My DIY Rooftop Tent! The Finished Product!
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- Finally showing the finished product! This is the homemade hardshell rooftop tent that I built last year. I've been putting off making this video for way too long! I am currently working on a "how-to" series documenting, in detail, how to build your own rooftop tent! You will see a tiny preview of it towards the end of this video. Be sure to subscribe so you'll be notified when the series is up! Super excited about this project!
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Go to the 7:00 mark to skip my boring backstory on the project. 😂😂
Not boring!
I agree.
For those who aren't able to weld those gas struts, or the bottom stopper: you can use longer bolts, several washers or make a spacer from a bit of round tubing, and attach the strut on the inside face of the steel pole hinge and achieve the same results,then add a bit of rope or cable to circumnavigate the welded bottom stopper issue (think like how he used cable to make that red rooftop tent open). Cheers
@@haydenrines685 I wish I could visualize what you just shared, but, alas, I am a simpleton. Sounds brilliant though.
I'm blown away by how similar your thinking was to my own when considering building one, rather than forking out $thousands (high cost, enjoying working with my hands, the fear of getting halfway and discovering why people just go and buy them). This video is really well thought out and very inspiring in my own quest to build one!
I want to make one of these so badly for my '98 Pathy! Though, having worked with carbon fiber in multiple jobs, I think I'd give it a go to make one out of that. This is an amazing build that gives me some good ideas, thanks!
Awesome project! Well done! I have one tip for you: Put the gas springs the other way around, such that the oil inside keeps the seal lubricated. Otherwise the gas springs might start leaking after some time. So always mount gas springs with the rod down.
Its very satisfying to stand back and look at something you made and say i made that.
I'm so glad you made this video. I've actually been kicking around this very idea in my head for over a year now and had sketched out a prototype for my wife earlier tonight. It wasn't until after I showed her that I found your video. I'm designing mine to fit on the roof of our Subaru Outback. We have a sunroof, so my plan was to make that the entry for the tent.
That was an awesome idea, did it ever come to fuition?
hey patrick, dont apologize for what you do. as a person who gets satisfaction in building, i appreciate you so much. keep going mate
Thanks for saying that! I appreciate the encouragement!
Fantastic job Pat, I really like how you changed the strut system to bring the roof up flat and horizontal, Its a beautiful job, and an excellent video series Thnx
Brad Lloyd thank you! I'm glad you like it! But to be clear This tent is not the tent I'm building in the build series. They are both built almost exactly the same except for the lifting mechanism tho
Greetings Patrick, absolutely the finest presentation I've seen on building a sensible structure for camping or staying in overnight when on a trip.
I designed one very similar to yours, but while the base was almost the same design as yours, the top section was made from 3/4" conduit to save money at the time, but will possibly be of aluminum later in order to save weight, with dacron fabric like used to cover light aircraft.
However the 600 deneir fabric you used is a much better solution since the dacron needs to be sealed with chemicals to make it "weatherproof" and is too much work considering the fabric you've used.
Although I too had decided on using the struts my problem was mostly getting it to fold back down since they wanted to keep the top up, so thank you for sharing your design which was/is very innovative to say the least.
By using stainless steel aircraft rivets you can do away with having to weld anything, as you stated you wanted to do for the average home builder.
One other thing, if you like, I would be glad to send you a drawing of the frame I designed since it will be a LOT lighter than the wood frame you presently have, but I would have to dig them out of my shed where they were placed years ago, and you are welcome to use them if you see fit to do so.
My tent-top was intended to be placed on top of a twelve passenger Ford EconoVan and access to it was via a 2' by 2' hatch in the vans roof and the base of the tent which I designed used a 5' by 10' plywood base on a two by three frame since there were five of us in the family at the time.
Anyway, excellent design, build, and video, and is much appreciated since it could/can be built on the floor of your garage or on the driveway easily in a day, at least for the base and in a lot of cases, even the top frame as long as you don't stand around admiring your handi-work too much, NOT including the covering and strut system though, but still, more than enough to give you a feel of accomplishing something, you know you can finish.
That is one impressive DIY camper. Like a pro model without the crank.
My first car camp trip was here in Virginia, I slept in a tent. I had a young black bear come into my camping area while I was cooking breakfast.
I wondered what if the bear came into my tent at night. So car top tent is why I'm looking at these tents. And your right the store bought toppers are way too expensive to buy.
You did a great job on yours, very encouraging.
Nice! Can you give us a rough estimate on cost to DIY?
