Home made rooftop tent for XJ

[MHead]

(SOMEHOW THE PICTURES AT THE START OF THIS THREAD HAVE VANISHED.... THEY START AGAIN aT PAGE 7 IN THE THREAD. PLEASE START THERE)


Here's a home made roof top tent for XJ.

My basic objective is to carry 4 people over dirt tracks and modest rocks thru 3 days with all food, water, shelter, etc. I'm located in San Diego and enjoy California's deserts to the east.

The pics below show the in-work vehicle. I chose XJ due to its relatively small size, reputation for toughness, availability of after-market parts, and really low value as a used vehicle. Mine is a '92 4.0 auto tanny with 216K.

Mods on this vehicle that aren't apparent in the pics are drivetrain. Truetrack posi in the front, Tracklock (crummy but cheap) in the D44 in the back. Ratios changed appropriate to the 30" tires. Undercarriage armor. only 1" of lift. Heavy duty leafs.

Tent takes advantage of a Conferr roof rack. A strong rack to begin with but modified with a couple of extra transverse steel tubes to provide support for the 1/4" abs plastic deck added to the rack. Access via steps welded into the stock Jeep external tire carrier.

Tent is designed to place roof rack deck up into the arc so tent supports actually are slid into tubes on a rail attached to, and below, Conferr rack attachment. Sorry you can't see this in the pics. Supports are 1/4" fiberglass rods, continuous 10 feet length. Main tent is simply a 10' X 7' square of boat awning material with sleeves sewn on to hold rods. There are 4 transverse rods supporting the arch and 3 lengthwise rods, one centered at the top and two symmetric on sides. Ends are semi-circles and zip to the arc material. Forward has two zippers and so a port can be opened for vent. Rear is one continuous for doorway. Fiberglass rods have lots of give and so allow tent to change shape in response to very strong winds without breaking. Survived 50 m/hr gusts once so far. Mosquito net (not shown)velcros to inside of tent when in bug country.

Packup is easy. No packing the bedding material or pads saves effort. I hate setting/clearing camp everyday. Unzip ends out and lay on bedding. Pull rods collapsing tent onto bedding. Fold to within rack. Camp picture shows table under awning. This is actually two aluminum tables made specially to fit within roof rack. Tables lay face down on top of tent. This provides a deck so that cargo can be loaded above.

Within XJ rear cavity is a special made aluminum rack. This has two drawers containing spoons, pans, various kitchen. There's a pull out counter top for sandwich making at noon stops. Right side has heavy duty sliders and platform and allows ice chest to be slid in and out like a drawer. Central cavity holds 2 tanks (blue cubes) of 14 gal total water. Outermost of these can be tilted over providing a spigot off the rear bumper. Middle zone has three plastic tubs which hold dry goods. Top is shelf which is dedicated to hats, coats, and similar cargo needed at hand by passengers.

Tools, spare parts, recovery, go into special aluminum boxes located in triangular cavity just forward of rack and aft of rear seat back. Accessable by folding seat back forward.

Unfortunately 2 of 4 must sleep in tents in the traditional way. Tent, bedding are packed and carried on top as cargo.

There are various electronics for navigation.

All that is shown in pictures was carried by Jeep, plus tent, and three persons besides the blonde...

Hope something here can give ideas for mods of your own Jeep!

[HongerVenture]

Wow.

Wonderful innovation and ingenuity! I really like how well thought-out and well-built the tent is. How waterproof is the material?

[detailbarn]

wow that is very creative and well built , kudos to you! side bar what hood do you have on your XJ?

[mountainpete]

Excellent build! That's the kind of creativity I love to see

[OverlandXJ]

Very creative...hats off to ya. Welcome to ExPo!

Does the sign in window say..."Jeep..astoga"?! Clever as well.

[Bergger]

Nice job. I love it when people come up with thier own creations.

[offroadchef]

Good Job and thank you for the pics

[MHead]

Hood purchased from Quadratec

http://www.quadratec.com/products/55023_003_T.htm

This hood has a very nice vent at rear just in front of windshield. Often Jeep is driven over soft ground at low speeds. Stock hood traps warm air, retains heat, and stalls air passing thru the radiator in spite of the radiator fan. This replacement hood vents and keeps engine compartment cool and air flowing thru radiator. Some owners use the extra room above engine to plumb and mount a conical K&R air filter for manifold intake. This draws at engine top and avoids sucking in 'bow wave' water as stock XJs are prone to do.

Suggest you see

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/

for a write-up on hood and many other mods and cool ideas for XJ. This from Oz. They have the best vehicles down under due to the lack of pavement.

Yes, Jeep-istoga. Tent was patterned on covered wagons used by pioneers in roughly the 1850's. It also turned out to be an easy design to sew, being essentially flat. Guess they knew what they were doing. If you look closely at the pics you'll see a flap at each end that can be pulled closed via a draw string to cover zippers from rain. Haven't had to do this as yet. They used this approach as a simple doorway.

Tent material is heavy and water proof. Sorry I don't have a source or brand name. I hunted my records but haven't been able to find the receipt. Bought off the internet. I want to say Sunbrella since that is the common material, and the weight is about right for Sunbrella, but this material is polyurethane coated while Sunbrella is designed to breathe. This makes the inside collect moisture somewhat in wet weather, but not in a dry situation such as shown in the pics.

The tent vents in an ususual way compared to a ground tent since this tent is built on top there is no need to keep ground surface water from entry. So no fabric bottom is necessary unlike a ground tent. This tent is actually open downwards along the sides of the rack. With the front vent open, heated air can rise out and be replaced by air drawn in at the bottom. So body warmth keeps a little circulation going and keeps the inside tent dry...er. Have only had it in light rain but was really happy with performance. By the way, the ungly yellowish lines are sealer applied to the sewn thread perforations. On sunny days in direct sun the tent surface heats dramatically but the tent stays relatively cool since the hot air rises out the forward vent. It's not stuffy but rather airy.

One unmentioned thing from first post: fiberglass rods are 10' continuous length. No joints. I hate joints because these are always what hang up on insertion into fabric sleeves. These long rods are transported attached to XJ by inserting into a special holder then wrapping around rack to the rear and up the other side. You can see white rods at rack bottom in the first picture. Also visible at the same location is the mount into which they slide when tent is erected.

Also for XJ owners try www.naxja.org as a resource for nearly everything XJ.

Thanks for kind words from all the posters!

[LUISJG]

great setup, the cargo area looks very eficient

[MHead]

Found the receipt for fabric. Material is Top Gun and was purchased from Rochford supply http://www.rochfordsupply.com/produc..._ProdID_E_3500
as were the zippers.

Here's a link to additional pictures that show the tent being constructed.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tticec.../ph//my_photos

Mike