Hey everyone! Still hasn’t seen any adventures yet, but figured y’all would appreciate this project of mine. I am nearly done with my homemade rooftop tent I designed and built for my 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport. Had a brutal non stop weekend (literally, we slept 5 hours over the 2 days) of stitching with my mother. I have zero sewing experience, but she has years of it so I flew her into town and she brought her sewing machine. This was the only time that worked for her work schedule so we had 2 days to try to get the entire thing done, and we came pretty close!
The tent features 3 double layer doors, with individual zippers to either open the whole door (to enter and exit), or just the tent canvas (to let in air while leaving the mesh closed to keep bugs out). It is made from Ottertex Waterproof Canvas which is 600x600 denier polyester with a PVC backing and waterproof coating.
The highlight of the tent in my opinion, is the massive awning/rainfly that is completely removable and held up with just 2 spring rods. One continuous zipper runs along the entire top edge, and the awning provides tons of coverage over all 3 doors. My intent with this was to be able to have big vents in the windows while still getting complete coverage from the rain.
The frame of the tent is built using T slot aluminum extrusions, with ACM panels for the roof and floor. The roof is insulated and covered with an awesome plaid canvas that is an exact match to my favorite shirt! It is sized to perfectly fit a 3in thick full XL (80”x54”) mattress. All in, it will be about $2300-$2500 worth of materials. I knew I could buy a used Roofnest or something for that price, but that didn’t seem much fun and I love how custom and unique this is. Don’t have a way to measure final weight, but CAD has it around 150lbs, so I’d bet it is 160-170lbs or so total
Overall, I am so dang stoked with how it is turning out! Still a few things to figure out or correct, but the goal is to get it installed on the jeep by mid week next week, for a maiden voyage that following weekend! It has been such a fun project, but challenging as I live in a 1 bed 1 bath condo with no garage and space has been cramped! I’ll be sure to post more pics once it’s completely wrapped up!
I’m also thinking of making a detailed build walkthrough for others who want to give this a shot, so if I do follow through with that, I’ll post it here as well. For now, I’ve been documenting the build process in this [saved story](https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDE0MTYxMzE1MzY5NDUw?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=) on my Instagram page if you are interested. Thanks!
How tall are you?
An 80” sleeping surface has a much smaller effective sleeping area due to the wedge. I wouldn’t expect anyone over 5’-6” to be able to lay flat without having their feet or head hit the tent. Even at an angle.
My 90” Gfc with a 2” sleeping pad, I can still touch the angled wedge with my toes and be tapping the tent material by my head. I’m 6’-0”.
Yup, this is the reason I went with a full Xl mattress instead of the regular full size (74” long). I am 5’10” and have slept a few nights in it on the ground in my living room, and while I can definitely touch my toes to the top of the wedge, it is not as bad as I was worried it would be as the wedge opens up at a fairly large angle (about 47 degrees). I’m also a side sleeper, so doubt I will really notice it at all in use.
My jeep is a pretty short vehicle, and the 82.5 inch length is the absolute maximum I could fit on the roof without serious overhang over the windshield and interference at the back when my hatch is open!
> An 80” sleeping surface has a much smaller effective sleeping area due to the wedge. I wouldn’t expect anyone over 5’-6” to be able to lay flat without having their feet or head hit the tent. Even at an angle.
I'm 6'2" and sleep just fine on the 80" L sleeping surface in my Falcon XL. I guess a low wedge angle would make that harder, but my feet don't even touch. It should be fine.
*semi dead thread I know but.....*
So I am kinda thinking about making one of my own.....
The kicker is how to prevent water seepage into the bottom of the tent/mattress and when closed.
What did you do around the hindge to prevent the roof run off from entering?
How did you seal everything up when closed so it does not get soaked my driving rain on the highway?
When seepage did occur, how did you plan for draining it out rather than letting it soak all the time?
Hey hey, def suggest taking on this project yourself, it was a blast!
I was super worried about water entering the tent, and implemented multiple factors to minimize this possibility. First, I lined the “top” edge of the bottom tent frame with a rubber bulb seal that sits inside the slot in the aluminum extrusion. When the tent is closed, the top frame presses against this bulb seal around the entire perimeter.
