Someone design a shelf for the Maggiolina tents

[Life_in_4Lo]

Rich,

So is this correct in cutting a hole? If I do that, it will allow some storage and not harm anything?

 

[Corey]

That is different inside than the rear of mine.

 

[Mike S]

Rich,

So is this correct in cutting a hole? If I do that, it will allow some storage and not harm anything?

You could indeed cut an access hole if you have this style Maggiolina. I would be careful not to sacrifice the stiffness of the box. Fit a stout door or cross brace.

M

 

[Lemsteraak]

Hi James,

Nice drawing! You must have one of the original Airlands,.

The only time I've seen the box modification was at a car show in Half Moon Bay. There was a fellow with one of the really old Maggiolina Adventures where he had the whole inside roof tricked out with charging systems for his computer, chart lights and even had a flip down monitor screen.

I'll second what Mike said, the box structure is overbuilt so while you can cut into it, the key is not to weaken the structure for the roof support bars. If you do cut out too much, I would think you could reinforce from the inside with a little wood, fiberglass cloth and epoxy composite. You will probably want to finish out the inside with some sore of padding and insulation. In boats, they leave a pretty high bottom lip and don't worry about putting on a door with all the complexity and weight. I believe they call it a "cove". I've always liked them because you can throw all sorts of things in there while cruising and it is rare anything falls out.

Rich

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

I was thinking it would be a good place for shoes, keys, etc. Maybe I'll cut a smaller opening(s) and reinforce if need be. Good to know it can be done though.

btw, do you know the weight? It seems pretty heavy... well they all do being it's awkward to reach. But are they really about 100-120lbs?

 

[Lemsteraak]

James

I know weight is a big concern in making these rooftents. There is a tradeoff between comfort, weight and price. I have a medium sized Columbus and for grins I weighed the mattress, it was over 30 pounds, and it isn't as thick as the Maggiolina's. So you take a 115 pound Columbus and take out the mattress and it is like 80 - 85 pounds. Really advanced fiberglass tech.

The new carbon fiber tents are even more impressive. The shell is half the weight of the fiberglass tents, and the strength is off the chart. The mattress is the same weight though, still the comfort - weight tradeoff. The current mattress is a special polyurathane foam, which is good comfort for the buck and weight. I've toyed with idea of a composite mattress for my tent. Way to expensive to be commercially accepted but I think you can take out half the weight and increase the comfort. Start with a mesh boxspring, this is the anti-condensation mat that AutoHome sells. It is comfortable enough to sleep on alone but expensive about $150. Then on top of this a 1.5 inch layer of dense latex foam, grafted to another one inch or inch and a half layer of soft latex foam. This would make for about a three inch mattress that would be quite light but would crazy expensive, I figure about five to six hundred dollars again the weight - comfort - price tradeoff.

Of course there are ways to improve the Maggiolinas but I think Zifer does an excellent job building a tent that will suit most uses. From there you are always encouraged to improve on the basic tents. These shelf ideas are great.

Oh, and yes, a small Maggiolina is about 115 to 120 pounds, but feels like a lot more when you have it lifted over your head.

Rich

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

Never thought about the mattress- sounds like an easy place to reduce a lot of weight.
but, it is comfy so...

 

[Corey]

I forgot to update this old thread.
Here was my solution taken from another thread.
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=668432&postcount=346

The shelf does work pretty good, and I can store the shelves on top of the mattress when packing up.

 

[Uncle Roger]

Hey, pretty sweet setup!

 

[BVClimber]

Thread Revival!

I just got a used Air top from a fellow in phoenix. I live in Calgary, Alberta, and will be using this as my winter rig for ice climbing trips. I needed a sturdy shelf to store a lantern on and run to keep out the -30 chill at night, but also sturdy enough not to kick over in the middle of the night and burn myself down. Same as everyone else here, it had to be as flat as possible. it cost a bit more, but it is 100% stable, as it 'hugs' the mattress, feet are on the tent floor, and it secures to the gas rams about midway via bungee shock chords. Hardly any tourque stress is put on them as it is cut to fit. The legs lock in folded and at a 90 degree position, and they have cross braces. On the back of the shelf, I used a piano style hinge inset from the edge so that it sits up at 90 degress and acts as a back board. I then made a small removable brace that wedges in between a block and the hinged back piece. the entire set up weighs about 8 lbs, but it is really sturdy, and is about 2.5" thick, easily fits in the RTT while closed, with my pillows, -30 double bag and ladder. I had to make a new mattress though as the stock foam is a really basic open cell, and it is cold as balls! at least for winter. Same thickness and dimensions, just made from some thin memory foam, and some closed cell ensulite type stuff, similar to an old school camping foamy. Rvalue is up to about 5 ish!!

Here are some pics, quality is really low as it's from my cell phone but can see detail well enough.

 

[BVClimber]

A couple of pictures in the tent with this white gas lantern, good for about 2800 btu's at full (quoting coleman's tag on side of lantern). I hand a sweater or something in front to keep the light away while I sleep, and put a piece of thick foil over top held on by the screw nut on top to dissipate heat from roof, no issues. It is about -6 Celsius about 20 degrees here today, and it heats up the RTT enough to stop seeing your breath. I have to keep the window behind it cracked, and the side door a bit to get a draft, but overall, really good.

The wedge piece that the lantern sits in keeps the back board at 90 degrees, and then it wedges against the gas rams. With the bungee chords, the entire tent would have to come down before I could knock the lantern over! Enough height for my feet to stand straight up underneath with room for the -30 sleeping bag, and enough room up top to still put things in the cargo net! Really happy how this turned out.

 

[Corey]

Looks good.

Be sure to get lots of ventilation with that lantern.
I had a friend eons ago die camping in a tent from using a Colman heater.

 

[BVClimber]

I have a carbon monoxide detector going in this weekend. Should work well even if I end up doing the catalytic heater set up if this thing proves to be too weak or sketchy.