Do you take your fiberglass rooftop tent off or leave it on?

theBROFESSOR

theBROFESSOR

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Just wondering about you guys who have the fiberglass rooftop tents...do you leave them on all the time or take them off? Wondering about weathering for them if you leave on and/or storage if you take them off. Also if you leave them on about what you do to secure them from thieves.
 
Hi !
Mine is always on, I use it all year long, being in France it does support temperatures from 35 degrees C on hot summer days to -15 / -20 C on the coldest winters. The paint needs a good sand and wax but not damaged at all.
Getting it off and on is too much trouble as I don’t have a garage tall enough to get my defender in it and get it off with a pully system. If I had a more convenient place to store it and most importantly get it on and off quickly I’d definitely take it off when not needed and just get it on on the week ends.

No security against thieves, the 12 bolts holding it on my roof bars are the only thing holding it.
I’d be glad to hear what others do to secure theirs, it’s something I’ve been considering !


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I have the autohome airtop, I leave it on year round. I used to take it off between trips, but every time I took it off, a spur off the moment trip would come up and so now it lives on the truck. I sleep in it at least once a month, but sometimes every weekend if it works out. My suspension was set up for the extra weight, so the ride is also better with it on too. I wax it when I wax the truck which is a few times a year. I haven’t done anything as far as security goes, though I do have a security camera aimed at my truck in the driveway. There are security fasteners out there that would probably slow someone down and I eventually should do something like that. If someone is motivated it still probably wouldn’t be too hard to snip the bolts, and actually would be quicker than a wrench anyway. Fortunately most people don’t know what the heck the thing is, which is a good thing!


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I have a autohome / Maggiolina on top of my Jeep. I used to take it off and on for every trip because I wanted to park the Jeep in the garage. Then I would have to put it on the hoist and raise it to the ceiling in the garage. Over time, we got it down to a science, but it still took time. We moved a couple of years ago to a place with RV parking on the side of the house, so I started parking the Jeep there and leaving the tent on. It was making me a bit nuts to leave it out in the sun.. it's common to be in the over 100 degrees in the summer time here and we all know how the sun can start to kill any of your gear if you leave it out. I ended up getting a small RV cover (class B) to limit some of the sun exposure. I also use aerospace 303 protectant on the shell of the tent pretty regularly which helps with any oxidation, fading, etc. It still gets hot and I worry about the headliner adhesive releasing, but it's been ok so far. We are moving again soon and I will be building a carport to keep the Jeep under. As far as security goes.. nothing in place mechanically. However, I do have an alarm on the Jeep and camera coverage with IR. If I'm out somewhere else with the tent on, i am not overly worried about it. It's such a pain in the rear to get access to the hardware with the limited space under the roof rack, it would really take some doing to get it off. One day I'm going to sell this set up and get a Sportsmobile... once i figure out how to double my paycheck!
 
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I can't imagine have to take those things off and put them on every time. It wouldn't be bad if you only used it a couple times a year but why spend that much money on something you will never use? Just wondering how the exterior holds up in the weather throughout the year. I think I have a good idea now. We don't have extreme weather in Arkansas but it is unpredictable and changes constantly. Things left outdoors can take a beating and I don't want to spend so much money on something that will fall apart after a year or so.
 
theBROFESSOR said:
I can't imagine have to take those things off and put them on every time. It wouldn't be bad if you only used it a couple times a year but why spend that much money on something you will never use? Just wondering how the exterior holds up in the weather throughout the year. I think I have a good idea now. We don't have extreme weather in Arkansas but it is unpredictable and changes constantly. Things left outdoors can take a beating and I don't want to spend so much money on something that will fall apart after a year or so.
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Shop Craigslist religiously until you find a used one. I got mine on there for $1200. They retail for over $3000, it’s a little scraped up, but it makes me not care as much when it scrapes low hanging branches, etc... I’ve had it for a couple years now and it was a few years old when I got it with no noticeable effects from being in the weather every day, the occasional wax job seems to be good enough.


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Lintnercorey said:
Shop Craigslist religiously until you find a used one. I got mine on there for $1200. They retail for over $3000, it’s a little scraped up, but it makes me not care as much when it scrapes low hanging branches, etc... I’ve had it for a couple years now and it was a few years old when I got it with no noticeable effects from being in the weather every day, the occasional wax job seems to be good enough.


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Awesome. Thank you. I will do that. Great idea
 
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