Camping Lab Roof Top Tent Review

[Kiwi_Ed]

Hello Kingg5,

Thank you for your reply. It's pretty wet in our neck of the woods as well: http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/rainfall.asp

Just to be sure: do you own one of these Camping Lab RTTs or a RTT from a different brand? And how long do you have the tent for?

Never heard of having to soak a tent down before using it, but I assume this somehow dissolves the waterproofing chemicals and allows them to spread out between the fibres of the tent fabric (or am I wrong here..). It makes sense that way. I will definitely make sure I'll check that out on the tent we are thinking of buying before we head off!

Many thanks,
Edwin

 

[kingg5]

Hello Kingg5,

Thank you for your reply. It's pretty wet in our neck of the woods as well: http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/rainfall.asp

Just to be sure: do you own one of these Camping Lab RTTs or a RTT from a different brand? And how long do you have the tent for?

Never heard of having to soak a tent down before using it, but I assume this somehow dissolves the waterproofing chemicals and allows them to spread out between the fibres of the tent fabric (or am I wrong here..). It makes sense that way. I will definitely make sure I'll check that out on the tent we are thinking of buying before we head off!

Many thanks,
Edwin

i hve a CVT tent now, but after doing all of my research, the material used by almost all manufacturers is typically the same (the weight being different). and all manufacturers that i spoke to recommended the soaking of the tent prior to use. (i assume that your explanation is correct but really did not ask unfortunately)

I have had my tent for just shy of a year (may 20th will be one full year)

I did a whole year worth of research before purchasing (price was a big part of it but so was quality and warranty)

Hope that helps, sorry i dont have the camping lab

 

[H0LLYW00D]

I had a Camping Labs Large Tent as my first RTT and it was decent and did its job, it was fast to setup and did what I wanted when I was camping alone. When it came to camping with more than just me it was hard as I did not have the annex and I was unable to get a hold of Camping Labs when I wanted to add the annex and some awnings, so I traded it in on a CVT setup. The CVT tent was awesome I have the Mt. Rainier with the annex and 2 awnings on my truck and my only complaint was the setup and take down time. I recently sold the RTT and bought a trailer that has a faster setup / take-down time as well as keeps my truck mobile. I still have the awnings from CVT on the truck but to setup and take those down is a 5-10 minute job for both at most. All in all they are all pretty much the same and made in the same factory practically, the difference is the price you pay and how much they watch quality, CVT makes a great product at a great price with awesome customer service but for me it came down to setup time and being able to leave "basecamp" setup and still use my truck. Also I did use the tents quite a bit as both tents did numerous small weekend trips but they also each did a 20,000km road trip as well.

 

[Kiwi_Ed]

Securing tent against theft

Hello lads,

We finally bit the bullet and bought the Prime-tech roof top tent. Luckily enough it fitted right onto the roof bars of our car and was installed and ready to go in a matter of minutes!

We've spend our first night in it and slept fine. The mattress/bottom was a bit hard but not harder than sleeping in a tent on one of them self-inflatable mattresses. Putting up the tent was definitely a lot better than pitching a tent.
So far, so good!



I am just left with on question.
As the tent is just connected to the car with a few bolts and nuts anybody can take the roof tent of the car. As the car (incl. tent) will be left somewhere for varies amounts of times (from day-long hikes to a quick shopping trip) it would allow anybody with bad intentions to unscrew the tent, put it in the back of a van and drive off. So I was wondering if you thought of any way to secure the roof tent against theft.