Series 2 Anyone fitted a roof tent

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cornish rattler

cornish rattler

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Hi guys
Me and son have been looking at fitting a roof tent to my 2a 88" and want to know what roof rack to use and what setup you used and if possible pic's :D
 
There is a ton of stuff on YouTube covering this - even if it's not Series 2 specific the basics will be the same - haven't put links as there really is a shed load of stuff on there. Lots of it from US, SA and Oz where it's maybe better to get off the ground due to the wildlife etc. I'm just in the process of adding a few things to make my old S3 into more of an occasional camper (dual charge, lighting, inverter, removable drawers etc but plan to just use a standard ground tent as it means less weight, cost and if you are one place for a couple of days then you don't need to pack up every time you want to drive off somewhere. A decent easy-up 4 season tent is still way less cost than a roof tent. I think there are also some canopy systems with optional sides that pack into a roll on the side of a roof rack which might work. (Also maybe it's just me but when I see a flash Defender driving along in the UK with every bit of kit imaginable on it (snorkels, sand ladders, winches, massive roof racks, spare jerry can, light bars and dare I say it roof tent etc ) I just think its all a bit OTT - we are farmers in Northumberland and seem to get by during some pretty rough winters without any of that stuff. However, every one to their own - there's certainly plenty of choice of roof mounted stuff out there so they must be popular.
 
Be wary of too much weight up high as you get a lot of body roll. Fine on std springs but not so good on paras. Have a look at the US version of Wheeler Dealers - they fit a roof tent on a Series, how they do it is interesting and they make the fittings themselves. As mine is a LWB I got a Dormobile roof but that was a lucky find, there are home made pop roofs on SWB, its worth thinking about because you can stand up inside. Some put a bolt in "slice" between the sides and roof that has the lift bit in. Google images "DIY land rover camper roof".
 
Now you've got me started:




https://tuff-trek.com/product/tuff-trek-tta1-awning/

Might give you some ideas. Not sure what engine you have but I'm pretty sure my 2.25 NA diesel would be seriously slow(er) with the extra weight and drag from the box on top, another reason why I reckon the ground tent will suit better. Plus less distance to fall when you have to get up in the night after the beers round the campfire.

Cheers...Ian
 
One of my "long term" plans (ie nothing is happeing...) is to put a roof tent on my trailer. I've fitted a truck top to my Sankey and it has a decent flat top on it, with some box ally and a few doz pop rivets I could make a platform for a roof tent. Idea is that the bikes would go in the trailer and tent on top. Google "Sanket trailer roof tent" for images and you will see quite a lot. This has the benfit that you don't have to modify the vehicle, you can work on the trailer seperately and you can use it to store all the camping junk (of which there seems to be no end). Sankeys tow really well behind a series (until you reverse). We have done a few trips with the Sankey and while its a pain to park (Sankey s have a manual reversing overide - get out and fit it, then reverse) the extra space of having all the junk in the trailer makes for much more relaxed camping. A useable Sankey will set you back around 3-400 plus the NATO hitch if you don't have one. This angle exagerates the trailer size but you can see the flat top. We had our bikes with us and on the 2 day trip we picked up an e-bay lawn mower too. Its 6ft by 4ft.
stonehenge_1.jpg
 
rob1miles said:
Be wary of too much weight up high as you get a lot of body roll. Fine on std springs but not so good on paras. Have a look at the US version of Wheeler Dealers - they fit a roof tent on a Series, how they do it is interesting and they make the fittings themselves. As mine is a LWB I got a Dormobile roof but that was a lucky find, there are home made pop roofs on SWB, its worth thinking about because you can stand up inside. Some put a bolt in "slice" between the sides and roof that has the lift bit in. Google images "DIY land rover camper roof".
Click to expand...
Ok me and son was out in both landies the other day mine has paras and his on std springs all new springs on both vehicles and on the way back and as we are both insured for both vehicles we swapped vehicles and I noticed straight away that mine on paras had very little body roll compared to my son's landy with std springs which had loads of body roll which is what gave us the idea of doing it :)
 
Moorhouse2 said:
Now you've got me started:




https://tuff-trek.com/product/tuff-trek-tta1-awning/

Might give you some ideas. Not sure what engine you have but I'm pretty sure my 2.25 NA diesel would be seriously slow(er) with the extra weight and drag from the box on top, another reason why I reckon the ground tent will suit better. Plus less distance to fall when you have to get up in the night after the beers round the campfire.

Cheers...Ian
Click to expand...

200tdi with HRTC
 
That's intersting about the body roll. I find the std springs are so stiff that they are not moving a lot with a "normal" camping load, I've not tried paras but my understanding is that they are flexing and moving at a lower load. Were you loaded up?
 
rob1miles said:
That's intersting about the body roll. I find the std springs are so stiff that they are not moving a lot with a "normal" camping load, I've not tried paras but my understanding is that they are flexing and moving at a lower load. Were you loaded up?
Click to expand...
Yes where we live there are loads of speed bumps and when i was in mine behind son in his when he went over the speed bumps his springs looked like they didn't move but when i was in son's landy behind mine my springs flexed so don't get it.
 
Bear in mind that you don't have to mount a tent on a roof rack. I mounted one to my D2 on 4 roof bars from Flatdog.
On an 88" a roof tent would pretty much fill the roof rack leaving no usable space. Roof racks are expensive and heavy and usually only have three mounting legs.
Roof bars are much lighter, way way cheaper and you can fit as many as you want making the mount more secure. It also makes it easier to fit the tent as the bars can be adjusted fore and at in relation to each other. Downsides? Slightly more ingenuity needed to fit an awning.
IMG_20191126_141446a.jpg
 
Si Click said:
Bear in mind that you don't have to mount a tent on a roof rack. I mounted one to my D2 on 4 roof bars from Flatdog.
On an 88" a roof tent would pretty much fill the roof rack leaving no usable space. Roof racks are expensive and heavy and usually only have three mounting legs.
Roof bars are much lighter, way way cheaper and you can fit as many as you want making the mount more secure. It also makes it easier to fit the tent as the bars can be adjusted fore and at in relation to each other. Downsides? Slightly more ingenuity needed to fit an awning.View attachment 208309
Click to expand...
Roof bars would be ok but I didn't think you could still get them :(
 
1 Go on e-bay and search "van roof bars" loads will come up and often with choices of hieght. I think a Series is 6" but check. This was my plan B.
2 Think about making your own, thats what I did for the roof rack. I looked at "expedition" roof racks and was put off by £300+ prices and how heavy they were. I got a reclamied step ladders, some ally box, some surplus bamboo flooring and had to buy some 2"x1/4" ally flat for the risers. A lot of cutting and 200 pop rivets later I have a nice bespoke lightwieght roof rack that can support a person - we sit on it to take in the views. Its in the photo above complete with small person. The clamps take some careful detail and use M8 stainless tamper-proof bolts even so the only tools were a drill, pop-riveter (large as its 3/16 rivets) saw and file. Its survived hitting the "low roof" sign at out local Tescos o_O which was handy because the Dormobile roof light just behind it is £75!!
 
I made my own roof bars and to be honest are much stronger than normal ones. Just make sure the ones you get fit in the gap between the front doors and gutter. It’s pretty tight.

7F8BC401-69AE-4F4F-A8CD-927DB0F338F4.jpeg
 
Agree re-door top clearance, I had to make my clamps thin to fit. I do like that roll cage idea. I was looking at something like that when the opportunity to get the pop up roof came along.
 
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