Roof rack max weight vs. roof-mounted tents

[skotl]

My mate was just proudly showing off his roofrack-mounted tent. He and another mate are about to embark on an endurance cycle from John O'Groats to the English border (one cycling, one in the car) and they'll be sleeping in this fancy pop-up tent mounted on the roof of his Volkswagen Golf estate.

I was remembering tNed's thread re carrying steel and the surprisingly low max weight for roof racks so checked and VW say it's 165lbs aka 75KG. I mentioned this and my mate doesn't believe it - no skin off my nose, he's a grown adult etc. etc.

But his argument sounds a valid one - "why would a UK based manufacturer build and sell a tent in the UK that shouldn't be used on cars in the UK?". Any thoughts ?

 

[mr_splatter]

According to tentbox website...

Weight limits explained​

It is common to wonder about the added weight of people inside your TentBox, and how this affects your roof load limit. In short, the roof load limit of your vehicle is for dynamic loads, i.e. when your vehicle is in motion. As people will only be inside your TentBox when your vehicle is stationary, the dynamic load limit is not a relevant figure. The steel frame of your vehicle, which the TentBox sits on, can take hundreds of kilograms of force, as it’s designed to roll in an accident.

 

[sako243]

True about the dynamic vs static load - but does the roof tent stay under that dynamic limit, after all the whole purpose is you'll be driving somewhere to set it up...

 

[Arash]

It all depends on how your roof bars/rack is mounted to your roof. Some vehicles its a few m6 bolts. On my Hilux surf there is a rail running along the roof that you secure your roof rack to, same as on the range rover.
The dynamic load is even lower than the static load. You need to find both the max weights for your roof rack/bars and your car. One without the other is not much use.

There is an Aussie 4wd guy that had this problem with his rhino rack and it pulled itself off his Nissan Navaro.

 

[skotl]

According to tentbox website...

Weight limits explained​

It is common to wonder about the added weight of people inside your TentBox, and how this affects your roof load limit. In short, the roof load limit of your vehicle is for dynamic loads, i.e. when your vehicle is in motion. As people will only be inside your TentBox when your vehicle is stationary, the dynamic load limit is not a relevant figure. The steel frame of your vehicle, which the TentBox sits on, can take hundreds of kilograms of force, as it’s designed to roll in an accident.

Ah - interesting. And the manufacturer was / is TentBox, as it happens

 

[Agrismith]

My mate was just proudly showing off his roofrack-mounted tent. He and another mate are about to embark on an endurance cycle from John O'Groats to the English border (one cycling, one in the car) and they'll be sleeping in this fancy pop-up tent mounted on the roof of his Volkswagen Golf estate.

I was remembering tNed's thread re carrying steel and the surprisingly low max weight for roof racks so checked and VW say it's 165lbs aka 75KG. I mentioned this and my mate doesn't believe it - no skin off my nose, he's a grown adult etc. etc.

But his argument sounds a valid one - "why would a UK based manufacturer build and sell a tent in the UK that shouldn't be used on cars in the UK?". Any thoughts ?

His argument is a bit pointless
The majority of roof top tents will go on landrovers, pickups and 4x4 which will have different load ratings to a golf

It's like saying why does ifor Williams sell a 3.5t trailer in the UK as you can't tow it with his golf.