BIGdaddy
Expedition Leader
Ok so with a family of five with 3 small kids we're considering sleeping arrangements...We currently use an old American-made coleman dome tent that is about ready to be retired to pasture. We've checked out Turbo-tents and REI family tents, but the amount of gear for 5 people to camp is a significant load for us.(as well as a sizeable chunk of time for setup/take-down)
My wife and I got to talking about other optionsOne recent development is the construction of a homemade cargo platform and storage drawers at the same level as the rear seat backs when folded over.
(I didn't specifically intend for the platform to be for sleeping, rather, I wanted to still be able to load long cargo into the trooper, and wanted a flat surface to be able to slide construction materials/theatre props into the cargo area.)
As it turns out this easily accomodates either my wife and I, OR all 3 kids with lots of room to spare when a ikea-type matress is laid out on top.
Some idea's that pop into my head are:
1. Custom campteq type pop-up build utilizing the HUGE sunroof in the trooper
2. Rooftop tent that would house either us, or the kids
3. Nice 2-man REI ground tent for my wife and I (that we already have), with the kids tucked away in the car.
Each has it's own issues, though.
1. Custom pop-top: $$$, plus, if I want to sell the car, the pop-top would have to go with the car or get sold to another trooper owner, rather than being retained.
2. Rooftop tent: Our last RTT was a maggiolina, and I know it would be fun for the kids, but my wife and I are a bit leery about having the kids in a separate area than us for sleeping. (One of the reasons for this being that our oldest has epilepsy and we'd prefer to be able to hear/reach her at night)
3. Ground tent: same as #2. I don't know that we could relax knowing that the kids are "somewhere else"
I think something like an Eezi-awn tent with an attached "floored" annex next to the back of the truck could work, but for it to work for us we'd probably want to leave the back door of the trooper swung open into the annex (might have to modify the wall against the rear of the car to make it be simliar to an SUV-tent) so we can hear the kids at night.
Anywho, just contemplating the options. My wife loves the idea of westfalia-style camper, but I'm just not sure I could keep the darned thing running. An SUV works for every other part of our life, so I'm hoping we can figure out the sleep setup. I DO hear a subie-powered westy camper calling my name sometimes, though. hahaha.
Love to hear some comments from expo'rs who've been there, done that.
My wife and I got to talking about other optionsOne recent development is the construction of a homemade cargo platform and storage drawers at the same level as the rear seat backs when folded over.
(I didn't specifically intend for the platform to be for sleeping, rather, I wanted to still be able to load long cargo into the trooper, and wanted a flat surface to be able to slide construction materials/theatre props into the cargo area.)
As it turns out this easily accomodates either my wife and I, OR all 3 kids with lots of room to spare when a ikea-type matress is laid out on top.
Some idea's that pop into my head are:
1. Custom campteq type pop-up build utilizing the HUGE sunroof in the trooper
2. Rooftop tent that would house either us, or the kids
3. Nice 2-man REI ground tent for my wife and I (that we already have), with the kids tucked away in the car.
Each has it's own issues, though.
1. Custom pop-top: $$$, plus, if I want to sell the car, the pop-top would have to go with the car or get sold to another trooper owner, rather than being retained.
2. Rooftop tent: Our last RTT was a maggiolina, and I know it would be fun for the kids, but my wife and I are a bit leery about having the kids in a separate area than us for sleeping. (One of the reasons for this being that our oldest has epilepsy and we'd prefer to be able to hear/reach her at night)
3. Ground tent: same as #2. I don't know that we could relax knowing that the kids are "somewhere else"
I think something like an Eezi-awn tent with an attached "floored" annex next to the back of the truck could work, but for it to work for us we'd probably want to leave the back door of the trooper swung open into the annex (might have to modify the wall against the rear of the car to make it be simliar to an SUV-tent) so we can hear the kids at night.
Anywho, just contemplating the options. My wife loves the idea of westfalia-style camper, but I'm just not sure I could keep the darned thing running. An SUV works for every other part of our life, so I'm hoping we can figure out the sleep setup. I DO hear a subie-powered westy camper calling my name sometimes, though. hahaha.
Love to hear some comments from expo'rs who've been there, done that.