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Yes, one person can easily put on and take off a roof top tent. You just need one with a flat bottom. Put a moving blanket on the back edge of your vehicles roof, slide the tent back, then lift and set the back down on the ground, then work the front back and set it down. Simple and fast. It...

Your pads might be set up on the strongest part of your roof. Years ago, we used to put "tracks" on vehicles that weren't set up for sport racks. Yakima used to have instructions for each vehicle they supported as to exactly where to place the tracks so the roll cage of the roof would support...

The actual differences between "clamshell" and "pop-up" tents are how the manufacturer sets them up. One of the main differences is the orientation of the fabric, pop-ups being vertical and clam shell more of an angle so gets beat on by rain more. The fabric on the clamshell therefore has to...

I love it, I don't think we are the market though. It is wonderful food for thought. Would you feel safer in a tent like this? Forget about the laws of physics, costs and all those pesky things. - Rich

That is forklift damage in handling. If Tepui picked the carrier, then I would have them file the claim. They carry more weight with the carrier.

Well worth the work, nicely done. I like the way the rack is slightly wider than the tent. You can put the ladder's hooks on the rack rather than the tent.

Beowulf, at the time we thought it was really over the top when Land Rover commissioned 100 special Columbus Variants made with carbon fiber instead of normal glass fiber. These have become the carbon fiber tents, and we were surprised because there was a market for them and sold out for a...

Good point, it is subjective, each material has it's strength and a lot has to do with it's construction. Fiberglass composites can be surprisingly strong, in Vietnam Swift boats were fiberglass and depending on the laminate can be bulletproof. Hummer uses a lamination system for their hoods...

Brewster, your point about using the stock mounting system is well taken. Another reason why I'm not a fan of expedition baskets and alternative mounting systems is that they aren't tested. Frenchie's post reminded me that he was in a really bad accident about 15 years ago where he was badly...

Yes, you can mount your tent in the basket, it isn't difficult. You paid a lot of money to get a Maggiolina because it is light, strong and doesn't require a basket I don't know Trail Tailor racks, they look nice and well built in your pictures. The reason why I don't get enthusiastic about...

It doesn't sound like moving your tent to a trailer is a good idea. We used to put roof tents on trailers to test durability. The story I told about using a folding tent was on a month long off road trip down in Mexico. The little folder was a full blown expedition tent that was used in...

Yeah they are. I'm not at all impartial, I used to bring in AutoHome's tents way back because I wanted one myself. The main difference is that the Maggiolina was designed in Northern Italy for their conditions. For example, the roof could be made to easily go higher but it is designed for...

I don't know if this helps with Baroud and I've never encountered one but I'm familiar with hard shelled roof tents. I would imagine that they are using an acrylic fabric, similar to Sunbrella. This fabric doesn't take abrasion at all well. On the original Maggiolina the outside clasps were...

You may want to look at a way to insulate the bottom otherwise it will be very cold. Years ago I went on a winter trip in high elevation Mexico. I had a folding roof tent and was cold. My friend with his tent cot was freezing and my other buddy with a Maggiolina didn't notice anything. I...

Aerodynamics isn't intuitive. Round bars have a lot of noise and drag. I'ver found that a well designed tent is quieter than naked bars. You can put streamers on the tent, like they did on the GT40 in "Ford vs Ferrari" to help visualize what is happening with the air. If you notice stuff...

I kind of think you are putting the cart before the horse. Are you aware you are looking at tents weighing in at something like 250 Lbs? I advise against anything over 135 Lbs unless you have something prepared for high loads up high. I find it unusual that Thule's roof bars are only rated...

OK, I hope you don't mind me chiming in about advice on rooftop tents. You can get a lot of advice but it is meaningless because it is a personal thing. We don't know why you want one? What do you like to do outside and how will it help? What kind of conditions do you go out in and where do...

I don't know much about the aluminum hard shelled tents because they are so new. We did a lot of tests on the fiberglass ones, specifically AutoHome tents, everything from crash tests to aerodynamics. The aerodynamics of every vehicle is different so you may want tweak things a bit. Wind...

I concur, the Columbus style tents are designed for more temperate climates. You will want to look for tent that is more like a mountaineer tent. Crank ups are a good choice as the low roof and small interior volume holds the passive heat down low. Most of your heat loss is through the base...

Gelcoat looks OK, just faded, you should be able to bring it back. Dark colors fade and look like crap, that is why you see so much white fiberglass. Wetsand with really fine sandpaper 600 or higher until you get down to a solid finish. Wax with 3M Fiberglass restorer, don't bother with...