Thank you for taking your time to share this, looking forward to the how to.
there is ZERO chance I will not build one after seeing this. Thank you!
Any person willing to carry a rooftop tent on their back to weigh it earns a subscriber in my book! Thanks for video and information!
My wife wants one bad but we can't afford the one she wants. I will definitely be following to learn how to build one
Awesome!!! I so badly want a hardshell roof top but the $$$ to buy one aren’t in my favor. Your videos makes it a realistic option now. Thank you and keep those videos coming. Much appreciated!!!
Two words Patrick: Windshield Doctor! Ha ha ha. Great build! Your #1 Reason, COST, is a great reason. Gas struts are the only way to go. You did a great job.
Fantastic build !!!
Absolutely agree I will not spend thousands of dollars on a tent , if I can build it and spend that money elsewhere I'm all about that !!
Produce and sell Plans, thats awsome !
From the outside I would never have guessed it was plywood haha. Nice DIY build mate. It was the cost which put me right off the Maggiolina.
Thanks for the video! You did an amazing job. I'm planning on building my own rooftop tent so looking forward to your videos on how to make it.
Great job. Saving a bunch of money is always good in my book. You're obviously very pleased with what you've achieved, and rightly so.
Love finding guys that love making their own outdoors stuff .
You’ve inspired me to build one and I’m going to go very light and hopefully not sacrifice too much strength
hi Patrick..
You did a great job!!!!
a simple solution to the welding problem..
it looks as if you used two 3/8 thread rod couplers (one to the top and one to the bottom) of the gas strut.
if you got to a plumbing supply house you can obtain a rod coupler that is twice the length as those found at big box home improvement store.
Simply drill a hole through one end of the longer rod coupler and use a bolt with a self locking nut and maybe some spacers (washers)
to join one end of the rod coupler the lifting mechanism and thread the other end to the gas strut. If the thread rod is not long enough you can cut a short length of thread rod (or use a short 3/8 stud) to join two rod couplers together. If that does not werk. you could take a length of 1/8" thick by 3/4 wide flat steel and bend it into a squared off "U" shape. drill a 3/8 hole into the bottom of the "U" shape and bolt that to the rod coupler. of course it would be easier to drill the hole into the flat steel first then bend the ends up to form a squares of "U" bracket... them simply thread the rod coupler onto the gas strut
______B _____________
O bolt > ---| rod coupler ----->>> GAS STRUT
______ L_____________
T
on second thought if the gas strut has 3/8 stud on the end simple put a nut on the end of the gas strut to hold the U bracket on.
actually on third thought
Channel out a section of the 3/4 square stock
cut a one inch or so piece off of you channeled out 3/4 square stock . and you will have your "U" bracket .
bolt your "U" bracket between the channeled 1" square stock with some spacer and your done..
I have it all in my head, but is kinda hard to explain.
Great job! Subscribed
Firstly...well done on a great job!
I own and have spent over 200 nights in a Maggiolina Air Road rooftop tent in ALL weather conditions.
There are solid reasons why they cost what they cost.
1. The crank handle may take 30 seconds more to put up than a gas strut system...but ANYONE can open your latches...and up goes your tent!
Not anyone has a crank handle...thus your tent cannot be accessed without the crank.
2. The inner scissor action arms cannot and do not fail like gas struts...the tent cant sag or fall as the struts deteriorate.
The scissor action inner frame is also a "suspension system", ensuring the tent can be relied upon to stay intact in winds up to 120kmh.
A tent that relies solely on the tent fabric... relies...solely on the tent fabric.
3. Maggiolina use "Dralon" as the tent fabric for a very good reason.
As opposed to canvas, nylon or ANYTHING that is simply"waterproof", the tent material MUST have "breathability".
In a Maggiolina tent, you will NEVER awaken in the morning to inner condensation...the material is utterly waterproof/windproof yet remains TOTALLY dry on the inside no matter what the outside conditions.
4. The shell is hand laid fibreglass...light, strong...(standard roofracks are all that are required) impervious to weather extremes (boats are made of it), and cannot warp, rot or twist like wood. And needs no maintenance.
Yes...the Maggiolina could be improved...mattress should be made from memory foam as the standard closed cell one sinks too much after repeated nights use...and the zippers could be stronger.
Other than than that, its very hard to fault.
It is as comfortable as my bed at home...incredibly warm and insulated... utterly water and windproof...copes with anything nature throws at it, and is light enough as to not even notice it on my little 2000 Subaru Forestor.
I'd be interested in hearing a full plus/minus analysis after a 200 plus day shakedown in all weather conditions of your tent.