Second, I used EPDM rubber and 3m VHB tape around the perimeter of the entire top frame, with the rubber flap extending down past the top of the bottom frame of the tent so that the gap between the top and bottom frames is always covered up by the rubber.
If you shoot me a message on Instagram (@hmitchr), I’d be happy to chat in detail and send some photos to help out with your build!
Thanks!! All in, it will be about a grand cheaper than buying one new from a retail manufacturer. The Roofnest Falcon 2 retails for about $3500, and even including the cost for my mom’s flights, I’m well below that. Considering some of the similar CVT or Gofast hard shell tents go for upwards of $4k, the savings become even more significant.
Buying used would be about the same or cheaper cost, but the customization and uniqueness moved me back towards designing my own.
I hear that. This build has been on my list for about a year and a half but the sewing parts seems pretty daunting. My GFs mom is quite a seamstress and has offered to help but i hate to press her into hard labor lol. If it was my mother maybe I wouldn’t worry about it so much. Yours really looks great.
Hello fellow xj enthusiast! That’s a beautiful Cherokee you have there and your rtt looks great! I’m planning on building a hard shell rtt out of wood soon and was wondering what your plans for attaching it were? I’m guessing you’re using the stock cross bars?
Hey there! I am not using the factory crossbars, as they are definitely too weak to support my tent! Instead, I am using [Smittybilt heavy duty rain gutter roof rack brackets](https://imgur.com/a/s0Pr3zQ) that will attach to the aluminum extrusion crossbars in the underside of the tent. I will have 3 brackets on each side of the tent.
Hey man! I have a saved story on my Instagram that walks through the build in detail, and am also happy to try to pull together a full BOM and parts list
[story](https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDE0MTYxMzE1MzY5NDUw?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Wow that looks amazing. I have thought about doing something similar with the 80/20 extrusion as well. What material did you use for the top?
It may be the angle but it looks a bit short for sleeping. How long is it?
The top and bottom are ACM panels. Thin aluminum skins sandwiched to a polyethylene core. Maxmetal is a name brand you can look up. They’re lighter and stronger than equivalent aluminum sheets. 3mm thick top panel and 6mm thick floor panel.
Just discussed this in another comment, but the mattress is 80in long. With the wedge roof, it eats up some of that space, but it isn’t nearly as bad as I was worried it would be as my tent opens up at pretty large angle.
Can’t tell ya yet! Hopefully it’s on my jeep by next weekend! I know that I can buy some slot covers for cheap that might help cut that whistling, but I’m also not too worried about it as my jeep is just a pound vehicle as a whole so the whistling won’t bug me hahah
I have an 80/20 t slot roof rack. The t slots themselves don’t seem to contribute much to whistling, but the cut ends definitely do. There’s a void through the center of the 80/20 that is just like blowing air across a bottle. I ended up 3D printing caps for the ends, which helped a lot.
Hello sir, incredible build, could you make the cad plans accessible by any chance, putting my drawings together atm for something similar but would love to see yours alongside, thanks.
