I have my foot in all camps, but it depends on your situation, your prior experiences and what else you want to carry in your vehicle. When I am solo, it's a bikie swag on a stretcher under the 270 awning, but with the family in tow it's definitely a camper trailer. Once you've packed up a tent half a dozen times in the rain then you start thinking about a hybrid camper or even a caravan! More recently I've upgraded the solo trips to an AluCab LT-50 RTT (100lbs) and I can carry skis, rods or surfboards on the RTT. I still use the swag under the awning but probably won't go back to a family tent. A swag is light enough on the roof but some tents are better stored inside and real estate in the Defender comes at a premium, especially when you have a fridge, stovetop, recovery gear etc that lives permanently in the loadspace.

 

I wanted to get a Roof Top Tent but 1) they make the Defender too tippy offroading (I’m not just camping or overloading, I’m doing technical trails, or at least that’s the idea). 2) they don’t work for my 100lb+ bloodhound

I didn’t want to sleep on the ground but that was fixed with a Hest sleeping pad (literally as good as a home mattress (https://www.rei.com/product/203057/h...y-sleeping-pad) and a Snow Peak Tent (https://www.snowpeak.com/products/am...tALNpGL2n8hhhn)

If you want a ground tent reco: This tent is rad. Great headroom. Huge. Quick to setup. Sturdy. Has a little vestibule you can sit in and cook / set up chairs in should you need to do so in inclement weather. I only use it for 1-2 people and hounds. I’ve now camped in it twice. Watched my friend use it for a week in Moab which is what led to my purchase. Easily could do a small family. I found the S size too small and the L way too big.




Vestibule which is why I bought this tent

Usual setup

Hound approved

Tent test in my yard

Can open the flap at the end

 

I have an AutoHome Columbus and love it. We carry it on the roof of the Defender or mount it to my trailer, as appropriate. I would never own any RTT if I didn't have a means of mounting and dismounting it myself, using a cantilever crane of my own design and construction that pulls out of the gable end of my garage. We just got back from a trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the tent on the roof.

My wife refuses to sleep in a ground tent anymore, no matter how nice and cushy a bed I promise. She prefers when the AutoHome is mounted to the trailer because it's so easy to get in and out of. But I'm never nuts about the hassle of pulling a trailer. We do it, but I don't like it.

Bottom line: You are going to be hard pressed to accommodate 4 people in any sort of rooftop tent. I'd invest in (or better yet borrow) a nice (and huge) ground tent.

 

Pic of my Camper Crane 2000 mounting system.

 

Unrelated, but how are you mounting the tracks to the spare tire?

 

I use these brackets: https://overlandkitted.com/products/...oomerang-mount

I mounted the brackets to a 2 x 6 that I cut down to about 2 x 4.25. Then I mounted the putative 2 x 6 through the spare wheel's hub hole using a long bolt and a 4" "fender washer" that I made out of 1"-thick plywood. It's a bit of a kludge, but the 2x6 is locked against the sidewalls of the spare tire and rock solid. I can't imagine what it would take for any component of this system to fail, honestly, and the weight added to your rear door is negligible compared to most of the hardware systems I see other folks using.

Hope this helps.

Myron

 

A ratchet strap works too.

 

How did you secure this container? Nice location.

 

 

Defender + Snow Peak + Front Runner.