Rooftop Tents

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ajh

Guest
I'm in the process of looking at roof racks and rooftop tents for a 2003 Discovery IIa. I would like to mount the tent so that it folds forwards with the ladder resting on bull-bar or the ground in front. The main reason is
that I want the rear of the rack to be readily accessible for storage of items, jerry cans, gear duffels, etc and not have to remove the rear rail on the rack.

I found one picture of a Hannibal tent mounted this way on a Discovery but haven't been able to get an answer out of them yet. Has anyone setup a tent like this? Problems? I know they're mounted this way on Defenders quite often. (insert muttering about North America and Defenders here)

I'm hoping to order a setup this week.
 
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syoung

Guest
You can mount the AutoHome Overland that way- You could also do a side entrance if you don't want it from the rear... I mean the tent... ah you know what I mean.

I went with the side entrance type on mine using a Maggiolina Extreme.
 
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ajh

Guest
Well, the reason I'm thinking front entrance on the tent is that it will allow the rack to be mounted as far forward on the less-accessible portion of the rack as well as not requiring any modification to the frame rails on the rack to open.

The only downside so far seems to be that Hannibal Canada is telling me up to 3 months to get the front-mount ladder shipped here from South Africa. I'm investigating solving this problem by throwing cash at it, but haven't heard back yet.
 
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ajh

Guest
Oh one other question. When the roottop tent is unfolded... what exactly is supporting the out-folded half of the tent? Is it just overlapping the front of the rack? Are there frame rails that lock in place? All the websites seem to be very poorly done with very little actual information about the tents which is a shame for a cool product that you can't really just run down to the store and look at before shelling out $1500 on one.
 

JackW

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2005
675
69
I was talking to a guy at the MAR a few years ago who had spent considerable time in South Africa and had a roof top tent mounted on his 109" wagon. He had looked closely at all of the available brands of tents and recomended the Easi-Awn and Howling Moon tents over the Hannibal brand. He said the construction amd weather and insect sealing was better on the Howling Moon and Easi-Awn tents. He had a Howling Moon tent on his truck and I did like it better than the Hannibal tent I've seen.

He had his mounted so it folded forward over the hood (bonnet) of the Land Rover - the ladder came down and hooked on the top cross bar of his front bumper - it looks like the ladder itself provides a good bit of the support for the tents.

Check out Pangolin for the Easi-Awn tents.
 
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ajh

Guest
Thoughts on Hannibal vs. Autohome Overland? Can both be mounted forward opening? Has anyone used both?
 
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syoung

Guest
I will admit up front that I'm an Autohome dealer- but there's no comparison between a Hannibal and an Autohome... The Hannibal is not nearly as well made.
On the autohome, there's a locking steel channel where it folds out to give rigidity. If you chose to mount it so it folds out over the hood, you could modify the ladder to fit onto the bull bar or bumper on front.
 
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ajh

Guest
So, what's the bright orange tie down doing there? Hopefully it's just hanging free.... or is it holding the rack down in the back?
 

Retrofit

Well-known member
I have the Howlingmoon 1.4m rooftop tent that came with the 110 when I bought it and it is sitting on a Patriot roof rack. I bought the truck and never opened it (in the UK) as it was supposed to be new, until it was in Canada so I had douts. But once I had a good look at it I was blown away by the quality of the materials used, the ease of use and how light weight it actualy was. You can see it folded on the pics I poste in the Defender section. As for the overhang it is self supported.

I will post pics of it open in the next day or two ... it is rainnig right now.

You could probably have one shipped from the UK from TrekOverland and the ladder comes with extensions to fit your truck.

Pat.
 
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ajh

Guest
Just an update in that Hannibal has been very helpful with my questions, and the service so far has been great.
 
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syoung

Guest
This is the way I went- insulated for 4 season use... fully upholsetered inside etc.
 

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nathansharkey

Well-known member
May 11, 2006
376
0
Red Deer, Alberta Canada
Hey Retrofit, how is the aluminum floor for sleeping on. Do you get a lot of cold transfer?

And Syoung, what kind of tent is that? Where do you get it? How do you like it? What is the weight? Is it waterproof? How many different sizes? They both look to be great tents. Any thoughts on Hannibal ones?

Nathan
 

Retrofit

Well-known member
nathansharkey said:
Hey Retrofit, how is the aluminum floor for sleeping on. Do you get a lot of cold transfer?
Nathan

The tent comes with a 2" foam matress and I have found it to be very comfy actualy. And I have slept in it this week and had a teperature drop of 6 deg C during the night and could not feel a thing from the aluminum floor.

If the tent had not come with the Defender when I bought it I would probably have bought a Hannibal one or Overland one but now I would not know because I realy like the very sturdy canvas of this one and the fact that you can leave you bedding in it when folded. Also when closed the cover is made of vry heavy duty rubberized canvas.

My 0.02$

Pat
 

nathansharkey

Well-known member
May 11, 2006
376
0
Red Deer, Alberta Canada
I have heard from some that say that the Hannibal isn't as good. What exactly isn't as good on the Hannibal than the auto home? or the Howling Moon or the EeziAwn. There is a Hannibal dealer in Edmonton that I w=bought my Hannibal roof rack from. He hasn't heard any complaints about the Haaibal tent. Could someone tell me why they chose one over the other. I am really interested in the insulated one Syoung, how heavy is it, what brand? do you like it? WHat do you not like about it? I want one the folds out over the front with a side awning and enclosed room. I think that they look the most functional. I have tented lots and also own a large Holiday trailer, but I want to be able to go for a few days up the mountains where the holiday trailer can't be pulled and not have to sleep in the back of my truck. The only thing that I am leary about sleeping in a tent is that there is a large bear and cougar population where I want to go offroad camping. I wonder if a bear or a Cougar would have the balls to start climbing on the Disco. I had a bad experience tenting in bear country in the past, mind you I was tenting on the ground by a river and I ended up with a completely destroyed tent, a bent BBQ, a sleeping bag full of bear spray and I swore that I would never sleep in a tent in bear country again. Well, after campin in the back of the discovery for a few weeks after that, I gotta tell you, it sucks. I even pulled the back seats out and still found that I didn't have enough room to stretch out. Gotta find a better alternative. Maybe I will find a tree stand tent.
How cold would you do the roof top tenting in?
Nathan
 
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c2518

Guest
I use an Echo Roof tent here in the UAE and it is excellent. I have it opening forward and the ladder clips to a bracket on the bullbar. aluminium floor isn't an issue with a 3" inch foam mattress. very simple, sturdy construction. :bigok:
 
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syoung

Guest
The one I've got is an AutoHome Maggiolina Extreme. It has a thicker fiberglass shell than the normal ones. It weighs about 93lbs and when closed, it didn't affect my fuel economy compared to the rack alone. It can stand up to torrential rain and high winds without a problem at all, and the interior is completely upholstered- strangely similar to a casket.
One thing where the Hannibal and several others have problems is the metal bars etc inside aren't covered and they'll get covered in condensation and drip on you and your stuff. The Maggiolina lift mechanism is on the ends- not over the mattress (which is 3" thick and REALLY comfy). We're planning to do some cold camping in it later this week.
We looked at all the different lines before selecting which one to carry and this one was expensive, but the best.