A rooftop tent is ideal if you love to go camping but don’t want to buy a large RV or camping trailer. You can install a rooftop tent on the car roof in just a few minutes and start driving straight away.
With a rooftop tent on your vehicle, you can reach places you could never reach with an RV or camping trailer. Of course, it always depends on your vehicle, but if you own a 4×4 that you can drive off the beaten track, for example, you can discover great places to stay overnight.
There are rooftop tents for two people, but there are also rooftop tents for up to six people. So your whole family can sleep in the roof tent.
A rooftop tent can be erected in just a few minutes, unlike a ground tent. Another advantage of a rooftop tent is that you no longer have to sleep on a cold or damp floor. You are also safe from small and large animals in a rooftop tent.
There are really many advantages of a rooftop tent. However, you should always take care of your rooftop tent and stow it away safely. For this reason, you are probably also wondering whether your vehicle and rooftop tent fit into the garage, right? In this article, I would like to show you exactly what you have to pay attention to so that you can safely stow your rooftop tent in the garage.
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The advantage if you can drive the assembled rooftop tent with your car into the garage
For example, if you have installed a crane or ceiling lift in your garage, you can easily and safely lift the rooftop tent from your vehicle.
A ceiling lift makes it possible to attach the rooftop tent at four points, to detach the connection between the rooftop tent and the crossbars, and thus to easily lift it off the vehicle and even to store it on the garage ceiling until you need the roof tent again the next time and so easily can be mounted on the vehicle roof.
The size of the rooftop tent
If you want to leave your rooftop tent on the vehicle roof and drive into the garage, you should of course always pay attention to the maximum height of the vehicle.
If the vehicle with the rooftop tent mounted is higher than the garage door, you can easily damage the roof tent and your car. Especially if you own a hard-shell rooftop tent, even minor touches can severely damage the shell.
You should therefore measure the height of the vehicle including the rooftop tent and then compare it with the height of the garage door.
If the vehicle including the rooftop tent is too high, you can also dismantle the rooftop tent in front of the garage and lift it off the vehicle roof with two people or a forklift and then bring it separately into the garage.
Measuring your garage and rooftop tent
It is very important that you measure the maximum height of the garage door and compare it to the height of the vehicle with the roof tent installed.
If you are not 100% sure whether the height is sufficient to drive safely into the garage with the rooftop tent mounted, then you can also ask someone to check whether there is any contact between the roof tent and the garage door if you slowly enter the garage.
Storing the rooftop tent in a garage
The garage is of course an ideal place to store the rooftop tent. You should always remove the rooftop tent from your vehicle when you don’t need it.
If you drive around with the rooftop tent mounted, it will negatively affect range and fuel consumption. The mounted rooftop tent has a negative effect on the aerodynamics of your vehicle.
The driving behavior can also be negatively influenced by the installed rooftop tent, as the vehicle’s center of gravity shifts further upwards.
For these reasons, you should always dismantle the rooftop tent and store it safely when you don’t need it.
If you can safely hang the rooftop tent from the garage ceiling, that’s even better. This makes it easier to dismantle and reassemble the roof tent.
You should always make sure that the roof tent is protected from mice and other animals. Likewise, the rooftop tent should always be stored in a dry place to avoid mold. If the rooftop tent is stored in the garage, you also have the option of maintaining and caring for the rooftop tent.
Conclusion
If you can store the rooftop tent in the garage, that’s great. In the garage, the rooftop tent is protected from rain and dust, but also from animals such as mice or other rodents.
However, you should first measure the total height of your vehicle including the rooftop tent. Then you compare the maximum height plus a few inches of tolerance to the maximum height of the garage door.
If you are not 100% sure, you can also ask someone to help you pay attention to whether the height when driving into the garage is sufficient or whether the rooftop tent would touch the garage door.
Any contact can severely damage the rooftop tent. But the vehicle can also be damaged if touched. Therefore, you should always be very careful and know the maximum height of your vehicle with the rooftop tent mounted.
