Roof top tents.

[SBicknell]

Hello Folks,
I am doing my research in preparation of a Tacoma based overlander. I was wondering what the usability of roof top tents are like in Canada. Who has one and what is it like in the western provinces. My concerns are ease of use in varying conditions i.e. hot sun to rain with high winds, is the fly a hassle to put up in a hurry, or is there a one material solution that makes this easier? How about in winds, how much flapping is there? I won't worry about cold weather, just burrow into my sleeping bag to solve that. One last question is how waterproof are they. My main interests are in the AT flip pac or the autohome products.
thank you very much for any help you can provide.
Sincerely,
Scott

 

[LandyAndy]

Hi,

Why not come over to OLC..... you'll get plenty of good 'local' advice there & meet up with some more Calgarians.

http://www.overlandcanada.com/

BTW, I have an Overzone and find it very good for our mixed weather here in BC :sombrero:

 

[nature]

I live in vancouver, BC

Here is my take on RTT after 3 camping trip using with a autohome Maggiolina Airtop, the positive/negative points shared won't apply to all RTT sorry, just my view on what i own

PROS:

1- Quick to deploy and no time wasted with setting up tents
2- Isolated from the animals
3- Isolated from the cold ground
4- Beautiful view when opening the window in the morning

Cons

1- While they are quick to deploy, it can take a long time to actually mount the tent on the rack unless you have a ceiling mount
2- They are heavy, you will need two guys to mount the RTT unless you got the ceiling mount again (a guy and a women won't cut it!)
3- The side fabric breath easily, in cold weather the cold air will get through and you'll feel it in the tent, I guess this can be fixed by painting the fabric with a weatherproof silicone paint (I've seen those at canadian tire) or buying the Winter hood
4- Using the ladder ain't the best feeling, I would rather exit from a ground tent door
5- The biggest drawback IMO: you'll have to fold the tent everytime to drive somewhere unless you have it mounted on a trailer i guess

 

[spressomon]

I don't live in BC but I used my then medium Maggiolina Grand Tour in every type of weather conditions from 114*F at Toroweep down to 10*F in Northern Nevada while on a hunting trip. Impervious to rain other than when it was raining hard, without our awning in place, and you will get rain ingress, when getting in or out, especially if its sideways rain ...but an awning takes care of that (we had a Kelty Carport Deluxe that worked great). And it just sheds wind like no other RTT. Had an Overland but it just had too many drawbacks in comparison for me.

We have a 12v mattress pad I would turn on for just an hour, when it was c-c-c-old out, to preheat the sleeping bag/linens; worked great!