So I ran across a picture of a rooftop tent on a wrangler today and it got me thinking. With some crossbars, would the roof rails of the renny support the weight of a tent and 2 people? It sounds like a stretch, but the idea is so enticing. Very little setup and breakdown time, and it doesn't take up space in the trunk. Plus you're up off the ground. I saw the smittybilt overlander. I would buy something similar to it in a heartbeat.
I thought about it some more, and the roof is built to support the weight of the car in case of a rollover. The roof rails should also be that strong.
I love my tepui Kukenam setup on my Renny! If you are looking to buy a Tepui I highly suggest springing for the Ruggedized version.
I am normally a hammock camper but if this thing can support the weight I may look into it, I was told the renegade can only support like 165 on the roof rack though.
Im 160. But from my understanding the weight quoted is for while moving. Ive had myself and a few kids up there jumping around and have had no issues. As someone else mentioned, it has to be structurally capable of supporting the vehicle in a roll over. Also not sure if adding my thule crossbars adds to the structural component by distributing the weight. I had it on my TJ with a Gobi ranger rack which was awesome! So hopefully Gobi will bite and make one for the renny!
I would think with crossbars it could be avoided. But I have mysky so I'd have to be absolutely sure [emoji23].
I'm no stranger to rooftop tents although I don't have one on the Rene. Run crossbars or a flat roof rack
A lot of those roof top tents have two solid platforms that fold out and help support the tent. I'm pretty sure this is so for the smittybilt one. There is probably more info on their website or YouTube the set up. Pretty cool tents!
I love this idea. Anyone happen to know the measurements the roof area or say the max length and width of the rack bars? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk