Roof tent/roof rack
Hi there,
Was looking at buying a roof tent and suitable rack for my SWB 463. Has anyone got any recommendations or warnings of what to avoid?
Cheers
Dougie
I've been looking around at these.....be prepared for serious wallet damage 
Used to have an Autocamp rooftent. I liked it although some are a bit faster to put up.
Saw 3Dogs camping at show in Germany. They look very nice.
I have always thought that a light weight caravan like a T@B or an Eriba makes more sense
Hi guys,
Not sure if this aids the thread but I got a roof rack made and then simply use a 2-second (or pop-up) tent on the top. Pop-ups generally have 4 anchor points and I use velcro tabs. My girls love it. Very quick and simple.;
Roof rack - £120 (more of a dance floor for my girls really) - checked to make sure floor area size OK for tent styles - might be awkward for SWB... Could always start getting clever with additional legs though.
Pop-up - £30 (due to current choice of colours available whole range of possible styles). Less than a minute up and down. Another advantage is can always put tent on ground if suitable location etc, and easily replaceable!
Try and find me a roof tent (brand new) for £150... hmmmmm
Only downside is no real space left on rack when tent up, so carrying extra stuff (e.g roof box) needs careful consideration, or omission.
Good luck. If want pictures let me know and I'll get the camera out tonight (takes longer than getting tent up!)
Stewart
Hi Dougie,
If you have a SWB, you might not need to buy a rack if you're fitting a roof tent: meaning, just buy two roof bars and put the tent on top of these. You may find that you don't have a lot of space left and therefore getting a full rack is a waste of money/space/weight.
With roof tents you really want to avoid the cheaper ones because they don't work in our climate. The South African ones (howling moon, easiawn and hannibal) are all OK: personally, I have only owned the easiawn and it is good: I don't know about the others but they seem to be decent quality products. Autocamp are lighter and easier to put up: they tend to be more expensive because they are using better materials. These are all fold-out brands. James Baroud and Maggiolina both do pop-ups: the former is more robust than the italian brand, but is badly supported over here unfortunately.
The problem with pop-ups and the cheaper fold-outs is that they don't have a protective area to allow you to get into the tent (and keep it dry inside) during times when it is raining. If you're only doing summer camping, this is bearable. If you're planning for trips within the UK during autumn and winter, it is a bit of a pain (especially when it is windy as well and it will always be blowing straight into the tent door!).
Good luck with your quest and hope that helps you a little.
Ph
After much deliberation I have a MY WAY 1.4 roof tent, very happy to recommend it.
Go on then Dougie, let us have a peek 
and see it all set up. 
If only; that the t@b was a cheap caravan, you won't get one under £7k and thats for the most basic, an "offroad" will cost nearer £12k. Best value in light weight caravans are the Polish made Freedom brand and these can be cheap 2nd hand but are pricey new too.
As you say the "Freedoms" can be picked up at good prices. Here's one currently at £800 which has met it's reserve. A lot for the money and cheaper than a roof tent.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Caravan-Microlite-Freedom-Jetstream-650kg-/161...
thats very cheap and its better equiped than the equivilant t@b as well
a little bit of work to finish !
but looks like a nice bit of kit
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330939391040&clk_rvr_i...
Thanks for all the great advice guys. It gives me a good starting point. I'll let you know how I get on!
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So I've seen! I thought the ones in the ORC catalogue were expensive but I haven't seen much cheaper! This is why I wondered if anyone had any experience of them.