a vapor before it will burn correctly. If you try to burn liquid diesel, you would have a smokey mess. Diesel...

James I know weight is a big concern in making these rooftents. There is a tradeoff between comfort, weight and price. I have a medium sized Columbus and for grins I weighed the mattress, it was over 30 pounds, and it isn't as thick as the Maggiolina's. So you take a 115 pound Columbus and...

Hi James, Nice drawing! You must have one of the original Airlands,. The only time I've seen the box modification was at a car show in Half Moon Bay. There was a fellow with one of the really old Maggiolina Adventures where he had the whole inside roof tricked out with charging systems for...

I agree Ed, bring a huge *** awning, better yet a parawing style one if it gets windy. I drape the sucker over the whole tent and have room for a couple chairs and a table. Rich

I think the easiest solution is to hang a little gear hammock or two. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SiteSearchView?catalogId=10001&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&keyword=gear+hammock&Ntt=gear+hammock&N=377+710&y=0&x=0&storeId=10001&Ntk=Primary+Search&ddkey=SiteSearch Get a...