we have encountered them on the continent, for some reason they always seem to be fitted to 4x4s (is it a safari thing?) Never seen one fitted to a van, but had considered it myself. would you want to be up there in the lashing rain though??

 

Having come from the LAnd rover overlanding scene I am well versed in the use of roof tents (though I won't have one myself!). No problem with weather, they are seriously stable and weatherproof. Of the various types, the hard shell ones that look like a large roof box are the most convenient to put up and down and are not so heavy as the fold out types. However, all of the different types are pretty heavy, and while I guess the rood mountings on the VW are well up to the job, you will certainly notice adverse handling with that lump up there. I guess it comes down to your needs. It is certainly a solution to the space problem if you don't want to put in a pop top. And they can be removed reasonably easily for the times they are not needed. They are expensive though, but hold their value well. Don't be tempted by the cheap copies coming onto the market. They are not in the same league as the "proper" ones from South Africa/Oz or the Magollina ones from Europe.

 

 

they are very popular in OZ thats for sure, i agree though mostly fitted to 4x4. given the weather the tent type seemed to be most used, i considered one for the van but struggled to find the load my mid roof would take, plus it made the van pretty tall

 

Arent they also favourable for getting you up well away from ground level where there might be various undersireable things trying to share your tent?

 

that was my reason, left the van converted to a 2 berth.

it would be fair to say there are a lot of things which want to take a chunk out of you from the smallest ant to the croc but leave them alone in their own environment and generally they will leave you alone.

seen most of them though..............

several also seem to have suicidal tendencies, birds and Roo!!

 

Just a pic of one we saw last year .

 

ive got caravelle exec too so not keen on chopping the roof out therefore have been looking for roof tents which is wonderful idea..
however, here in england most of height briers are 2-2.1 m which seriously limits where the bus can be used so that for me is no no too

 

Hi, have a look at theses, it a friend of mine. They seem very good and they rent them too so you could "try before you buy" !
https://www.facebook.com/oufwagon/posts/455727788126570