Here is my shakedown. I built the entire thing with my own hands with no plans of any sort and didn't spend but a few hundred on it.
1. The crank and scissor mechanism it's outdated and heavy. The gas strut isn't likely to fail any time soon. Plenty of tents built this way! Maggiolina must have reverted back to the scissor lift but for a while, the new tents actually use very similar lifting arms to what I built not the scissor lift and crank. Someone opening up my tent on top of my car is not a worry I have. I also know that with a wife and kit I'll never be camping in 120kmh wind. But I have camped in 80kmh once and been just fine! (that was in Texas, we don't really see high winds here)
2. The fabric I used is totally adequate. I'm not one to complain about a little moisture that actually dries up pretty quickly. It's not like its pooling up in the bottom of my tent.
3. I built mine with wood and epoxy and my tent weighs almost the exact same as a magg and is also extremely strong. Its made with laminate wood so its not going to warp and its sealed in epoxy, like a wooden boat, so it's going to rot anytime soon. As too any maintenance it may need.. I mean, I built it so I can fix it.
My memory foam mattress also makes my tent extremely warm and comfortable.. The tent is wind and waterproof to a certain extent (doesn't matter because I'll probably never camp in bad weather) and I don't notice at all on top of my 4runner. So there you go.
In all honesty, I built the thing as a personal challenge to see if I can do it. I think for what I spent on it and how much I camp, this will suit me just fine. I've never camped 200 days in my life and don't care too. I enjoy building things more than using the thing that I built if I'm being honest with myself. If you've got the money and camp enough for it to be worth it then go for it. When I am out camping, It is nice to look up at the tent and think to myself, "I built that." :)
Patrick Remington
Thanks for your reply Patrick.
Sounds like it passes the practical, real world test to me.
Well done mate!
Awesome.. nothing beats the feeling of "building it yourself". Great job!!
Your roof top text is amazing those arms you built are great I've been toying around how to do it for quite some time and I would like to without welding ,I will if I have to . I'VE been looking for a how to video you've given me some great ideas looking forward to more videos Thanks very much Dale
Very creative..agree to You that your journey is a challenge, start from A to Z. Great👍
What if... You put square tubing across the bottom, that runs from side to side, and contains more square tubing inside it. You extend the interior tubing out on each side, and then attach legs to it. You set the leg height so the camper raises off the top of the car. Then you could drive out from under it, attach canvas around it to make a room below the bed area. If the tubing slides out 2 or more feet on each side, you can double the size of the foot print.
Working on designing something on paper currently using 3d printed PETG parts and canvas that goes on top of a Dodge Journey or even like a pop up tent that goes on the ground or something.
This video is awesome! Super stoked to see the new build plan video.
Tanner Hickman Thanks man! It coming along nicely! I'll start posting the series in the next couple weeks
Cheers for the video! awesome A/ you can waterproof any nylon using bathroom silocone, guides on line, they dilute it in extra solvent (HCl?) to thin the silicone and paint it on the canvas... B/ you can mould any kind of shape using carbon fiber or fiberglass if you want: 3D print 4 moulds to wrap carbon fiber around, spend 1 hour with gloves moulding big blobs of fiber and epoxy on the the 3d shape, and then pull ou the 3D shape or chisel it out after. I love working with glass fiber and carbon, i would perhaps do all the roof in fiberglass: use cardboard to build a mould, put plastic on the carboard, lay glass fiber on the cardboard, it would take 2-3 hours of work to build the roof. cheers.
I've been projecting my Accord and saw this headline and thought "Hey I remember Patrick started on last year."... Clicked the video and of course it's you hahaha. Looks awesome, brother!
haha, Thanks man!
Good for you man.. in 2017, I was doing hot shot load trucking pulling a goose neck trailer and considered building something similar on top of trailer's goose neck to enjoy outdoor sleeping once in a while as sleeping in back seat of a crew can dually gets old quick... decided to drive semis instead w full sleeper, but good for you man.
I love you DIY videos I'm DIY myself I'm in my own high top of my van and I'm going to make my own high top of my camper trailer
you weighing the tent - PRICELESS!!!
keith best hahahaha this is the first comment about me doing that. I thought it would be more talked about. I’m glad someone appreciated it haha
I did the same thing, also on a Taylor scale, with a laptop I was going to ship. I couldn't get it to stabilize either. Thank God my laptop didn't weigh "about" 114 pounds. @@PatrickRemington
Fantastic build my friend I would be very interested in how are you did the struts with some measurements would be fantastic thank you for sharing
Been thinking about building one for a long time. Many thanks for posting this video, great job!
