Homemade Roof Top Tent

[Trail X]

Yeah, yeah. Remember my profession... I have fun with this stuff.

Mine will have a cover when it's all done... but no changing room.

[Trail X]

The left side is almost complete. That seam was a total PITA. Still need to secure the bottom on the left side.


Front door and left side:


Rear window and sunroof:


Getting there...

[janesy86]

Very cool! Nice work as always!

[Trail X]

300 yards of thread later... the fabric portion of the tent is done:







Still a lot to do, but it's looking much more like a tent now. I need to get a strong friend to come over sometime soon to help me mount this thing to the truck again.

[onelow1ton]

The tent looks amazing James I had forgot all about this site after I got rid of my old Colorado but I'm looking to get a new and build it kind of expo style and I saw you build over on expo and Thought I would check in here also. I just got to say it again the tent looks bad a** man I'm very impressed and keep up the good work

[Gordinho80]

Looking great!!!

[SomeOffPave]

I am certain you have addressed what I am about to ask but I can't see the answer. Please explain to me. Thanks in advance.

Let us just say all the bows fold forward when the tent is collapsed. I see how the center bow will lay (lie?) over the front bow because it is mounted higher. What I can't figure is how the rear bow will fold forward and its top will not be several inches, or maybe even a foot, off the floor of the platform because when it folds forward it will be blocked by the middle bow. I am missing something because I would have placed the pivot point for the rear bow as far above the middle bow as the middle bow is above the front bow.

[bgwolfpack]

I am certain you have addressed what I am about to ask but I can't see the answer. Please explain to me. Thanks in advance.

Let us just say all the bows fold forward when the tent is collapsed. I see how the center bow will lay (lie?) over the front bow because it is mounted higher. What I can't figure is how the rear bow will fold forward and its top will not be several inches, or maybe even a foot, off the floor of the platform because when it folds forward it will be blocked by the middle bow. I am missing something because I would have placed the pivot point for the rear bow as far above the middle bow as the middle bow is above the front bow.

Allow me to help here…

If you look at the first pic of this thread you will see James is using a scissor mount which will place the rear bar/mont bolt in the proper position when closed.

[djthumper]

If that gets to be a pain during your trip I will gladly give you a hand with it.

[Trail X]

I am certain you have addressed what I am about to ask but I can't see the answer. Please explain to me. Thanks in advance.

Let us just say all the bows fold forward when the tent is collapsed. I see how the center bow will lay (lie?) over the front bow because it is mounted higher. What I can't figure is how the rear bow will fold forward and its top will not be several inches, or maybe even a foot, off the floor of the platform because when it folds forward it will be blocked by the middle bow. I am missing something because I would have placed the pivot point for the rear bow as far above the middle bow as the middle bow is above the front bow.

Maybe this picture can help you understand how it folds. The middle bow mounting point is also the hinge point.

[SomeOffPave]

Maybe this picture can help you understand how it folds. The middle bow mounting point is also the hinge point.

The pic makes it perfectly clear.
Thanks

[NC_IslandRunner]

This is awesome

[Trail X]

So close to being done!

I got worried about the long term durability of the old cast zinc extension hardware (left) so I replaced it with a steel one (right) with a much larger thread and knob.


Foam mattress mounted. I used Velcro. Don't mind my extremely curvy thread line... running the mattress through the sewing machine proved harder than I thought.


About 3" thick in the middle... 2.5 or so where the cover compresses it at the edges. The cover is a polyester/cotton blend.


Some of the strap details. 1' polyester webbing, superloc adjusters, and steel footman loops.


The first set of straps will help compress the bedding. Below shows how even a pillow can be left in the tent when it folds up.


Then two long straps will go over the waterproof cover to further cinch things down, and keep the cover from billowing.


Here's my current stopping point... I didn't order enough of the cover fabric, so I'm playing the waiting game now.

[Trail X]

Finally some more progress. The pic below was as of 10 last night, but I put a few more hours into it after that. All of the seams in the cover are done, inside is cleaned up and the bottom hemmed. I used a super tough fabric by TriVantage called "Coverlight". Here's the excerpt from the retailer:

Coverlight is a vinyl-coated nylon fabric. Excellent tear, puncture, abrasion resistance and overall durability. Coverlight is a great waterproof marine vinyl and is resistant to fungicidal growth. Unaffected by extreme temperature changes, will not become stiff due to volatility loss.

Being that the fabric was extra tough, it provided more than a few frustrating moments with the sewing machine.



I'm thinking 2 or 3 more hours of work and I'll be done. Last steps are finishing the cinching system for the cover and mounting the interior tent light. Hoping to get it mounted to the truck this weekend for some road and wind trials.

[Stoked]

Awesome work JD

[bartonmd]

Lookin' good!

Mike

[boog2006]

So, when is this for sale?! This is great!

[navigator]

yeah James, I think you need to scrap the whole RTT idea and build a teardrop trailer

[djthumper]

Looks great!

[Trail X]

yeah James, I think you need to scrap the whole RTT idea and build a teardrop trailer

I have put a little thought into one, but my prerequisite would be a larger garage. It's been hard enough doing the tent in a narrow one-car garage.