We hope this page gives you some clarification in choosing YOUR ulitmate travel set up!
We changed our minds several times over until we made the final decision and chose to travel and camp with a Roof Top Tent.
And then....we had to choose WHICH Roof Top Tent!
We'd love to know that in some small way we can help you cut out some of the confusion with the initial descision making process. In this blog we will share the points that swayed us to go with a Roof Top Tent set up.
Oh, and just remember, this is OUR reasoning behind choosing a roof top tent. Given how hard it was for us to decide, the purpose of this is to purely to give you some food for thought.
With our BIG trip not scheduled unitl next April 2021, we have had plenty of time to research, plan and decide on our ultimate long term camping set up......In the meantime we had been using our traditional camp setup consisting of a Dune branded 4 man tent, that we love, and provided us all the freedom we needed to getaway on shorter spontaneuos adventures. Nothing bettter than pulling up to camp, pitching the tent and getting the fire cranked up ready some some campfire cooking. All part of the fun of getting away from four walls and the day to day work routine.
The traditional camp set up is what both Russ and I had used in our respective past and we both love it. BUT, we are ready to upgrade to a much more convenient set up for our Live Life Now Adventures travel.
Why we choose a RTT (Roof Top Tent) camp set up for our travel adventures.
THINGS WE TOOK INTO CONSIDERERATION
The more we thought about options, the bigger the pandora box. SO... here we go with a quick list of things to ponder before we look more closely, of things for consideration.
warranty, number of people travelling, family trips versus mate trips, budget, landscapes you intend to visit, lenght of travel, vehicle towing capacity, vehicle roof weight restrictions-dynamic load rating/static weight, extra components, tools required, space for gear, time to set up, ease of setup, will you want to take a boat, roof racks only or cage, will you be taking push bikes and kayas etc, type of roads you will be travelling on-sand/4x4/sealed/unsealed/tight scrub/busy city driving, simplicity, will you be taking pets, fuel consumption, wind factor, rain proofing, emergency gear, winches, which tyres, hitching and unhitching,
WHY NOT A CARAVAN?
We did initially consider this option. We took ourselves to do some research at a Caravan and Camping expo in Canberra. We highly recommend taking the time to visit a travel, lifestyle or caravan expo if you get the chance. A little difficult at the moment with COVID restrictions we know. They provide a great oppurtunity to inspect the many brands, models and type of vanning options available. From rugged off road vans, to pop-top vans, to conventional vans and even fifth-wheelers.
Things that we considered about caravaning:
1.Towing a van
For me (Inga) , the number one reason - I really didn't want to tow a long vehicle. And just the thought of overtaking, hmmmm no thanks. Whilst I am sure with practice I could become comfortable with this, however I JUST REALLY don’t want to.
2. Parking restraints
Trying to find a parking space suitable for caravans. This can be tricky not only in towns or the city, but also small spaces allocated in some camp sites... not all campsites offer caravan parking.
3. Fuel economy
Towing a caravan will obviously bump up the fuel consumption, so depending on your allowed budget this may be something to consider.
4. High wind drag
Some days I catch myself thinking, wow imagine having to tow a van in that! I guess those are the NON travel days for caravaners.
5. Limitation on roads you can travel/secluded camp spots
Consider the places you would like to travel to, what are the roads like? Are they all going to be nice smooth bitumen?... highly unlikely! Remember you will be on bush roads too which may be quite scrubby, narrow, corrigated, sandy, washed out, flooded, dusty or boggy. Recently we visited Siding Springs Observatory near Coonabarbran NSW, an astronomers delight by the way, and I noted a sign that Caravans are not allowed on the short entry road to the observatory due to its narrowness. So if you happen to be only passing through to another destination this type of inconvenience may inhibit some of your daily sightseeing.
Leaving it behind for someone to steel
Possibility of someone taking a fancy to your van whilst you are away sightseeing and driving off with it. (yes probably extremely rare but possible).
6. Additional insurance and running costs
Having an additional on road vehicle means another yearly insurance to pay, extra tyres to replace, the more mechanical and maintenance issues to attend to.
7. Storing your van when not travelling
When you are not travelling, do you have room to store your van?
