“Seriously though, is there really an appeal for rooftop tenting?”
The short answer in Australia is YES!
Rooftop tenting takes camping to the next level! Literally! Away from the creepy crawlies below. There are other reasons too why rooftop tenting is popular. Like the ease of set-up, sleeping comfort, extra storage, and durability. And they are a lot cheaper compared to any RV. And! With a 4-wheel drive, you can go to the remotest of places, right into nature’s playground.
Look at your social pages, is your feed full of thousands of photos of beautiful pictures? Perhaps 4-wheel drive parked on a beach, a surfboard leaning against the wheel, some fish on the barbeque, a campfire. You’ve got to admit, it’s pretty tempting.
Best spot for rooftop tenting
But, is it for you? If you’re new to rooftop tenting, or even new to camping, here’s what you’ll need to know.
Height and weight.
You will be looking for a strong, sleek tent. The slimmer your tent, the more aerodynamic and fuel-efficient your trip will be. Weight will be a key consideration and the dynamic load rating of your vehicle should never be exceeded. At 65kg, the WKND ODIN rooftop tent is one of the lightest hard-shell tents. Its also one of the thinnest at 170mm. If you opt for custom mounting you can lower the total high of your car another 40mm as well as any weight savings removing your existing roofrack. You might even be able to fit into underground parking now.
Aerodynamics.
Just to clear up some of the miss-information online, yes a RTT will negatively effect your fuel economy.
F=0.5 p(V^2)CA
F is the drag force
p is the density of the fluid
v is the speed of the object relative to the fluid (Air)
A is the cross sectional area
C is the Drag coefficient
The only two variables we can effect are V (speed) and A (Cross sectional area) and no one wants to drive slower so i’m going to focus on A (Cross sectional area). Simply put, the thinner the RTT, the less it will effect your fuel economy or top speed. Im getting an average of 0.6 L/100 worse economy compared to not having anything on the roof. Now keep in mind my WKND Odin has been custom fitted so there isn’t the turbulence caused by the roofrack ether. Thats 60% better than the average loss of 1.5L/100 that the majority of fold out style RTT get. Any little bit of height you add to your roof has a direct result on fuel economy and with todays prices its worth considering.
Camp anywhere.
You can set it up in a campground, roadside stop, beach, or a remote dirt track. You can even set up in your mate’s yard after a beer or two. I can’t count how many times I’ve had the sleep of my life parked outside my mates house after having a few too many, I’ve saved a lot of money from unnecessary Ubers.
Ease of set-up and take-down.
The WKND Odin rooftop tents are engineered for quick setup. If you don’t use the rain cover you can have the tent up in 5 seconds. Pack away is a breeze too, everything can be packed away from the back of the tent, no need for you to do laps around the tent on those cold hungover mornings shoving the wet canvas in.
Sturdy construction.
Made from honeycomb aluminium the WKND Odin rooftop tent hard shell keeps things protected as your drive. Being metal construction you won’t have issues with cracked corners or degraded plastic. The tent will hold its value like the old 1hdt.
Comfort while sleeping.
The WKND Odin rooftop tent comes standard with a 70mm high-density foam mattress. Perfect for a good night’s sleep under the stars.
Elevated camping above the ground.
In Australia, one word comes to mind. Spiders! Why would you sleep on the ground when you can be where you have less chance of waking up with a spider crawling on you. Additionally, your tent floor won’t get bogged with rainwater runoff. And you won’t have to contend with rocks and sticks under your tent.
Levelling your tent.
With a rooftop tent, you don’t have to search for flat ground. Just drive onto your maxtrax’s, a rock or dig the sand out, what ever’s easiest at the time.