Mounting Hardware - Roof Rack or Roof Bars

Your tent may be mounted onto your car using either a roof rack or roof bars (rails). 

 

Bling My Truck is able to supply roof racks and roof bars from a number of the top manufacturers.

 

Furthermore, a number of vehicle manufacturers offer own brand roof rack and bar solutions.  These will often be suitable for mounting your roof top tent.

 

Of primary consideration is the strength of the supporting rack or bars.  We therefore recommend using racks or bars made of steel over those made of aluminium.  The load of the tent may also be spread over a number of cross bars, and some racks are supplied with up to four feet, further spreading the weight of the tent (and occupants). 

 

Note: a number of vehicles specify maximum roof load weights which are as low as 60 kilograms (132 pounds).  Generally, this is the maximum weight allowance whilst the vehicle is in motion (due to the extra forces encountered whilst braking and cornering), and most vehicles are able to withstand stationary loads of four or five times this amount.       

Pick - Up Trucks

In the case of pick-up trucks, the tent may be mounted on the cab of the truck, using conventional roof rails or a roof rack, or over the pick-up bed, using bed rails or racks. 

Fitting the tent to open sideways is usually best if the car’s luggage compartment access is a tailgate which may not open fully if the tent is mounted lengthways.

Tent Orientation
Roof top tents may be mounted so that the tent is accessed from the rear or side of the vehicle.  The tent may also be mounted so that the ladder is accessed from the front of the vehicle, but this option may require modification of the vehicle’s front bumper, and is dependent upon the vehicle’s bonnet length.    

Mounting Your Roof Tent on a Hummer H2

We recently successfully mounted a Bling My Truck Desert Expedition roof tent onto a Hummer H2. 

The standard Hummer H2 cross bars are much wider than most cross bars and therefore roof tent mounting kits generally aren't wide enough.  We have therefore put together a Hummer mounting kit which consists of a much thicker and wider mounting plate, as well as longer bolts.

We haven't been able to find any other photos of roof tents mounted on Hummer H2s on the internet, so we'll post some pictures as soon as possible. 

Have you mounted a RTT on a Nissan Xterra wth the factory rack? Do you stock the Baja expedition  rack for the Xterra?

Thanks, Gunn

Gunnsite:

Have you mounted a RTT on a Nissan Xterra wth the factory rack? Do you stock the Baja expedition  rack for the Xterra?

Thanks, Gunn

Gunn has successfully mounted his new BMT roof top tent to the stock rack on his Nissan XTerra.  We provided him with some longer bolts and wider mounting plates as the stock rack has some pretty thick rails.  He has also fitted some rubber between the tent fixing hardware and his rack, so as to prevent rubbing.

Thanks to the team at Blingmytruck. They are a pleasure to do business with; they deliver on time, provided me with custom hardware for my tent. and had a custom hardware kit made for my awning which they delivered and declined payment for. I highly recommend them as a supplier of outdoor equipment. Great value for money and the best customer support that you are likely to encounter.

Gunnsite:

Thanks to the team at Blingmytruck. They are a pleasure to do business with; they deliver on time, provided me with custom hardware for my tent. and had a custom hardware kit made for my awning which they delivered and declined payment for. I highly recommend them as a supplier of outdoor equipment. Great value for money and the best customer support that you are likely to encounter.

Hi Gunnsite. Thank you for your great reference, we appreciate your feedback a lot. We are glad to be of service and that you got what you needed. We do try our best to provide good customer service and to be as knowledgeable as we can. Hope you enjoy the gear. BMT Team.

We have loaded our Bling My Truck Roof Top Tent Owners Manual as a reference to our Issuu site, as it explains the mounting options and gives photographs of the hardware.  Find it here:  
http://issuu.com/BlingMyTruck/docs/bling_my_truck_roof_top_tent_owner_s_manual_30.12./1