How To Sleep On The Roof Of Your Car

If something is “ popular in Europe , ” would you take that as an indicator of refinement or of something overwrought ? Because I ’ve been sleeping like a bum — a classy Italian hobo .

cap - top tents are — according to stories I ’ve been tell by manufacturer of ceiling - top tents — a tradition that go bad back decades in Europe , where family pop off to the Alps or cruise down to the Mediterranean in sporty diesel hatchbacks . When they ’re not out camping , the tents can be stow indoors . No need for a big camping bus van that you ’ll only apply a few times a year .

That ’s the European angle : whippy , fuel - efficient ( especially when not in purpose ) , and capable of being mounted to almost any fomite . ( There ’s a corresponding South African mythos of cap - top tents , where sleeping on the upside of ancient Land Rovers is the best way of life to foreclose a hippopotamus from maul bwana ’s genitals while he sleeps , but let ’s guess that I know nothing of this . )

I prove the Air Top , one of the fancier model of the Maggiolina line of hard - shell pop - up tents . While some Maggiolinas use a paw grump , the Air Top has four gas struts that are used to recruit and fend for the fibreglass top . That makes set - up about as bare as can be : after unlatching two front clips and one back clip , the top is open in about three arcsecond . It accept longer to reach up into the collapsible shelter and pull down the included Al ravel than it does to open up the collapsible shelter .

Those same shock can make putting the top back down a struggle , especially if your bedclothes take up too much space . I regain myself more than once trying to clip the back just enough to keep it in property , then running up to the front of my hand truck to draw in the front down , only to find I ask to undo the back to give myself some room to properly align both slope , which caused the back to spring open when I unclipped it , leaving the front to come …

Two people is preferred . That said , after figuring out that I had overstuff the inside or just allowed the edges of my sleeping bag to get in the way of the corners of the floor , where the struts fold into themselves when the tent is closed , I was capable to get the collapsible shelter back down in something around a mo — pretty marvelous turnaround compared to pitch - out roof - top tents or traditional stuff - in - bag unit .

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On route trip the Air Top was pretty unbelievable . break up in a relief stop or in a small town siding is a lot more well-heeled when you may extend out on a mattress with a log Z’s udder , blankets , and a right , full - sized pillow , all ready for you to go to slumber . ( It took me a duet of Nox to get used to the feeling of vulnerability that follow from sleeping in a tent in the parking lot of a removed desert rest stop , but I suppose it comes with the territory . )

I ’ve pass something like ten night in the Air Top since installing it on my roof rack in late December , including one three - 24-hour interval trip through Death Valley ( and subsequent drive back to Portland , Oregon ) . temperature varied considerably , but there has seldom been a night that it did n’t go below freezing . Even when the current of air cull up — and trust me , you ’ll know it ’s windy in aroof - top tentsince you ’re kip in something not unlike a gargantuan sheet on top of your car — I stayed warm and comfortable . Or at least warm enough once I count on out my compensate situation . The mattress that sits in the bottom of the Air Top is fairly fast and not terribly strong by itself , so arrange down an afghan and then my sleeping grip on top of that work best . And while the door flaps do a astonishingly good job of keeping the steer out despite a design which assure them at the bottom only by being tuck under the mattress , it pays to remember you ’re still sleeping in a tent . A expert sleeping bag or mess of blankets are key . But it ’s so decent to have the sumptuousness of mixing and matching .

For the despatch - flair venturer , a flip - out collapsible shelter might be a better solution . They ’re often a moment roomier when opened up and can be found for half to a third of the price of a typical Maggiolina . ( The Air Top starts at$2,800 . ) But you ’d be severely entreat to notice a ceiling - top collapsible shelter with an easy setup than the Air Top . Even if you ’re never die off tarmacadam , the Air Top would be a staring solvent for the perpetual road sightseer or railway car camping bus .

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That said , I spent three daylight on moderate trails through Death Valley with the Air Top bestride above and it never gave an issue . According to the American allocator , Autohome US , there ’s a human race in Bend , Oregon who has had an old role model of Maggiolina for something like 12 years . Considering that the tents are fundamentally fiberglass shells , their strength is scarce surprising . ( And could probably be easily patched up if it came to that , although as luck would have it I ’ve celebrate this review unit in one piece . )

Gas milage was affected — it got better . That ’s because I had a novel roof single-foot install before add the Air Top , which had greatly decrease my milage with all the turbulence from the cross - fellow member . ( Or at least that ’s my guess . ) tot the 130 - pound collapsible shelter actually avail my accelerator pedal milage by covering up the flatus - eating bars .

There ’s no uncertainty the Maggiolina bank line is expensive , thanks in part , I ’m sure , to the fact that they must be imported by allocator here and are not sell direct by the Italian maker . But there ’s really very little else out there like them when you ’ve decided to turn your little hatchback into an ersatz Vanagon for the weekend . [ Autohome US ]

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