Small, light tent platform?

[PlacidWaters]

Looking at all the different types of tents in the "Post your tent" thread, plus the tent cots, made me start thinking about creative ways to add comfort to camping. Is it possible to make a small, light platform, say 20" high, for a two-person tent? That way you would just sit on the edge and roll in and out, as opposed to going down on your knees to enter and exit. It would be more spacious than a tent cot, with better ventilation (e.g., all-mesh Kelty Trail Ridge tent).

By small and light I mean something you could easily take apart and transport in a small car. Maybe a frame made of PVC pipe and a plywood base? Has anyone made such a thing, or does it already exist?

A related naive question: What's the main purpose of a rooftop tent? Is it to be safe from animals? I don't like sleeping at ground level with the critters.

 

[madmax718]

Plywood is not a light weight base. Your talking about at least a half inch board, and at least a 4x8. Most 2 man tents are 40-45 inches wide, but making things standard 4x8 sized makes things easy. Budget 50 lbs.

Materials aside, to fit into a small car, you will probably have to cut the boards width wise.

if you really want to build your own, I'd check out nidacore for the panels.

Otherwise

take two of those party folding tables, cut the legs down to your height. It says 300 lbs evenly distributed.

I kinda like this idea, and perhaps I should have thought of it first.

Great idea!

 

[ToolBox Guy]

Looking at all the different types of tents in the "Post your tent" thread, plus the tent cots, made me start thinking about creative ways to add comfort to camping. Is it possible to make a small, light platform, say 20" high, for a two-person tent? That way you would just sit on the edge and roll in and out, as opposed to going down on your knees to enter and exit. It would be more spacious than a tent cot, with better ventilation (e.g., all-mesh Kelty Trail Ridge tent).

By small and light I mean something you could easily take apart and transport in a small car. Maybe a frame made of PVC pipe and a plywood base? Has anyone made such a thing, or does it already exist?

A related naive question: What's the main purpose of a rooftop tent? Is it to be safe from animals? I don't like sleeping at ground level with the critters.

I think you have a great idea.....It's only great because I thought of the same thing about a year ago. Haha!

I would love to see it done, the major obstacle is packing it small enough for most rigs to carry it. Maybe a roof rack that doubles as a ground platform?

Lightweight, I would use expanded or perforated material.

 

[PlacidWaters]

The easy way. Plenty compact.
http://store.kamprite.com/catalog/Kamprite-The-Double-CTC-p-16155.html

Trailer top tent.
http://compactcampingconcepts.com/

I honestly think that this tent is more spacious and less claustrophobic and has better ventilation than any tent cot: http://www.kelty.com/p-600-trail-ridge-2.aspx

The reason cotters need a tall tent is that a cot can take up to 15" of vertical space. If the tent is on a platform no cot is needed and the problem of ceiling height is solved.

Since plywood is too heavy, what would make a light, strong base?

 

[madmax718]

My vote, as before, is nidacore or competitor. Honey comb extrusions. Very strong.

Your idea is sound. In fact, I like it alot, as your rain fly would leave massive amounts of air movement below it, yet still shed rain. Tie and stake it down as you normally would, with just a few more inches of line needed.

I have a gunnison 2.0, its very similiar, just lacking the cross bar which gives it that extra vertical space.

 

[PlacidWaters]

Where does one buy Nidacore? How much does it cost? I can only find wholesalers, no retailers.

 

[ToolBox Guy]

Doesn't take much to be more spacious than a Tent-Cot for sure. I understand your idea. I'm a pretty good "creator of things" and haven't been able to come up with a good alternative like you want that's lighter, as compact, sets up as fast and would come in anywhere near the price. So I use a Tent-Cot.

Tent cot's ventilate well if all opened up. But they do get some condesation from the coated fabric. The other side of the story is they are much warmer in cold weather than the tent style you pictured. I have a similar tent and even with the fly on it holds no warmth in cold weather. My collapsable tent cot with a 3.5" self inflating pad and the fly on is easily much warmer than outside the tent in cold weather. It really depends on your needs.

Best of luck with this project I look forward to seeing what you come up with. The best I've been able to think of is some kind of a flat base that simply sets on 4 gear boxes for elevation. The big problem is making it fold while still being rigid enough when open and compact when folded.