8. Budget
Probably the most important deciding factor! New caravans are not exactly for everyones budget. There are of course plenty of great second hand caravans for sale, so that could be an option.
WHY NOT A MOTORHOME?
Whilst this mode of transport would be very luxurious its not quite our style, nor does it fit the budget we are wanting to spend...YET, maybe one day.... when we win the lotto as even a good second hand motor home can be quite expensive. Our preference is to spend our hard earned savings more on seeing and doing rather than having the luxury of this sylye of travel. Maybe further down the track when our bodies are a little too old for climbing the ladder into our roof top tent to bed and that lotto ticket comes in.
We also thought this set up would not be as good for us as we knew we want to take the back tracks and 4x4 territory, which is not as suited to this mode of transport. Especially with some of the tight roads and low tree canopy clearance for example.
Once again we came up with similar cons that we identified with a caravan. Namely parking, no 4wd so would limit our exploring capability, budget, wind drag.
WHY NOT A CAMPER TRAILER?
We tossed around the option of getting a camper trailer for quite a while. Russ was kinda swaying towards this option. I also loved the camper trailers but had another option as number one on my list!
They look great, and have all the gear, pretty quick to set up and more compact than a caravan. There are lots of awesome looking, strong, rugged heavy duty campers out there so to everyone that has one, we love looking at them!!! Happy travels and we are sure you absolutely LOVE yours!
After lots of umming and arrrring we came up with many of the same cons as towing a caravan which eventually swayed us in a different direction.
WHY NOT A CAMPERVAN?
I actually had my heart set on campervan travel for ages. This was my original choice and we daydreamed and drooled over many a 'vans for sale' post. We spent hours wondering should we buy a van with just the shell and build our own interior layout, combine all the ideas we had seen, or whether to buy a complete set up, whether to buy through a second hand dealer, tried to work out which model we wanted.
We knew we were after a van that ran on diesel and a van long enough to be spacious but not too long to park in main streets and shopping centres.
Some vans were soooo nice I was ready to buy on the spot just by looking at them! But of course there is much more to choosing a vehicle than going on looks.
They look like super fun to me. All the bits and pieces in the one vehicle. the fridge, bed, cooking etc. No setting up each time you stop. Just open the back and it's all there ready for you. Nice and cosy, easy, compact, one registration and insurance, easier to find a car park in towns than when towing a van or camper trailer.
However, I baulked at the fact that some vans have no front end protection area for the driver and passenger, as no crumple zone, which I felt was kinda dangerous if heaven forbid someone were to run into us head on. Even hitting wildlife at higher speeds could create more injury without that space between the frame and person. So safety was an issue for us.
Buying second hand we wern't sure what mechanical problems we would be inheriting. Many of the vans on sale have been through multiple owners and whilst many have listings of work that has been done or parts upgraded it is still very much an unkwown as to lurking mechanical issues that are ready to crop up at any time. The last thing you need is to break down in the middle of nowhere.
The majority of the vans available are not 4wd, which was a big factor in our descision not to choose the van life style. Whilst we think we would have loved this mode of travel, we felt it would restrict where we could travel to.
Buying new was out of our budget range. We would rather save that money to spend on seeing more rather than buying a brand new vehicle.
Sooooo....
In the end the more we thought about ALL of our options, the more logical it all seemed to just modify our MQ 4x4 Mitsubishi Triton Twin Cab ute....Staring us in the face the whole time.
Due to COVID restrictions on accessory availability it has taken the last 5 months to get to where we are now. We still have a few accessories to add, but at this stage we have now set up our ute to a point where we are able to travel in what we call luxury!
We now have a brand new ARB Ascent canopy - decked out with ARB sliding storage drawers, an ARB Simpson 111 Roof Top Tent, we took out the back seats and bolted in a 75 litre XTM combo fridge/freezer from BCF, a KINGS 250watt solar panel, a dual battery system with a 120 amp deep cycle battery from Battery World, ARB Lynx system with dash mounted or mobile control monitor for operation of our accessories, and an ARB dual air compressor with air tank.
Our next step is to put roof racks on our front cab so that we can mount our carrier basket for further storage of essentials equipment, a tow bar, winch and bike carrier, but we are almost there!