A roof tent or rooftop tent is an accessory that may be fitted to the roof or bed of a

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on railway track, rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such ...

that allows the users to sleep in relative safety and comfort above the vehicle, and leaves the internal load-space free. The first example of roof tents appeared in Western Europe in the 1930s. Roof tents are particularly seen on expedition-prepared four wheel drive vehicles such as

Land Rover Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

s, but can be fitted to almost any vehicle. The Tesla Model Y is another popular choice to put roof tents on. Generally they will mount to a vehicles roof rack or aftermarket roof bars. They are particularly popular in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and one manufacturer advertises them using photographs of their devices fitted to cars as small as the

Fiat Panda The Fiat Panda is a city car manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles, Fiat since 1980, currently in its third generation. The first generation Panda, introduced in 1980 as the Mk1, was a Car body configurations#Two-box design, two-box, thr ...

. Roof Top Tents are particularly popular with travellers and 4WD'ers of Australia for their ease of use and rapid setup. Roof Top Tents are recommended when entering "Crocodile Country". Italian manufacture Autohome claim to have designed, patented and mass produced the first roof tents in 1958. Although there seems to be a number of American patents starting in 1927, 1936 and 1956 that seems to contradict that statement but none seem to have gone into production.

Designs and styles

Roof tents have traditionally taken the form of a conventional ridge-pole

tent A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using g ...

which can be folded into a compact package, resting on marine plywood, and mounted on a roof rack. Beginning in 1958, more modern tent designs appeared - housed in a waterproof, moulded

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

box, and are erected and taken down more quickly using a simple crank-operated cantilever arrangement or gas rams that automatically erect the tent when the latches are released. In 2003 a French manufacturer introduced another design of simple and lightweight tents, resembling modern sprung-pole types of ground tent. There are three types of roof tent available: * Softshell - A soft removable canvas cover which opens likes a

pop-up book A pop-up book is any book with three-dimensional space, three-dimensional pages, often with elements that ''pop up'' as a page is turned. The terminology serves as an umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvel ...

into a traditional looking canvas body tent. * Hardshell - A hard shell cover made of fibreglass,

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

or ABS which opens vertically to form the roof of the tent with canvas sides. * Hybrid - A hard shell cover made of fibreglass, aluminium or ABS which opens like a pop-up book with a canvas body, some hybrid roof tent designs use the top shell to form a wall of the tent body. 00 3292 Zelt auf dem Autodach

Each of these types have their advantages and disadvantages and with the advances in manufacturing and materials, new variations of these types are being designed year-on-year.

References

Tents Automotive accessories {{Automotive-part-stub eu:Kanpin

Designs and styles

See also

References