Originally Posted by Joe Btfsplik

Rooftop tents are very popular here in South Africa, there is a certain feeling of security against roaming carnivores if you are on top of your car. The bad news? - cats can climb. Anyway, there are several very good quality roof top tents that easily conquer all the challenges of nature, wind, rain, snow, bugs, all with a reasonable level of comfort. Fairly easy to put up and down depending on the model you buy, there are still pros and cons to using them. Most of the time the girls prefer a ground tent since it is easier to visit the, um, "loo" in the evening. A ground tent offers a place to sit and do things while the weather is bad, while a RTT is really only for sleeping. You can add an extension on to a ground tent for kitchen facilities, not possible with most RTTs. For me, the biggest pain is that in order to drive around you have to pack it all up every time. BUT A good ground tent is far slower to pack up than a roof top tent. If you plan to do a lot of one night stays, a RTT is the better bet. A lot of guys here have both, and if they plan to stay put, they get comfortable on the ground, if they plan to travel to another campsite the next day, the RTT is preferred.


Your RTT will be as stable as your vehicle suspension. If you roll over, your car will bounce around a bit. I don't want to get into too many details about bouncing cars, though.....

Your car manual will probably offer a maximum recommended roof load that would be far less than two of you in a roof tent, but remember that the recommended loading is probably calculated based on the car moving at speed. Having two people in the tent will only happen once you are stopped, and the roof rack can probably handle the weight without problem. That is not to say a RTT will not affect your center of gravity, particularly if you have a taller 4x4 or SUV. You must take the change of center of gravity into consideration if you do any offroading with a RTT. It will also chow into your fuel economy, you have added a brick on top of your car. There are models available that have hard tops - clamshell and other types - that might be preferred to having canvas flapping around as you drive. A RTT is also NOT cheap! Anyway, see if you can rent one first before buying, try it out on your vehicle and see if you like it!
Enjoy!


BTW; the ladder is the support for the end hanging out of the car. A quality tent will withstand whatever weather comes your way, just as a quality ground tent will. China got into the mix; check out www.longroadcamp.com for some nice looking Chinese RTTs.