[BirthdayBoy]

Hi everyone,

Part exchange our FL2 for the DS should have been delivered on 10th April but was delayed until 17th (my birthday so it's the best and most expensive present I have ever received). However, we had a Eurotunnel crossing booked for the 20th for a trip to Spain so the delay meant we only had a couple of days to get used to it, load it and fit a roof tent to the roof rails!

Because of the heavy load we were carrying we didn't do much more than 65mph but managed about 40mpg which I'm quite happy with. Only saw one other DS on the trip and that was just outside Zaragoza.

The car hasn't missed a beat since we left home and I love everything about it.

SE Tech, Auto, Santorini Black, Panoramic Roof, Roof Rails, Privacy Glass, 19 inch 521 Wheels, Space Saving Spare Wheel - Ordered 26 Jan from Lookers, Colchester.

 

[KaikouraDiscoSport]

Roof tent sounds amazing, pictures please!!

 

[BirthdayBoy]

Couple of roof tent pics attached. The first one is with it up and Mrs BirthdayBoy peering out and the second one is with it down.

It's an Autohome Maggiolina and details can be found at this link:
http://www.autohome-uk.com/file_gb/index_gb.html

 

[srdsol]

Hats off to you BB, while most folks on here (me included) have been debating colours, rattles, lighting and other comparatively piddley little things like that, you pick up your new DS, throw a roof tent on top and head off to Spain, all within 3 days !

Top bloke I'd say

 

[KaikouraDiscoSport]

Very cool. How is this Maggiolina tent fitted to the roof?
Can the roof support the weight of the construction (70kg) and additional weight of 2 people?

 

[ozsport]

Very cool. How is this Maggiolina tent fitted to the roof?
Can the roof support the weight of the construction (70kg) and additional weight of 2 people?

Indeed I thought the DS roof carrying capacity was limited to 75kg all told. That wouldn't even hold me!

 

[BirthdayBoy]

We used the tent on our old FL2 but did quite a bit of research before we bought it. Have a read of the attached link - http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic9304.html?highlight=roof+tent - particularly the post by 'Missing Link' on 24 June 2011 and the link in the post by 'trngia' on 26 June 2011.

The FL2 has a max 'dynamic' (when it is moving) roof capacity of 75kg but according to the post the 'static' (when it is stationery) load can be a lot higher. The tent weighs about 55kg and together Mrs BB and me are about 140kg which is less than the 200kg the guy from Taiwan says he had on top in his post.

Anyway, based on our research we went ahead and bought the tent for the FL2 and didn't experience problems on any of our camping trips.

As the DS has the same 75kg roof capacity as the FL2 (I believe this applies to the Defender as well) we decided to use the same tent and after driving over 2,000 with it on top and 7 nights sleeping in it, everything has been just fine. Also if you have a look here - http://www.boab.biz/history_ah.html - you will see pics of the same tent as ours on vehicles such as a Mini, an old VW Beetle and a Skoda Octavia so if they can take a tent I'm comfortable it won't be a problem for the much more heavy duty Land Rover.

Fitting is pretty straight forward, the underneath of the tent has four simple 'U' type bolts that attach to the Thule 762 SquareBars with 775 Rapid System feet we bought.

 

[Disco Oldenburg]

Hi,

Roof tents used to be popular in eastern Germany where they put these on the tiny Trabant plastic car.
http://www.trabant-dachzelt.de
I doubt the carrying capacity is based on calculations that represent anything to do with the structure of the body. Why would it be 75 kg on most cars no matter what size they are. It looks to me like they are saying three bikes or two surf boards are ok and that's it and anything else is your problem.

I wouldn't give it a second thought on the Discovery Sport.
Martin

 

[ozsport]

We used the tent on our old FL2 but did quite a bit of research before we bought it. Have a read of the attached link - http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic9304.html?highlight=roof+tent - particularly the post by 'Missing Link' on 24 June 2011 and the link in the post by 'trngia' on 26 June 2011.

The FL2 has a max 'dynamic' (when it is moving) roof capacity of 75kg but according to the post the 'static' (when it is stationery) load can be a lot higher. The tent weighs about 55kg and together Mrs BB and me are about 140kg which is less than the 200kg the guy from Taiwan says he had on top in his post.

Anyway, based on our research we went ahead and bought the tent for the FL2 and didn't experience problems on any of our camping trips.

As the DS has the same 75kg roof capacity as the FL2 (I believe this applies to the Defender as well) we decided to use the same tent and after driving over 2,000 with it on top and 7 nights sleeping in it, everything has been just fine. Also if you have a look here - http://www.boab.biz/history_ah.html - you will see pics of the same tent as ours on vehicles such as a Mini, an old VW Beetle and a Skoda Octavia so if they can take a tent I'm comfortable it won't be a problem for the much more heavy duty Land Rover.

Fitting is pretty straight forward, the underneath of the tent has four simple 'U' type bolts that attach to the Thule 762 SquareBars with 775 Rapid System feet we bought.

That makes sense I guess and it's probably fine to be up there when you're not moving. Disco Oldenburg you're probably right in that it's less a structural problem and probably more a handling thing. Ever since Jeep had those problems a few years back falling over all the time 4x4 manufacturers have been more conscious of their centre of gravity.

 

[Tollerted]

Fabulous idea and great photos. It'll be ideal for your next expedition to the Serengeti!

 

[KaikouraDiscoSport]

Interesting reading on FL and Disco3 forum:

"The figures quoted by LR will be constrained by the dynamic load (moving) as this will be much higher than any form of static load. The downforce generated by 75Kg hitting a pothole or rut could be quite considerable although heavy braking would be under 1g. This would be a shear load on the mounts which is not what is experienced statically.

The roof crush test require the ability of a vehicle to withstand a multiple of the weight of the car (I think 1.5 times though I am not sure) but this does allow some small intrusion and still comply with the regulations. In practice most cars will more than meet the limit but the FL being what it is I would expect it to be much higher. At a vehicle weight in excess of 1700Kg a few hundred Kg of static load really should not be a problem for the monocoque of the body itself. What I would be less certain of are the roof rails themselves as they do not form part of the compliance testing.

However having fitted my own set and seen how they are constructed I would have no worry personally with one caveat. That is that the rails are not straight so how any heavy load is transmitted down needs to be considered carefully."

 

[BirthdayBoy]

Funny you should say that Tollerted. We aren't actually going to the Serengeti but we have hired a Defender (with a roof tent) and will be travelling through South Africa, Namibia and the Kalahari Desert for a couple of months later in the year.

We've done similar trips in the past in a Defender, Toyota and Nissan and the attached pics show Howling Moon tents up and down on the Defender and twin ones on the Nissan so that time there was actually 4 of us sleeping on the roof.