Red letters indicate my frustration with my Double Tent Cot.
I was highly disappointed to say the least, the first time I used it and at about 5 AM it was literally raining condensation on my head.

The only thing that keeps me hanging onto it is that I bought it used for $100, in brand new condition.

I think a small tent platform could be done, and is a good idea, although it might take more than average guy in his garage engineering to pull off all of the necessary requirements.

 

[DGarman]

Looking at all the different types of tents in the "Post your tent" thread, plus the tent cots, made me start thinking about creative ways to add comfort to camping. Is it possible to make a small, light platform, say 20" high, for a two-person tent? That way you would just sit on the edge and roll in and out, as opposed to going down on your knees to enter and exit. It would be more spacious than a tent cot, with better ventilation (e.g., all-mesh Kelty Trail Ridge tent).

By small and light I mean something you could easily take apart and transport in a small car. Maybe a frame made of PVC pipe and a plywood base? Has anyone made such a thing, or does it already exist?

A related naive question: What's the main purpose of a rooftop tent? Is it to be safe from animals? I don't like sleeping at ground level with the critters.

Would it work out the same if you just got a tent that was taller and used cots inside?

It seems to me that setting up a platform, then erecting a tent on top of it would add complexity and time to the "making camp" process. Not to mention having to transport all the extra "stuff" in a small car. You also have to engineer and build the platform that you're going to use.
As far as critters, just keep the lower zippers on the door zipped closed. I already do that on my ground tent.
Just my thoughts,
Dennis

 

[SOAZ]

Agreed. One of the tent cots posted seems like it would fit the bill for what your looking for. Not that building your own thing is a bad idea, but keeping it simple, light and making it fit into a small car all makes it seem like sticking to an engineered design would be the way to go. Either sleeping on a cot inside a tent or a tent-cot.
Or, just lay down on the ground after eating lots of beans for dinner. From my experience, it keeps the critters away! :coffeedrink: Just kidding, mostly.

p.s. The purpose of a roof top tent in the US is to look cool. (In Africa, it's to stay away from animals.) It also has the added benefit of taking more excess time in your vacation to deploy and put away, gets rid of pesky MPG's while driving, and catches twice as much wind at night should you want to sail away. :elkgrin:

Looking at all the different types of tents in the "Post your tent" thread, plus the tent cots, made me start thinking about creative ways to add comfort to camping. Is it possible to make a small, light platform, say 20" high, for a two-person tent? That way you would just sit on the edge and roll in and out, as opposed to going down on your knees to enter and exit. It would be more spacious than a tent cot, with better ventilation (e.g., all-mesh Kelty Trail Ridge tent).

By small and light I mean something you could easily take apart and transport in a small car. Maybe a frame made of PVC pipe and a plywood base? Has anyone made such a thing, or does it already exist?

A related naive question: What's the main purpose of a rooftop tent? Is it to be safe from animals? I don't like sleeping at ground level with the critters.

 

[PlacidWaters]

Would it work out the same if you just got a tent that was taller and used cots inside?

It seems to me that setting up a platform, then erecting a tent on top of it would add complexity and time to the "making camp" process. Not to mention having to transport all the extra "stuff" in a small car. You also have to engineer and build the platform that you're going to use.
As far as critters, just keep the lower zippers on the door zipped closed. I already do that on my ground tent.
Just my thoughts,
Dennis

Yes, you're right that a taller tent would work. After trying numerous three-person tents that all turned out to be too short, I finally got a 4-person Kelty Trail Ridge, which weighs over 11 lbs. I had to go with a 4P in order to get enough height for a 15" cot. So if I had a platform the two-person version of that tent would be sufficient. But I suppose the platform plus the tent would weigh 11 lbs or more. I still think this is an idea worth thinking about.

 

[PlacidWaters]

Tent cot's ventilate well if all opened up. But they do get some condesation from the coated fabric. The other side of the story is they are much warmer in cold weather than the tent style you pictured. I have a similar tent and even with the fly on it holds no warmth in cold weather. My collapsable tent cot with a 3.5" self inflating pad and the fly on is easily much warmer than outside the tent in cold weather.

