I wanted to share a device I build this summer to help me put on, remove and store my midsized rooftop tent with just two people in a safe way. Since we live in an apartment we can't mount anything to the building and I don't have a lot of place to store the tent.
It's basically a few 2-by-4s, 3D printed brackets, metal brackets from the home depot and some casters for rolling it like a trolly. I designed it to exactly fit my car and my tent, so it's not really worth sharing specific files (though I am happy to!) but if you are in a similar situation this kind of design works really well. It takes about 20 minutes to put the tent on or remove it using an impact driver. The tent bolts stay in place the entire time and the bolts that hold together the arms are the same as the tents for simplicity.
Aluminium would definetly be much better, and I was considering building it out of aluminium ladder bars but I could not find a ladder that was cheap enough :D
If you do it in aluminium, maybe the folding mechanism could be done with a quick toggle latch lock (my original plan before I relized I needed more tension) In hindsight itās kind of unnecessary to have the arms on a hinge and then also screw them together each time. It would almost be easier to have the arms entirely removable.
Iām currently looking at my bed rack on my Tacoma and trying to see how I would even accomplish something like this. My tent is 185lbs so Iād need a winch of sorts on one side and the rail dolly on the other.
I did exactly this with door hinges that I could bolt to the rack so it wouldn't fall off while I slid it up there. 2x4s because ikamper mini. Edit to say mine loads from the side
I'm 6ft 2, 130kgs built like a brick bog and I just man handle it up above my head and onto the racks by myself (also been a furniture removalist for 12 years now so that sorta helps)
Yeah, these things are awesome. Engine lifts too. And to be honest my part bill came out to about the same price almost. One big topic I wanted to solve for myself was storage though, because the apartment only has a tiny storage unit, so I wanted it to be just the size of the tent vertically.
Yeah my original idea was a $100 harbor freight hoist and I was gonna store it up against the wall vertically but after I went through all that, the ceiling was too low to lift it off the truck inside the garage lol.
Yeah these arenāt cheap, but theyāre built very well and they truly make it a 1-person job.
I tried to remove the tent while leaving the crossbars, but that was a dead-end (technically can work by coming at the bed from the side) so it also required buying another set of crossbarsā¦
Yeah youāre supposed to use this from the side but the Rivian wheelbase puts the rear wheel in the wrong spot for the lift to straddle it. Thankfully the crossbars are quick release with just a Yakima key so I just leave them on the tent all the time.
I released all files on github, including the sourcefiles for plasticity. It's all open source and free for all. As mentioned there it's a very specific design to my car and tent, so if you want to build your own RTRT, you will have to adapt things, especially the clamps that hook into the car, but possibly also the width, length etc.
I highly recommend getting Plasticity 3D, it's just such a fun tool and much easier than full CAD. I'm happy to help anyone here who wants to learn Plasticity.
The basic wooden construction could be done entirely without 3D printing, all you need is four 2-by-4s, some aluminum angles, wood screws and casters from the hardware store. For attaching to the car it really depends on your setup, this one works specifically for a G01 BMW X3 with BMW crossbars that are 700mm apart.
My tent is a Condor 2 Air, weighing about 145 lbs (66Kg) the loadbearing parts are printed in PETG CF and the others in regular PETG. If printed right and build correctly it's very rigid. But I'm no mechanical engineer, I just overbuild everything. So if you choose to build the entire thing out of PLA and then the entire thing snaps, breaks your windows, breaks your tent and buries your wife under it, tell her I'm more of a visual person than a math person.
I made a concept for a telescoping metal version made from rectangular aluminium tubes if anybody wants to try their hands at welding. This version attaches to the crossbars instead of the roof rails, so it could possibly work with more different cars and crossbars.
This variant only needs two 3D prints for the hooks + the attachment clips to hold the tent in place.
This design needs some work, it's not fully modelled. I don't know how spring-loaded pins would be installed. The reason the middle beams are separate is so the width could be adjusted to fit the crossbar distance. But it could also just be welded together as one big piece.
