Mounting a roof top tent

[Steve F]

So I have a roof top tent on the way and want to make a rack to mount it to the top of the camper. My initial thoughts were to make a frame that mounts to the steel chassis and not use the body of the TD at all for mounting the roof top tent.

Now I'm wondering if I replace the aluminium angle I have on the roof/wall edging with steel angle and weld on a pair of cross bars will this be strong enough. I have a feeling it will but want some opinions.

Here are some details that might help. The walls are a double skin with a 7mm outside skin, 19mm framing and polystyrene insulation and a 3mm inside skin. The roof is the same except its got the spars turned so it is 45mm thick framing and insulation.

Anyway,what do you think.

Pics might help

These should give you an idea of wall thickness, the kitchen bulk head is the same as the external wall and also insulated. The aluminium trim along the roof is what I plan to replace with steel as a foot plate for the roof rack.







Cheers
Steve

[droid_ca]

this is simular to what I was thinking except I was thinking of adding a sunroof of some kind to give me access from within the trailer to the tent on top

[eatatjoz]

What kind of tent?
Assuming that it will fold out and overhang the camper, the weight of people cantilevered over a leading edge may be a bit much for the side walls. I'd weld it to the frame.

[Steve F]

The same as this, it does cantilever out so that could be an issue I guess.



Cheers
Steve

[Endo]

The same as this, it does cantilever out so that could be an issue I guess.



Cheers
Steve

Doesn't the ladder support the cantilevered side of your RTT?

My walls are framed with 1x2" boards and a few 1x3" boards. Insulated with 3/4" foam.
The outside is skinned with aluminum sign board. Similar to this:
http://www.laminatorsinc.com/sign-panels/products/omega-bond
The inside is covered with vinyl fabric/material.
I do not have any plywood in my walls, just in the roof.
I was trying to keep this camper as light as possible.
My previous teardrops were built like tanks! I tried to avoid that this time.

My wall supports our tent just fine.

Welded up a rack and bolted it directly to the roof.
My 13 year old and my 16 year old boys sleep in the tent.
I have about 12,000 miles on this camper and no problems.
I know my set-up is different than yours but hopefully the info helps.

[schaney]

Steve, if this was a street trailer, I'd say no problem. But as you know regularly traveling rough roads adds extra stresses to a trailer body and adding 54 kg+ up high will amplify it.

I took a quick look at your build thread. I think mounting the rear so the load is transferred down thru the bulkhead is going to be fine. I'm a little nervous about the front mount, having it over an interior frame member for load transfer down and is the front portion of your trailer body going to be stiff enough? Redoing the edge trim with steel channel and some welded in cross members should be able to stiffen the front up.

[H-Balm]

Forgetting the original question....
let me point out how cool the wooden flames next to the red fire extinuguisher are!

That is a great look!

[stomperxj]

Steve-
I would think doing something similar to Endo would be just fine. Just make sure to spread the load out all along the wall....



Or you could do the steel angle idea you talked about. that would spread it out along the whole wall just fine...

Jess

[KenC]

I think Adventur Trailers use Thule gutter mounts on there tear drop to mount a RTT racks etc, California Tear Drop uses a similar type at AT does.

[Steve F]

I think I'm going to go with the angle on the roof/wall and possibly run an additional steel strip along the top of the roof where it meets the kitchen bulkhead to tie the side together. It should be plenty strong enough and much easier than building an external frame.

Hopefully I'll start on it next weekend after the tent arrives.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Forgetting the original question....
let me point out how cool the wooden flames next to the red fire extinuguisher are!

That is a great look!

Thanks, I cut some to hide the pocket screws on the legs of the bottom cupboards and then decided the wall looked plain so cut some more

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Put the tent on the Jeep today, too damn hot (40c) to put it all up so just did the basics. Loving it already, quick to setup and works well on the XJ. Its offset to the passenger side (Australian passenger side) to leave room for the awning to mount on the drivers side. I'll set it all up on the weekend and grab some more pics.

Next its time to mount it to the camper











Cheers
Steve

[scotty_pac]

How does feel to sleep up there? If you toss and turn does it rattle the camper on bottom?

[eamarquardt]

I'd have to think that with your double wall construction your side walls would be more than strong enough. A hollow core door is constructed about the same as your walls but with masonite versus plywood. Hollow core doors are very strong, light, and stiff.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers,

Gus

[markhusbands]

I am planning on doing this as well, and am building walls out of 3/4 ply. I created two double spars with about a 5x5 block on each to take the screws through the roof, and notched the side wall so that the block sits in the notch (unlike the rest of the pars that are between the walls).

Now, my assumption is that I won't have a buckling problem in the side walls by distributing the load on two crossbars similar to a Yakima rack, with the four feet mounted over the 5x5 blocks near the edge of the roof. For one thing, when the tent is used for sleeping, the ladder DOES carry a good portion of the load. For another, I used this tent on a standard Yakima rack on a car last summer, and was surprised at how little flex I observed in the crossbars. And when you look at the Yakima feet, there isn't a whole lot of steel there.

So with two sleeping the weight is about 500lbs, with a portion being borne by the aluminum ladder. In motion the tent is 90lbs. I won't claim I'm not worried about it, however. So if anyone has any concerns or bracing ideas I'd like to hear them. For example, I may add an additional "sub-spar" under the ceiling ply just to help counter any spreading forces on the walls...