Amazing! It was the solution I was looking for for my Jeep! You gave me an amazing idea! Thank you for sharing!!
THANK YOU! This series was simply brilent! Keep it up! You're an inspiration to us fellow DIY'rs.
You did a great job on the build congratulations and as for closing it you're on vacation there's no hurry great job
Good stuff. Just an idea to throw at ya; to make closing the tent a little easier and not getting fabric caught/pinched when latching it shut, it could be a good idea to sew a couple tabs at 4-8 points (2 high and 2 low on all opposing sides) somewhere inside on the walls or maybe even a Velcro system maybe so that before closing, you hook a couple bungies from one tab on one side to another tab on the other side. Nothing very tight, but just tight enough for when you go to close it the bungies keep some tension on the fabric causing it not to get caught so you don't have to walk around and tuck things in. Could even be a bungie net system on the roof on the inside that is a dual purpose so when set up you hang the net on the ceiling to store stuff and when you go to close it you detach it from the ceiling and connect to the 4 tabs to help close the tent up. They sell a netting like that that I used in my truck at my local Lowes. May be worth checking out for a future build.
Wow very impressive build.
Thank you so much! I too wouldn’t spend that much money on a tent. I would love to make one too, and be able to use it on a trailer bulling behind my Quad. I’m thinking I can also pack more stuff on top when traveling.
You are awesome. Can’t wait to see the DIY vid! An inspiration to all!
Thanks for the kind words!! New DIY videos are up!
Bloody good job mate :). If i may make a suggestion, i reckon you will appreciate... Where you have sown the zippers... on the sides... if you sew in a 'retaining loop' about half way down, in the waist of the fabric, you will be able to connect rubber straps, going from one side to the other. So that when you close the tent, the rubber straps automatically pull in the sides of the tent. That would make it even quicker to pack up. Great video. Really enjoying your series. Cheers for sharing.:)
Супер. Мне очень нравится то что вы делаете. Посмотрел все ваши видео, все очень хорошо! 👍 Сейчас строю себе подобную палатку на крышу автомобиля.
Love this guy. Great work.
I'm of similar mind when it comes to purchase or build. I love to build stuff. What you did here was inspirational. I have been wanting to do a roof top tent since god was a boy. I'm in the stage of building my roof bar system on my 2011 Nissan X-Trail. I'm looking forward to your clam-shell build. Cheers mate.
Such a hero
Brother you dont know how much this video helps me for my camper project! greets from Argentina.
Glad I could help!
Nice build Patrick!
On future builds, I would seriously consider using a plastic laminate board like Plasticore or one of the many others of that type. It is not that much more expensive than plywood and cheaper than marine plywood and would finish out (with glass and resin) at around 1/2 the weight, and you would gain insulation and soundproofing values, ie, rain drumming and hot sun. Only thing is that you would have to let in wood in the areas where you have fasteners, not a big deal. You would probably stay with the wood rims.
I think you would end up with one that would be much easyier to handle. If you made peg type mounts that would attach to the car top carrier, you could make short feet for it so you could use it on the ground.
If you are concerned about the stiffness of the foam or honey combed laminate board just look at the boat decks they make out of it for a much larger area than yours, good thing is that if you need more stiffness, you can just add another layer of glass. Possibly all you would need would be 3/4" for the floor and 1/2" for the roof.
I have been investigating using this stuff to make a small boat, stitch and glue style and have been impressed with the values of it. There is lots of info. out there on the web, you could look at a boat building forum. There are also people that make camper trailers out of it.
I'm not an expert on this though, I just thought I would throw this out there.
Good luck with future builds!
Cheers
Those are butterfly draw latches. They can be sourced at most roadcase hardware suppliers.
I’ll be joining the journey to your new builds
Excellent and inspiring
Well done brother. Very insightful.
LMFAO, a Roofnest commercial right before this video.
Superb fabrication.
Thank you for making this video! I just finished up the 3D model for my clamshell style RTT. This video is just what I needed to get going on it!
Great series of videos . I wish I was as mechanically inclined as you but very informative and enjoyable to watch. Thank you.
Jon Nelson Thank you for the positive comment!!
Excellent job! Please can you post a Video of how you close it.
He closes it starting at @17:36
Love the clam shell I was thinking about cutting a hole in my Ford van and doing a backwards westvalia
Thumbs up on your weigh in method.
congrats!!! i am so happy to find your video, also been looking for tutorials for this kind of projects to emulate. muchas gracias from Ensenada Mexico, i salute you!
