Here a cheaper way .
http://www.pickupspecialties.com/Adv..._tent/tent.htm

I probably going to build a custom rack. Yes i know it will cost. The
design is already done. I want the ability to put things out of way
securely . This cheap route doesn't allow me to secure my sea kayaks
without going to a custom rack . No matter how i look at i will need a
custom rack. How elaborate will be matter of cost.

"Drew Cutter" wrote in message
...
Riverman ,

I don't want to have to take my boats off the rack . Big Reason why
i want a custom rack . ( small foot print , fast to set up , don't have
to worry about ground slope or wetness). Plus i do some winter camping.


Maybe consider a rack that covers the tent box, but can hinge up and lay
over on the side of your car when you raise the tent? Or else a 'popup tent'
that keeps the boats on the roof?

--riverman

"araby" wrote in message
.cable.rogers.com...


"Drew Cutter" wrote in message
...
Drew Cutter wrote:
This is what i'll probably go with.
http://www.flippac.com/index.htm or

http://www.hannibalusa.com/tents.htm


All the above look very ingenious but what advantage do they have over a
normal tent. They appear to require a special roof bed(!) to mount them

on.

I can understand the philosophy in South Africa or anywhere where sleeping
off the ground might be safer. How does their price compare with a

standard

dome tent?



Well, off the top (pun intended), some advantages of rooftop tents a

--smaller campsite footprint
--takes up no space in the trunk
--really fast to set up
--is immune to wet ground, rocky ground, sloped ground, lots of shrubbery,
etc.
--can be used in a parking lot, at put-in, etc.
--is unusual enough that illegal camping might not get challenged
--you wont trip over tent lines when you stumble out at 3 am for a ****

Some disadvantages:

--you have to take your boat off the roof to pitch your tent
--it requires some extra roof hardware
--it might be more expensive than a regular tent
--you'll fall and break your neck when you stumble out at 3 am for a ****.

riverman
--



Riverman ,

I don't want to have to take my boats off the rack . Big Reason why
i want a custom rack . ( small foot print , fast to set up , don't have
to worry about ground slope or wetness). Plus i do some winter camping.

That the design I'm going with. Plus the ability to raise or lower the
rack. I would like to load a motorcycle in the bed. In order to load the
motorcycle into the bed the rack must be higher than the roof of the cab.

Maybe consider a rack that covers the tent box, but can hinge up and lay
over on the side of your car when you raise the tent? Or else a 'popup tent'
that keeps the boats on the roof?

--riverman

Drew Cutter asked:

What do most of you do when you go to places like green river , gauley -
rent a cabin , pitch a tent ? Especially if you got 5-8 hour drive. I
can't see getting up early on Saturdays to drive .

Sleep in the vehicle. There are plenty of good spots around the
Gauley, including the parking lot at the base of the dam, and
throughout West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

I have a full-sized van; a long-bodied Ford Econoline-250 with one
bench seat (which I mounted 12 inches behind the usual position, for
passenger legroom). Thus it seats five, with seatbelts, for day
trips, or twelve plus a bunnie (because it can only carry 11 kayaks in
addition to my canoe) on shuttle. For road trips I like to limit it
to three because it can sleep three comfortably, and because the two
front seats are very comfortable, while the third person can stretch
out, snooze, or whatever, on the bench seat while we're rollin'.

But I've put in over 100,000 miles (of 192,000 total since Nov., 1997)
with no passengers at all. I carry DeLorme maps of every state I
travel through, because DeLorme indicates National Forest and BLM
lands. Anywhere in the Appalachians or the Rockies I have found that
I can pull up a Forest Service road (or BLM road, in the West) 'til I
find a wide spot in the road to park and crash. Every third morning I
pull into a commercial campground and give the $3 for a shower and a
shave.

Don't make the mistake of building a mattress into the back; it really
limits yer flexibility and carrying capacity, since you then have to
keep the back dry, keep wet and muddy boaters off the mattress, etc.;
I just unroll a Thermarest on the floor. Besides, if I had a mattress
built in I couldn't roll my Honda Spirit-750 up a folding aluminum
ramp into the back (I've bolted rings into the inside of the body to
anchor camstraps), and STILL sleep in my usual spot. Makes it a
little tough to get into some of my storage compartments, though.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
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