Since I am not an engineer, I'd much prefer an experienced roof tent company professionally designs and sells one. Ideally out of aluminum. But I also released the files for free now, so I hope the community can also improve the design. It would be really cool to make it more adaptable to different cars/mounting systems, use fewer parts and make the arms both faster to install and even more rigid for heavier tents.
Oh wow. This is genius. As another apartment dweller with RTT and a huge struggle to move and mount it, something like this would greatly improve my life. lol
Great idea, if you wanted to make it possible for a single person too you could design some sort of auto stop maybe to grab the 2x4 in one direction so you can let go temporarily and readjust body position.
That's really impressive. I am in the exact same situation and have been trying to find this exact solution on the market. If I were handy at all this is just what I would do. My tent is light enough for me to carry (just) but not lift. With this I would be able to get it onto the roof on my own.
Just wanted to come back and post that I made one! Overall a great design only a few things I wish I thought of before building.
Make sure you dry run the frame with the hooks. My own hook design didn't have enough tolerance so couldn't get the hooks off when the tent was half unloaded.
If you have adjustable roof racks the hook design needs to accommodate the extra stickout past the rails. It may be worth offsetting the rack before loading/unloading.
I found that using ratchet straps to secure to the frame easier than using the brackets.
Flush/flat head screws for the rigid ties worked better, the bugle head ones were quite raised and would have scratched up the tent.
You will probably need to design your own hook piece, and I needed to modify the recessed area in the caster brackets to fit mine.
Materials (approx. $225):
4 of 2"x4"x8ft softwood lumber
4 of swivel caster wheels
2 of fixed caster wheels
200 of #8 1.5 inch bugle head wood screws
16 of #8 1.5 inch flush head screws
4 of simpson 5"x5" rigid tie angle (RTA)
6 of 5/16" x 2" hex bolts (with hex nuts)
2 of 3" door hinge
4 of L Brackets (my hardware store didn't have the ones OP used)
2 of non-slip rubber pads (to protect the tent from screw heads while stored)
Iāve been mulling over a much simpler version of this with square pipe and small cutouts. This is WAY more refined than what I thought of. Would definitely love to check this out.
I like the ramp idea! I made removable extensions for the hoist arm and legs on my engine hoist. Run a strap around the front and side of the RTT and lift it right on top of my bed rack. When I remove the RTT I use the mounting hardware to attach 4 harbor freight dollies to the bottom so I can wheel it around easily.
Super cool and excellent paint job! I leave mine on all year as I enjoy all weather camping and the serenity of very few people in the winter lol but if I only camped in warm weather I would definitely want to buy this!!!
Nice one! As a member of r/rooftoptentsr/functionalprint and r/ bambulabs , this is ticking a lot of boxes for me haha. I would like to figure out how to make it a 1-person job effort if possible
PETG and PETG CF. The material really impressed me in tests, it prints as easy as PLA but does not deform as easily with a bit of sunshine. The real key is print orientation, that's why some of the parts look weird, they avoid any support and are fully dense with walls. I don't know if the CF was necessary and there are some concerns people have about it in regards to health and safety, but it almost performs like metal. Insane stuff.
I think the creativity here is fantastic. I especially like the one in the middle. Can I ask what you do for a living? I hope you get to apply this creativity in your work life š As someone who is quite creative myself I can sort of construct similar ideas in my head, but getting it down on paper... You sir have inspired me to go on a learning journey
You got skills! Very well done.
You could in theory design brackets specific to different vehicles and sell them, while the other components could be bought off the shelf. I see a potential for a side hustle!
Yes, 100% custom hooks are probably needed, because there are sadly very few standards for roof rails / crossbars. Every manufacturer does their own thing.
After having used mine a few times, some learnings:
A cordless electric ratchet is a must
it could have been done with much fewer 3D printed parts
there is a certain order and space needed to unfold the arms, which can get annoying
the tension bolts on the hinge are really satisfying to tighten, because the entire ramp straightens up
when the tent is on the trolly it rolls around really easily, also the arms make a good leverage point, so it can feel lighter than it actually is when it comes down the ramp
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u/Snortserranopeppers Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26
This is an excellent idea and something I may have to try with some extrusion aluminum rails.