@paulcoceancig explores Anaconda’s amazing Dune 4WD Nomad Deluxe 1.4m Hardtop Rooftop tent. The weight comes in at 75kg. The ladder actually weighs quite a bit at 6-8kg, but very, very sturdy. Beautifully designed.
We show what comes out of the box, some easy installation steps, and basically how it pops up. So easy. Really easy. And very cheap too. Extremely well built. Everything clicks into place.
The 1.4m width slotted perfectly between the handrails on top of the aluminium canopy. The 2.1m length gave an overhang each end - to just overhang the back of the rhino rack over the main cabin - and it didn’t extend past the rear wheel spare.
We placed the tent onto a MITS Alloy aluminium canopy (built in Newcastle). The brand new 79 series dual-cab Toyota Land Cruiser was modified with Marks 4WD portal axles and 35 inch tires.
On top of the tent itself, two aluminium rails could be easily installed. You would not be able to permanently attach anything on top of the tent (onto these aluminium bars), as this would alter the weight of the tent roof - and the gas struts would spontaneously collapse.
We moved the solar panel into the over-cabin rhino rack instead, and that continues to power the lithium batteries and electrical inside the canopy.
Astute watchers will see I placed the tent 180 degrees in the wrong orientation. When I get the batwing awning eventually - which covers the passenger side of the car (left side) in Australia - I will have to turn the tent around so that access is on the right (driver’s) side of the car. Ouch!
We bought a hard shell tent from Anaconda and it was actually really easy to fit onto
the aluminium tray on top of a canopy that we had made that fitted on the back of a land cruiser.
It was pretty stable, it comes at about 1.4 meters wide, seemed to slot in perfectly
and there's a little bit of overhang at the front of the canopy and a little bit
at the back but that was sort of over the spare tyre anyway. There are a few little adjustments so
we opened up the tent itself which is pretty simple. It's got a ladder in it which has these
hooks and you can hook it up there but it was just a little bit short only because the
truck is jacked up on portal axles and 35 inch tyres. Coming into the canopy is really nice,
really nice and there's Shiji peeking out. Caleb didn't really find it too hard to pull
the tent back down, sort of grabbed on the rope and used his weight.
Paul, just walk it down, walk it down, walk down the ladder, walk down the ladder, walk, that's it,
just keep going but it came down pretty easily. Sort of bring down the back first and then you
come around the front and you bring that down. You lift up the bags for the boots.
Lovely day to do it, it's still winter, a little bit high but he's only 14.
We've taken out a couple of aluminium crossbars that were inside the tent and now we're going to
place them on top. They're not too hard to put in so Caleb said he'd do it.
It's pretty handy and actually these things are really well made.
I think this is made in China, this tent, really well prized. There's the
solar panel. Remove it. I don't think you could put it on top of the hardshell tent because it
would affect the hydraulic lift jacks. I think they're gas jacks. They won't take the weight,
the panel weighs 12 kilos. Even if it did take one panel it wouldn't take two, so we
put it on the rhino rack over the main cabin. We want to adjust the little catches
and they're on these sliders, you just loosen them up, drag them along, not too hard.
Little torque wrench, giving a bit of a hand. And that's Yeezy and the truck
and the rooftop tent, all rather nice. Thanks for watching.
