store bought roof top tent

This is one of those idea that many have probably thought of> Has any one taken a regular say Rei back packing tent and set it up on say a gobi roof rack such that it simply folds out ? It would be light weigh you could probably get it with a four seasons rating. Use either a high density foam package or blow up air mattress.

I have 08 a 4 dr jeep rubicon. I am too old to s comfortably sleep on the ground and would like to access the tent from inside the jeep like the flip pac . I am too poor to by a real expensive roof top tent.

Seem like it wouldn't be that hard to do. any thoughts
 

gophere

Adventurer
I think getting it to fold-up and open-up would be hard because of how the poles slide through and then are solid, unlike the roof top tents that have jionts on the poles so they come up when you open it
 

Sleeping Dog

Adventurer
This is one of those idea that many have probably thought of> Has any one taken a regular say Rei back packing tent and set it up on say a gobi roof rack such that it simply folds out ? It would be light weigh you could probably get it with a four seasons rating. Use either a high density foam package or blow up air mattress.

I have 08 a 4 dr jeep rubicon. I am too old to s comfortably sleep on the ground and would like to access the tent from inside the jeep like the flip pac . I am too poor to by a real expensive roof top tent.

Seem like it wouldn't be that hard to do. any thoughts

To avoid dealing with poles, you could use a Nemo Morpho with inflatable supports. Build the platform as a low profile box that folds closed. Not sure how you would enter it from inside the jeep as opposed to a ladder from the outside.

If you have a sun roof I guess you could cut hole in the platform and tent floor and crawl in that way and use some semi rigid foam or inflatable donut to seal the space between the jeep and the platform.

Jim
 

mountainsoul

Adventurer
I don't see how this is going to work out. For example, you said you want to access the tent from inside the JK like the Flippac but if the Gobi rack is up on top, plus the tent with mattress, how are you going to get up there? And I assume this means running the JK with no roof? Plus wouldn't the regular tent still have to be put up with poles of some sort?

I guess if you run the Gobi you can get it without the sunroof/freedom top panel and set the tent up towards the back of the rack. Then when the tent is set up you can climb through the freedom panel gap and into the tent? But wouldn't you have to get out of the JK to set up the tent first?

Sorry mate, maybe I'm not understanding what you mean here. But it sounds like this wouldn't work to me. Maybe you can shed some more light on your idea.
 

sdmarkus

New member
For what it's worth, I used the poles and fly from my REI mountain 3 over the bed of my truck last weekend and it worked perfectly. Once the fly was attached to the poles, I slid each pole end into the corner hole of the truck bud and laid our beds in the truck bed underneath. Wish I'd snapped a photo is was pretty sweet...poor man's truck camper:REOutCampFire03:
 

sdmarkus

New member
Round two last weekend, ough to do the trick until I find a FWC:sombrero:

IMG_0699.jpg
 

austintaco

Explorer
I have posted this pic of my truck on here before, and I usually get a PM or two after about how it worked. I thought this might be an option for you.

2009_1027BigBendRanch0339.jpg

This is the sportz tent model. There is one size bigger than this that has another "room" attached to it. It sets up very easily and we did a three day trip at Big Bend Ranch during the Winter to test it out. Our system, after repacking the first night, was to load everything from the tent, into the truck, and then we just quick folded the tent so we could deploy it quickly at our next site.
2009_1027BigBendRanch0288.jpg

This was a view of me with our "doodie bags":). Lis is sitting in the truck looking out into the tent area. We slept under the campershell, our bins were in the corners of the tent area along with our cooler and other supplies. Our dogs slept in the tent area too. We had a heater buddy going and it kept us nice an warm even when it got to 18 degrees!
2009_1027BigBendRanch0285.jpg

That's Lis in the truck(don't let her know that I posted this pic of her). The "sock" forms a very nice seal aroud the shell. When we go out again, I will bring another strap or soft bungees to make the seal even tighter.
We were very pleased with the ease of use and the cost. I purchased this one on Ebay for about $180 ( I might be off on the price, but it was a good deal for the name brand and the size).

Its not a roof top tent, but its simple and I can use it on either of my trucks and even her matrix!

Lemme know if you have any questions.
 

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