QUOTE]

I enjoy the cold. I rely only on my sleeping bag for warmth down to about 20 degrees. I find that a two- or three-person tent will give you about 10 more degrees of warmth with the fly closed, even if the tent is all mesh.

 

[PlacidWaters]

Re tent height, it gets dang hot in a low tent. That rules out a tent cot for me.

Another advantage of a platform is being off the wet ground.

New idea: An inflatable tent base about 20" high. You wouldn't need any mattress at all!

 

[PlacidWaters]

I think I have this partly figured out. Start with these two components:
________
Kelty Trail Ridge 2 tent. Base measures 46" x 83" (actual measurements and it's 45" tall.
_________
Camptime Roll-a-Cot wide: 32" x 74" and 15" high.
_________
The challenge is to create a structure that
1) Can hold the weight of a person and everything you store in your tent
2) Is reasonably light
3) Is cheap and easily made
_________
#1 is a false dilemma, because in fact your body weight is entirely supported by the cot. So the frame only needs to support the weight of the tent and whatever you like to keep in your tent.
___________________
The cot takes up literally 2/3 of the square footage of the tent floor. Therefore the frame only needs to support the remaining third, which is a narrow band around the cot. That consists of about 7" along each side of the cot and 5" at each end.
______________________
To test my idea I laid a cross-country ski across each end of the cot and placed the tent on the cot. Now the ends were supported but not the sides. The result was pleasantly surprising. It was very, very easy to enter the tent: open the door and sit down on the cot! I noticed that the unsupported 7" along the edges of the cot could hold something light, like your glasses, but not something like a hardcover book.
__________________
The space inside the tent was excellent. Lying on the cot I could reach the ceiling with my foot stretched out, meaning there is plenty of overhead space. The 5" of overhang of the tent at each end of the cot actually didn't affect sleeping comfort at all. Getting out of the tent was incredibly easy: swing your legs out and stand up.
_____________________
So even this rudimentary experiment worked well. Of course, it would be better to be able to use the full length and width of the tent floor. I really think a frame of PVC pipe would work for this. Some ideas:
___________________

-- Cut a slot or drill holes in the pipe to fit it over the end of the cot.
-- Use right-angle joints to join the end pieces to the side pieces.
-- Cut the side pieces in half, add a T joint, and add a 15" upright in the middle of each side.
______________________
That makes a total of 8 pieces of pipe from 15" to 42".
______________________
I wonder if, having done all that, you would even need to add anything rigid like plywood or masonite for more support. It would depend on the weight of the things in the tent. An attic and the tent pockets can hold quite a few things. How about storing things UNDER the cot, in a waterproof container?
______________________
One more idea: Use 4 plastic crates to hold gear in your vehicle. Place on crate at each corner of the tent. Place some rigid material on top of the crate. I think it could be as thin as masonite. Now the long sides of the tent are fully supported. You might not even have to worry about the ends.
_____________________

I'm going to try this. I'm really impressed with how easy it is to get in and out of this tent. Basically it's a tent cot with much better ventilation and more space than the average tent cot.
__________________

***ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR IMPROVING THIS SYSTEM?***
_____________________

Someone asked why not just get a bigger tent? I do have the Kelty Trail Ridge 4 and like it a lot with a cot. But it weighs literally twice as much as the two-person version and is quite a bit bulkier when packed. The idea is to save weight, space, and money. It remains to be seen whether the frame will simplify or complicate things. For the moment I can say that this idea works even with no frame at all. As someone pointed out above, staking presents no problem.
__________________
Sorry about the lines, I don't know how to create paragraphs in this forum.

 

[Honu]

one thing roll a cots are tippy on the ends we had them liked them till the kids climbed on the ends and they flipped up ?

so note that to yourself that if your weight is on the long end it will be like a dump truck

 

[PlacidWaters]

one thing roll a cots are tippy on the ends we had them liked them till the kids climbed on the ends and they flipped up ?

so note that to yourself that if your weight is on the long end it will be like a dump truck

Honu, I did notice your comment about that in another thread. I experimented with sitting on the end of the cot and found that if you sit down normally, at least a foot in from the end, it doesn't flip. It would be very unusual in a 4P tent to sit on the end, because there's no room between the end of the cot and the tent.