Explorer/Overland Roof Tents.

That is a good price. I expected it to be much higher. Maybe the credit crunch is having a benefit???

I have the Boab Maggiolina roof tent on my Land Rover 90.

The bad points are :-
Its a real pain to bolt it to the roof bars, which requires a friend to give me a hand to lift it on.
The Landrover is just a tad tall for the wife to help, so one on the car I leave it there for the season.
It can be difficult if its too wet, as there is no where to put the wet clothes or boots.
Everything has to go inside at the head or foot of the tent.
If you stay on a muddy site, then the mess comes in with you.
There is no where to sit and eat if it rains.
Getting up in the night for the loo is a real pain due to the ladder, especially if you have to climb over someone to get out.
There is no shield from the rain when you are getting in the tent, which can soak the bedding if your not quick in bad weather.
The cost of the tent and the roof bars is a huge sum of money.
Reduced fuel economy.

The good points are :-
On the plus side you can turn up late at a site, as the time to get ready is under a minute.
You save space in the car, as its all on the roof.
You can store your bedding and then leave it in the tent.
You can move on each day to a new site, with out the pain of having to take down a tent ( under 5 minutes to stow away ).
You dont need a torch to wind it up if its dark.
Its warmer than a ground tent, although in the morning it warms up quicker on the outside than it does inside due to the insulation. You just have to get up earlier
Everyone wants to talk to you about the tent, the moment you set it up.
If the tent is wet, its not a problem to dry it out when you get home as you just wind it back up.
There are no issues with pegs in sand or stoney soil.
It survived a sand storm, when ground tents around us were destroyed.

Summary
I bought my tent to do an overland trip, although in hindsight I could have got away with a small dome tent.
The only time that a dome tent wouldn't have been OK, was when we were in a sand storm.
One night out of 3 weeks would have been an acceptable trade off.

I am happy with what I have, and I use it each year for all our camping trips through out the season.
Having said that, I could have saved a huge amount of money and just made do with a normal tent.
The 90 with the roof tent up
YouTube - Landrover Tent

which mag have you got? If you want to sell it, i would be interested.

G

I have the Airlander.
I wouldn't sell it, as its too handy now that I have it.
I was just trying to offer some advice to others before they jump in feet first.

yer i know I have the "traditional" type roof tent and want to move to the mag's as ive heard alot of good things about them. Traditional ones are great in hotter climes (Africa) but for UK and European use, a Mag is the way forward.

Airlander is a popular choise

G

Brownbear said:

When we go on our Euro tours we sleep on our roof rack in a £35 2second tent from Decathlon sport shops.
Our roof rack deck is a full 8ft by 4ft ally chequer sheet which sits inside the roof rack frame work.
The tents guy lines are simply fastened around the rack rails and for comfort we sleep on our self inflating air mattress which inflate to 7cms thick. Again, these were purchased from Decathlon sport shops.
By using this sleeping arrangement we have the following advantages:
1) We have a lower wind resistance/drag factor by having an empty rack.
2) We dont drive around all day with a 'top heavy' vehicle as our centre of gravity is nice and low - Handy for exploring off road when on travels.
3) All our kit is kept dry & safe inside the vehicle.

This arrangement works well for us and allows a very quick 'set up bed time' which means we can stop late at night, anywhere, and be washed and in bed in under 10 minutes!
Great after a long days driving or for midday naps.

Click to expand...

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This is just what I plan on doing.
Apart from the ally checker.
I am going to use 10mm plywood.
Same cheapo tent, and one for spare!
Not sure about the blow up bed though, leakes etc,
I am tempted to use some 3 inch foam, can be rolled quite small, and tied lengthways on the roof in a canvas bag.
No weight, and so little wind resistance.