Incredibly cool result! Outstanding workmanship all around. Not sure if I would attempt something this advanced, but way cool.
Great Job. Looks great
3rd gen owners are the best
Great job there. Thank you for sharing.
Interested in the build video. You did a great job on the design of the tent.
I would love to follow along the build series!
Thanks for a no bull real discussion video. Applause etc.
Welcome!
THAT IS COOL! I’d love to have one like that to go onto my camper shell on my ford ranger. Just for the hell of it, you could also outfit the top of it with a small solar panel and maybe a motor cycle type battery to power some small led lights inside the tent ⛺️ 👍
Hi Patrick
Loved your tent, I noticed at the end of the video that you had to tuck the canvas in whilst lowering the tent.
I have a VW California campervan with a canvas sided pop top, which is prone to the canvas getting tangled in the scissor hinges whilst lowering, the solution is a light bungee cord round the centre so that when you begin lowering and the canvas becomes slack, the bungee gathers it inwards.
I think that it may work for you, but will get in the way of your access doors so would have to be detachable or possibly hooks to lift it out of the way above or below the doors
This was fitted to my van when I bought it so I can’t claim any credit for it.
Hope this helps
Regards
Frank
Love it dude! Nice job! I wanna make one.
Looking forward to the how to!! I’m amazed how clean your build came out, awesome job.
Dude that's really cool. Have you ever thought about modifying these to be pop tops for vans? I think that the only difference would be that you wouldn't have a solid base and you would have to find a way to permanently attach and seal it. :-)
Great work!! Congratulations. Thank you for posting this video.
Pablo Biosca thank you for the positive comment!
Glad you made this video great job on tent
Nicely done Patrick. That's a great project. As you say, it's much more fun to design and build, rather than buy.
Seriously impressive build! My hat is off to you for the ingenuity and creativity.
Great diy project and good finished product. I had an idea for a future improvement, what if you sewed loops to the internal side walls (which would also be handy to hang things like torches and keys inside when ur camping, but when it comes time to pack up, hook some elastic/bungee cord to the loops so as it collapses, it pulls the fabric inside the shell without having to tuck it in manually.
Not sure why you had any dealikes. This was a great video! Thank you!! Watching from Yorktown Virginia 🤙
Wow I would like to put one on a trailer. 48" X 70", and maybe a little taller with storage under the tent, can't wait for more videos....Great job.
Wow. Good job!!
Awesome! And the clip of you weighing it hillarious! Kudos to you brother.
I can't wait for your how-to series! I've been thinking about building my own rooftop tent but I haven't been able to find much information on it. It's going to be great to see how you do it. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Drop dead AWESOME. I see this DIY project in my future.
I love that you made your own!
Just wow.
Thanks
Can't wait for video
Outstanding!
Thank you so much for sharing this! Can't wait for next videos ! Cheers from France
You are welcome! Thanks for watching!
NIce! Finally came across someone with the same idea. Yeap, I was shocked to see some of the prices on these tents. I will be looking forward to using my storage box. :) Thanks for the video.
I really enjoyed the detailed walkthrough of everything you did to build the ⛺. I got some ideas in mind and after watching your video I think I can finally tackle a project like this.
You are the man thank you the Video is awesome I think I'm going to be building one of your tents 👍👍
Hey Patrick! This is so awesome! Thank you so much for starting this project and posting these videos, they inspired me to start my own over this past summer. I started building it based on your first video. I actually came up with a neat solution to the "no welding needed" lift arms. Let me know if you are interested. They work really well and also don't need a huge channel carved out of them because I mounted the gas strut off to the side of the metal arms. It is very stable and allowed me to use over-PSI gas struts so it pops up very easily regardless of weight. Not sure how to message on here, but you should have a message in your Facebook messenger inbox, the one that is super hard to find that has messages from people you aren't friends with. Ha let me know and keep up the awesome work man!
Hey Patrick, this is my project so far. Thank you for posting this video explaining the latches and the fabric. Still have to tackle those parts of the project.
photos.app.goo.gl/An9xeU4Wdw65B9g56
@@nickdean1928 Great looking RTT Nick . I especially like your build/design of the struts very cool. Have you made the fabric part yet?
Your wife is probably stroking your ego over this tent.even give bragging rights when you guys use it.this is smaaaaaaart.great job,very impressed at your ability on your DIY
She be stroking something
Just curious if you ever made yourself a bill of materials for this project? Or if there's an updated video with one in it