By far the most common question about a rooftop tent is “Can my car carry one?” While it’s possible to get a tent on most vehicles, there are a few things to know before moving on.
Want more information on custom camper roof tent manufacturer? Feel free to contact us.
Dynamic Weight: This is the amount of weight your roof rack can carry while the vehicle is moving. Rooftop tents typically weigh between 100-200lbs. If your car came with a roof rack factory installed you’re going to want to check the manual and verify what weight your rack is rated for. Most factory roof racks are not capable of carrying this much weight.
3rd party roof racks, such as Thule and Yakima, almost always support higher weight capacities than a factory rack. That being said; both companies agree that clip-style racks (the ones that fit into your door jams) are not suitable for carrying tents.
Static Weight: All roof racks can carry significantly more static weight than they can dynamic. If your rack can hold a tent while your vehicle is moving, then your rack should be just fine to hold the tent, with people in it, while stationary. Just be sure not to over-fill your tent and pack a 2 person with 6 adults and you should be just fine.
When tents list people they are considering 1 person to be 200lbs.
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If your vehicle only has options for a clip style rack, you’re not out of luck quite yet. Rack Attack has a variety of custom roof rack options for nearly any vehicle. By installing mounting points (similar to what manufactures will do at the factory) we can give your roof the ability to carry a roof rack able to carry a tent, and best of all the rack will look more factory and is guaranteed for as long as you own your vehicle.
This question is about as easy to answer as “How long is a piece of string?”
It comes down to what size you need, and how you plan on using your tent.
Do you plan on removing and installing the tent frequently? If so the Yakima SkyRise tents come with tool-free hardware for very easy installation and removal. But this hardware raises the base of the tent a few inches over the tepui, so if you plan on leaving it in place more often than not, a tighter and lower fit can be a benefit.
Are you a city person who occasionally camps, or a back-country fanatic who knows how to creep through cross-ditches? Tepui sells “Ruggedized” versions of their most popular tents, and if you plan on spending a lot of time in the hills, it is absolutely worth the extra cost.
These ruggedized tents use thicker fabric, diamond plate under-base, stringer hinges… heck, everything about the tent is made beefy and strong. For the serious adventurer this is the only choice. For the rest of us, the extra cost probably won’t give you much benefit and both tents come with a 2-year manufacturer warranty.
Heck yes you can! Our expert rack installers will get your roof rack and roof tent installed in no time. Just be sure to call ahead to make sure we have the parts you want in stock. If not we can always get them in and have you on the road in often just a day or two!
Yes! But with one big caveat: Rooftop car tents ship on a full pallet skid, meaning we can have it delivered right to your door, but the shipping companies will only deliver to a commercial address. As long as you can find a commercial address to have the tent dropped off at, we can have your order processed and started today.
Yes.
We know that buying a serious piece of kit such as a roof tent can be daunting – the variety of suppliers in the market, types of construction materials used, and many different prices can all prove very confusing. And you must be wondering, will I make the right choice. Fear not, we, at Mako56 are here to help make the buying process so much easier with our buying guide.
Read through this section first before going through the others – here, we cover the different types of tents, materials that can be used to manufacture, various sizes and accessories needed and storage. I’m sure you will have a much clearer understanding afterwards.
A. Yes, you can. If you call to our premises, we have all our roof tents set up for viewing so that any prospective purchaser can look and examine them carefully and get into the tent to see what it is like to sleep inside.
We can cater to our customers who prefer to view a tent in the flesh before purchasing and our website endeavours to provide as much information and up-to-date pictures as possible to customers who are happy to buy online without ever seeing the product. We provide a refund and returns policy for all distance purchases which fully protects this customer segment.
A. This depends on what a purchaser deems the best, the answer is very subjective.
For one person, it may mean the best or keenest price and for another, best may mean the highest quality materials that can be used in manufacture.
The best-priced roof tents are the soft-shell variety. There is less ABS or fibreglass used in soft shells and the roof is usually constructed from canvas or other soft waterproof material. Expect to pay around €1000 for a soft-shell rooftop tent.
Hardshell tents are much more expensive than soft shells and are considered to be of superior design with more expensive materials used in their construction. Such tents are more durable, secure, safe, and lockable as the top and base of the tent is constructed from ABS and/or fiberglass. A basic hard-shell product will cost at a minimum of €1500 and upwards.
A. The best product that we sell is our fold-out tent. The mattress allows 3 people to sleep in it, in addition, the tent has an annex supplied with it free of charge and this allows you to store camping equipment or install camp beds on the ground allowing more people to use the tent. Fold-out tents are suitable for people who want to bring a lot of equipment or who have larger families and need the extra space.
A. This depends on how large your garage is. If you can fit a car in your garage, you will be able to fit a roof top tent in your garage too.
A. There are tens if not hundreds of manufacturer’s worldwide, it would be a difficult task to trawl through all the specification sheets from every supplier offering to find the largest tent available on the market. The largest Mako56 tent is our fold out option. This tent measures 160cm wide and has an annex supplied at no extra cost. The annex adds considerable covered and waterproof space to the side of this tent.
A. Following on from the last question, we do not know what the cheapest tent on the market is. However, our keenest priced tent is called Car Camper. Car Camper was the first tent we sold, and it is still our most popular one. It is priced at €2299 (at the time of writing of this page) and with this tent, you get all the usual accessories plus a solar panel, battery pack and lighting system. It represents great value for money.
A. When you purchase a new rooftop tent there will be a standard set of accessories provided free of charge. These can include mounting fixings to attach the tent to your roof rack, ladder, mattress, solar lantern, poles for the awning, spare hydraulic arm, instruction manual etc. Purchasers of a Mako56 tent have the option to buy a solar panel with a battery pack and lighting system. Different vendors will have a variety of optional accessories including sleeping bags, towels, BBQs, cooking utensils and many others.
A. If you buy a quality tent from a reputable manufacturer and vendor, spare parts should be available if you ever need them. The likelihood is that you will lose an accessory such as a mounting fixture or ladder before you break one, but it serves as peace of mind knowing that having bought from a reputable business spare parts will be available if the need arises.