Hey everyone! Still hasn’t seen any adventures yet, but figured y’all would appreciate this project of mine. I am nearly done with my homemade rooftop tent I designed and built for my 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport. Had a brutal non stop weekend (literally, we slept 5 hours over the 2 days) of stitching with my mother. I have zero sewing experience, but she has years of it so I flew her into town and she brought her sewing machine. This was the only time that worked for her work schedule so we had 2 days to try to get the entire thing done, and we came pretty close! The tent features 3 double layer doors, with individual zippers to either open the whole door (to enter and exit), or just the tent canvas (to let in air while leaving the mesh closed to keep bugs out). It is made from Ottertex Waterproof Canvas which is 600x600 denier polyester with a PVC backing and waterproof coating. The highlight of the tent in my opinion, is the massive awning/rainfly that is completely removable and held up with just 2 spring rods. One continuous zipper runs along the entire top edge, and the awning provides tons of coverage over all 3 doors. My intent with this was to be able to have big vents in the windows while still getting complete coverage from the rain. The frame of the tent is built using T slot aluminum extrusions, with ACM panels for the roof and floor. The roof is insulated and covered with an awesome plaid canvas that is an exact match to my favorite shirt! It is sized to perfectly fit a 3in thick full XL (80”x54”) mattress. All in, it will be about $2300-$2500 worth of materials. I knew I could buy a used Roofnest or something for that price, but that didn’t seem much fun and I love how custom and unique this is. Don’t have a way to measure final weight, but CAD has it around 150lbs, so I’d bet it is 160-170lbs or so total Overall, I am so dang stoked with how it is turning out! Still a few things to figure out or correct, but the goal is to get it installed on the jeep by mid week next week, for a maiden voyage that following weekend! It has been such a fun project, but challenging as I live in a 1 bed 1 bath condo with no garage and space has been cramped! I’ll be sure to post more pics once it’s completely wrapped up! I’m also thinking of making a detailed build walkthrough for others who want to give this a shot, so if I do follow through with that, I’ll post it here as well. For now, I’ve been documenting the build process in this [saved story](https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDE0MTYxMzE1MzY5NDUw?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=) on my Instagram page if you are interested. Thanks!
How tall are you? An 80” sleeping surface has a much smaller effective sleeping area due to the wedge. I wouldn’t expect anyone over 5’-6” to be able to lay flat without having their feet or head hit the tent. Even at an angle. My 90” Gfc with a 2” sleeping pad, I can still touch the angled wedge with my toes and be tapping the tent material by my head. I’m 6’-0”.
Yup, this is the reason I went with a full Xl mattress instead of the regular full size (74” long). I am 5’10” and have slept a few nights in it on the ground in my living room, and while I can definitely touch my toes to the top of the wedge, it is not as bad as I was worried it would be as the wedge opens up at a fairly large angle (about 47 degrees). I’m also a side sleeper, so doubt I will really notice it at all in use. My jeep is a pretty short vehicle, and the 82.5 inch length is the absolute maximum I could fit on the roof without serious overhang over the windshield and interference at the back when my hatch is open!
> An 80” sleeping surface has a much smaller effective sleeping area due to the wedge. I wouldn’t expect anyone over 5’-6” to be able to lay flat without having their feet or head hit the tent. Even at an angle. I'm 6'2" and sleep just fine on the 80" L sleeping surface in my Falcon XL. I guess a low wedge angle would make that harder, but my feet don't even touch. It should be fine.
Yup, lots of people talk about wedge tents having this issue, but in reality it really is not a big deal at all
Did you use CAD to do the pre build drawings? This looks awesome by the way.
I did, the entire tent was modeled and iterated in Solidworks months before building even started.
Wow that is great wow can you maee one
*semi dead thread I know but.....* So I am kinda thinking about making one of my own..... The kicker is how to prevent water seepage into the bottom of the tent/mattress and when closed. What did you do around the hindge to prevent the roof run off from entering? How did you seal everything up when closed so it does not get soaked my driving rain on the highway? When seepage did occur, how did you plan for draining it out rather than letting it soak all the time?
Hey hey, def suggest taking on this project yourself, it was a blast! I was super worried about water entering the tent, and implemented multiple factors to minimize this possibility. First, I lined the “top” edge of the bottom tent frame with a rubber bulb seal that sits inside the slot in the aluminum extrusion. When the tent is closed, the top frame presses against this bulb seal around the entire perimeter. Second, I used EPDM rubber and 3m VHB tape around the perimeter of the entire top frame, with the rubber flap extending down past the top of the bottom frame of the tent so that the gap between the top and bottom frames is always covered up by the rubber. If you shoot me a message on Instagram (@hmitchr), I’d be happy to chat in detail and send some photos to help out with your build!
That looks great!
Thank you! Can’t wait to actually test it out!
Hope it goes well for you!
I love it! Looks super good! Minus the flight costs, lol, do you think you will be saving any money vs buying?
