Rooftop tents can be used on ordinary cars, on SUVs, and on trucks. They are designed to fit a variety of platforms, so attaching them requires neither special skills nor special tools.
There are three separate groups of features and elements that are needed:
- It should be possible to attach cross bars on the vehicle.
- You need a pair of cross bars.
- You will use fixing elements that come with a roof top tent.
With this you have a platform on the car where you can place your rooftop tent, and all necessary pieces to fix it firmly in place.
Attachment elements on the car’s roof
Most of the cars allow for placing a roof top tent on the car. There are just a few rare exceptions, so it is unlikely that you will have problems with it.
In any case, it is necessary to identify what kind of design you have on the car because this determines the type of cross bars you need. The easiest to use is probably a roof with rails. This is the type in the middle in the first group above. You will see another type in the video below.
But this is not only about ordinary cars. The designs for SUVs and trucks may be very different. The top picture shows the iKamper BDV Duo used on a truck.
Here are some examples. In the picture below you can see OVS Bed Rack that can be found at Overland Junction site. It comes with integrated cross bars.
Many examples of this type you will find also on Amazon, see these Yakima Truck Bed Racks, they come without cross bars:
Cross bars
When this is about cross bars, I am pretty sure you will find more options at Thule company than anywhere else. They are specialized in everything related to cars’ roofs. The reason is that they have many roof top tents on the market, and they provide all necessary accessory elements for this.
The picture below shows one example, so this is a type of cross bars that are designed for roof rails.
Note that these car cross bars should not be mixed with cargo cross bars that can be attached to some of the roof top tents. They are used to transport some bulky items on the lid of a hard shell roof top tent. Such cross bars attach to the roof top tent and this is a very different design, but dependent in the tent itself.
Fixing elements that come with a roof top tent
This is very much dependent on the manufacturer, and designs may vary from one roof top tent to another, this even from the same brand. But you do not need any special skills and experience for such a task.
Here are a few examples to see what you can expect. Mounting brackets that come with iKamper Skycamp 3.0 roof top tent are shown in the picture:
In the case of BDV Duo from the same iKamper brand, the mounting elements are completely different, see some details in this picture:
You will see something different in the video related to TentBox Classic roof top tent, these are all the fixing elements you need:
Are rooftop tents easy to install and remove from a vehicle?
I am adding this subheading here because I have seen people asking about it. As you realize, it is related to the topic of this post. If you have all the elements discussed above, the rest is easy.
But you will need somebody to help you. Roof top tents are bulky and also relatively heavy, the heaviest are close to 198 pounds (90 kg) or so. When you lift it to the car roof, adding those fixing elements is an easy task, and one person can finish the job.
The same holds if you want to remove it from the car. When you release the mounting elements, ask somebody for help and remove it from the car. But it is best to see some example, so here it is.
Practical steps – one example
So if you have the platform for the roof tent ready, you only need somebody to help you to raise the tent on the roof. In the video below you can see how this is done with the TentBox Classic.
You will realize that this is all an easy job after you place the tent on the car, have a look:
Other issues to consider
The topics discussed above were about practical steps. But when you put a roof top tent on a vehicle, there are weight limits and other issues.
These include weight capacity of the car, weight capacity of the roof top tent, and the dimensions of the car’s roof. All these questions are discussed in detail in my separate texts here in the site.
Summary
In conclusion, attaching a roof top tent on the roof of a car, an SUV, or a truck is not a particularly complicated task. You will always have clear instructions on how to do this, and you do not need special tools.
Note that some of these tents can be heavy. So lifting such an item on a high roof of an SUV or on a car may not be physically easy. This requires two people for the job.
Related to this, when the season is over, you might want to remove the tent from the car. This will save you some money for fuel consumed because of the extra load.
Let me know if you have questions, there is a comment box below.
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