How to get roof top tent onto roof rack?
- Thread starter jkuaz
- Start date
dstock
Explorer
Thanks glad you like it! It works and I have 2.5" lift on my JK as well. Let me know if you have any questions that aren't answered in the thread.
I've been using my extension ladder as a ramp. Due to the height of my house, I have a 32' ladder, remaining doubled up it makes a really nice ramp that rests on a beach towel on my roof and lines right up with the top/back of my gobi rack. Flat enough the tent doesn't slide down too badly or quickly. Going through the transition, the top of the ladder dents the floor slightly, but I really don't care that much.
LTrain0800
Observer
If you take the mattress out and the cover off it will be MUCH lighter. I found that this was the key for getting mine up on the rack, Good luck.
This is how we do it. It was a bunch of trial and error prior to this. Now it's easy as can be.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/131556-Loading-up-the-Maggiolina
Brian
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/131556-Loading-up-the-Maggiolina
Brian
I have mine rolling around on a Craftsman garage creeper, and then vertically strapped to the wall when not in use. When ready I roll it over and shimmy it up the back of the truck on the very edge of the tailgate/bedliner plastic and then onto pieces of, basically cutting board material to keep from scuffing the paint, that are screwed to the rack. Now that I am finalizing my tire swing out, I will be looking into more options to load and unload my own RTT. A buddy of mine has a very tall ceiling in his garage and he uses the winch operated platform model. I have no luxury such as this, so it's time to get creative.
We finally contrived a method that works well for us. It involves using our storage shelf hoist and a single piece of scaffold on wheels. Below are the pictures of the process.
This first photo shows the tent on the floor in front of the storage shelf hoist. This is similar to the kind you would use to hoist a canoe into the rafters of your garage ceiling. It holds about 250 pounds, so it can handle plenty of weight. As with many others, my garage door isn't tall enough to let me drive out of the garage with the tent on the roof of the car.
This second photo shows the tent after it has been hoisted on the shelf.
In this third photo, we slid the tent onto a scaffold (we had blankets under it so that it would slide easily). When we slid it over, we lowered the storage shelf hoist so that it sat free on the scaffold.
With the tent on the scaffold, we gently and carefully wheel it over to the back of the car and slide it off onto the roof as shown here.
After all this is done, we return our pile of junk (full-sized spare tire, hitch platform, some tarps, and some buckets) on the hoist and raise it back up out of the way.
It is definitely easier to get a few guys to lift it up, but sometimes it's only me wife and me, so we do what we must.
This first photo shows the tent on the floor in front of the storage shelf hoist. This is similar to the kind you would use to hoist a canoe into the rafters of your garage ceiling. It holds about 250 pounds, so it can handle plenty of weight. As with many others, my garage door isn't tall enough to let me drive out of the garage with the tent on the roof of the car.
This second photo shows the tent after it has been hoisted on the shelf.
In this third photo, we slid the tent onto a scaffold (we had blankets under it so that it would slide easily). When we slid it over, we lowered the storage shelf hoist so that it sat free on the scaffold.
With the tent on the scaffold, we gently and carefully wheel it over to the back of the car and slide it off onto the roof as shown here.
After all this is done, we return our pile of junk (full-sized spare tire, hitch platform, some tarps, and some buckets) on the hoist and raise it back up out of the way.
It is definitely easier to get a few guys to lift it up, but sometimes it's only me wife and me, so we do what we must.
There are times I wish my wife would help... I had early success by using a lawn chair and a six-pack to lure my neighbors to the driveway before springing the chore on them... But... It turns out that they can be taught... Who woulda thunk it?
That looks like a pretty simple and easy system. I bet you get pretty quick with practice. It beats my first idea of flattening the tires to get in the garage!
That looks like a pretty simple and easy system. I bet you get pretty quick with practice. It beats my first idea of flattening the tires to get in the garage!