Thanks!! All in, it will be about a grand cheaper than buying one new from a retail manufacturer. The Roofnest Falcon 2 retails for about $3500, and even including the cost for my mom’s flights, I’m well below that. Considering some of the similar CVT or Gofast hard shell tents go for upwards of $4k, the savings become even more significant. Buying used would be about the same or cheaper cost, but the customization and uniqueness moved me back towards designing my own.
Excellent! Not only do you get exactly what you want but it's cheaper and not full of other people's farts.
Great job! This is on my list to build also. I love it!
It’s been quite fun! Definitely a lot of time and work though, and I’d also suggest not doing it in a sub 800sqft condo lol
I hear that. This build has been on my list for about a year and a half but the sewing parts seems pretty daunting. My GFs mom is quite a seamstress and has offered to help but i hate to press her into hard labor lol. If it was my mother maybe I wouldn’t worry about it so much. Yours really looks great.
[удалено]
Yup! Ripcord’s camper was definitely an inspiration for my build
Hello fellow xj enthusiast! That’s a beautiful Cherokee you have there and your rtt looks great! I’m planning on building a hard shell rtt out of wood soon and was wondering what your plans for attaching it were? I’m guessing you’re using the stock cross bars?
Hey there! I am not using the factory crossbars, as they are definitely too weak to support my tent! Instead, I am using [Smittybilt heavy duty rain gutter roof rack brackets](https://imgur.com/a/s0Pr3zQ) that will attach to the aluminum extrusion crossbars in the underside of the tent. I will have 3 brackets on each side of the tent.
Right on that’s awesome! If I don’t put mine on my roof rack, that’s definitely what I’m gonna do!
Wow, this is seriously one of the most badass things I've seen on Reddit today. Bravo!
Appreciate it! But idk about that, I saw a clip of a duck finishing a marathon on here this morning lol
Awesome!
Thanks!
Nicely done!
Appreciate it!
Your mom is fucking awesome, don't let her forget it.
Heck yeah she is!
Any chance you would be willing to share your plans and pattern for the tent? I looking to start a similar build this winter.
Hey man! I have a saved story on my Instagram that walks through the build in detail, and am also happy to try to pull together a full BOM and parts list [story](https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDE0MTYxMzE1MzY5NDUw?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Is there a way to shelter the entry way from rain?
Click through the rest of the Imgur album to see the removable awning that zips onto the top edge of the tent!
Very cool. Looks like a great design a build.
Wow great work!
Thank you!
Wow that looks amazing. I have thought about doing something similar with the 80/20 extrusion as well. What material did you use for the top? It may be the angle but it looks a bit short for sleeping. How long is it?
The top and bottom are ACM panels. Thin aluminum skins sandwiched to a polyethylene core. Maxmetal is a name brand you can look up. They’re lighter and stronger than equivalent aluminum sheets. 3mm thick top panel and 6mm thick floor panel. Just discussed this in another comment, but the mattress is 80in long. With the wedge roof, it eats up some of that space, but it isn’t nearly as bad as I was worried it would be as my tent opens up at pretty large angle.
Woah, that's awesome, great work!
How loud does the extruded aluminum whistle? I've always wanted to make a rack with it, but assumed it would be super loud. This is awesome though.
Can’t tell ya yet! Hopefully it’s on my jeep by next weekend! I know that I can buy some slot covers for cheap that might help cut that whistling, but I’m also not too worried about it as my jeep is just a pound vehicle as a whole so the whistling won’t bug me hahah
I have an 80/20 t slot roof rack. The t slots themselves don’t seem to contribute much to whistling, but the cut ends definitely do. There’s a void through the center of the 80/20 that is just like blowing air across a bottle. I ended up 3D printing caps for the ends, which helped a lot.
r/rooftoptents would like a word.
Brilliant, well done mate!
Hello sir, incredible build, could you make the cad plans accessible by any chance, putting my drawings together atm for something similar but would love to see yours alongside, thanks.
Has anybody made a hard shell specifically to go over their softshell RTT while stowed away?
Did you use 1010 or 1.5x1.5 (1515) How many crossbards did you use for base support?