Roof top tent vs. trailer top tent: Go...

[Steve Richmond]

I am looking at purchasing a tent and haven't decided on a roof top tent or a trailer top tent. I have a 2012 Jeep JKU...

Thanks,
Steve


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[Martyn]

15% decrease in mpg with a tent on a vehicle. vs. 10% decrease in mpg with a vehicle towing a trailer and tent.

 

[RagnarD]

15% increase in mpg with a tent on a vehicle. vs. 10% increase in mpg with a vehicle towing a trailer and tent.

Do you mean decrease?

 

[skersfan]

Either way they suck for mileage!!!

But one on a trailer gives you more freedom and quick runs if you use the trailer as a base camp. Packing up everything with tent on the vehicle is a pain sometimes. But you get better mileage, have everything with you normally. Now if you are towing a trailer and using the roof top on the tow vehicle not sure. I would never do it that way, but for others it may work perfectly.

Most of us drive bricks as far as aerodynamics are concerned so I never concern myself with mileage. I did not buy the vehicle I bought for mileage, I have a Volt for that. Well if the wife would let me drive it.

 

[Martyn]

Do you mean decrease?

Yes decrease.

Increase would have been nice, but work on the perpetual motion engine is still in progress

 

[skersfan]

lol, sometimes we get the cart before the horse, but with best intentions!!!

 

[Box Rocket]

So I have to chuckle that the responses the encourage to go with a trailer mounted tent are from guys that sell trailers. Just giving you guys a hard time. I have a trailer too so you won't hear me bag on them. But to answer the question, fuel economy is not my primary concern. Of course I don't through all caution to the wind but we all drive heavy offroaders that don't exactly have great fuel economy to begin with so the argument to not use a vehicle mounted tent because of fuel economy is kinda pointless IMO. Just carry an extra fuel can.
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To me the answer comes down to the places you want to get to and how difficult of a time do you want to have getting there. I have a RTT on my truck and another on my trailer so I feel I can speak to both sides. I love having my trailer and if you've already determined you need a trailer to carry the necessary gear then you might as well put the tent on the trailer and not worry about the negative vehicle dynamics that can happen with a tent mounted high on the roof of your vehicle. But if the trailer isn't a necessity there's a strong argument for a vehicle mounted tent. The fact is no matter how rugged you've built (or bought) your offroad trailer it can still be a liability on the trail. It makes everything more difficult just because you have to drag something else through everything you just drove through. Most of the time that's not a big deal, but it can turn into a big deal quickly.
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It really is a difficult question to answer since there are pros and cons to both solutions. I love having the tent on the trailer because I can just set up camp and leave it and go explore and not worry about breaking things down at camp. But on the flip side, it's nice when the whole family isn't coming (which is why we have the trailer) and I can just use the tent on the truck. My mobility is much better and I'm much more confident in the places I can get to without the trailer in tow and I've got my campsite with me the whole time.
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Again I think it is more a questions of do you need the trailer? If you already have the trailer, I'd mount the tent to the trailer, no question. If you don't have a trailer, and are trying to decide if that's the route to go, then that's the bigger question. More often that not, a trailer isn't needed but a lot of people have them for the "cool" factor. That's fine but the definitely limit the places you can go. If you plan to just stick to mild tracks, then load up the trailer and throw a tent on it and go have a blast.

 

[skersfan]

I honestly don't build a trailer with a roof top tent. Been asked several times about them though. My wife won't sleep in a tent ever again, so no need for them. She is spoiled badly.

But if you buy one, get a good one, that center folding area can get painful after awhile.

 

[TheDave]

...says the guy who sells roof top tents (he gets a sale either way). Does the gas mileage decrease hold true for the hard case type tents like the Maggiolina?

 

[Steve Richmond]

Thanks for all of the great comments... I am in agreement about the gas mileage. I didn't get into this with the concerns of gas mileage. I think my thoughts are mainly for convienience. And those are great points when mentioning the setup and tear down if you want to go do anything. But on the other hand, always having to deal with towing something could be a hassle.

The main reason I was considering the trailer is for the extra room. I would consider putting the tent on top of the trailer.

All good thoughts, now if I could find a good trailer at a reasonable price... Thanks all...


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[screwball48]

It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison of the effect an RTT has upon mileage. One that is mounted on a roof rack either on top of a suv or truck cap. One that is mounted above a truck bed in line with the top of the cab or below. One that is mounted to a trailer that is equal in size to the rear portion of the tow vehicle.

 

[Steve Richmond]

That would be a great comparison screwball48. Not only for gas mileage, but for capability, load max and overall performance between all three...


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[Box Rocket]

...says the guy who sells roof top tents (he gets a sale either way). Does the gas mileage decrease hold true for the hard case type tents like the Maggiolina?

touché but I only get a sale if he decides to buy from me. Apparently I wasn't subtle enough about my encouragement to put a tent on his JK AND get a trailer to put a second tent on. Best of both worlds.

 

[Steve Richmond]

No, I got the hint, to bad my wallet didn't... 😀. Someday...


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[Box Rocket]

It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison of the effect an RTT has upon mileage. One that is mounted on a roof rack either on top of a suv or truck cap. One that is mounted above a truck bed in line with the top of the cab or below. One that is mounted to a trailer that is equal in size to the rear portion of the tow vehicle.

So I'll give you my two cents on this. I don't have any real numbers for comparison with the tent mounted on the roof (shell in my case), but I can tell you that the vehicle behavior changed the most dramatically with the tent mounted on the top of my Snugtop. No pics of the tent on the shell but this is the truck with the shell on it.

I could definitely feel the drag and poor aerodynamics with the tent mounted above the shell. So one could easily conclude that fuel economy would suffer.
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My typical setup on the truck is on a custom bedrack that puts the tent almost perfectly level with the roofline of the cab. There is no noticeable (seat of the pants) drag or similar poor aerodynamics with this arrangement. Also the vehicle dynamics are relatively unaffected. Even on offcamber stuff in the rocks the truck felt very stable. For a vehicle mounted tent this is definitely my preferred setup. Level with the roofline so that the bed can still be used for other gear. Another factor that makes this work well is the width of the closed tent being narrower than the cab. I don't have any proof but I suspect that the overall aerodynamics of the truck are better with the tent on like this than it is with an empty/open bed.

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As for the trailer, you'll get some drag no matter what just because of the distance behind the tow vehicle. But I think the same principles apply. If you can do what you can to keep the overall dimensions of the trailer close to or smaller than the width/height of the tow vehicle you'll get better aerodynamics. There are other things like track width and tongue length etc that will affect the behavior on the trail where speeds are slow and aerodynamics are a non-factor but that's a different discussion. Again, no scientific data, but I'm pleased with the overall behavior of my setup. The tent mounted to the trailer rack is about even with the roofline so when I'm using both tents, one on the truck and the other on the trailer, everything is at a similar height and width. My trailer also isn't all that heavy since it doesn't have batteries and a watertank and some other heavy things. I still carry 15 gal of water/fuel and have a spare tire on the trailer so it's not a featherweight but it is pretty light overall.