[sdp1975]

Slightly off topic, but do such modifications require any endorsement from the RTO ? This does alter the seating capacity of the vehicle.

Is there any safety impact of such mods ?

[bwar]

Originally Posted by COUGAR

If you mean marked campsites like the ones in the US with relative safety, common toilet facilities, place to plug in your campers electrical system and such, then no, we dont have many of those right now. But there ARE places where you can camp. The back of a car, if properly done up CAN be more comfortable than a tent.

I have been camping out for years in various forests and on some roadtrips on the roadside beside a dhaba. There are an amazing number of sites in Himachal, Uttarakhand where u can camp in peace without much disturbance from locals. Maharashtra and Karnataka have a fair share of such places mainly along the western ghats and along Satyamangala. Rajasthan I have learnt people can get intrusive, sometimes annoyingly so.

A typical weekend has me driving out to my favorite camping site: mine is one beside the Ramganga river. Once there, my friend indulges in his pastime of fishing, while I fly my latest RC build or read a book! We carry our own supplies of groceries and a Coleman Multi-Fuel stove for cooking. Toilet facility is the dabba system! We used to carry our tents earlier on such trips, usually on bike trips. But have now found the car is much more comfortable, especially in winters. Its also much more easier to make and break camp!

On longer road trips have found that the option of camping in the car can be a godsend! I usually dont drive after 8pm or so unless I am well rested in the day: which is like never! Its not always that we have good/safe accommodation in all places. The last time in Samba, we were asked if we wanted the sad looking room by the hour! In such cases, the option to camp out in the car can be very helpful! Learning from some bad experiences, I now park for the night beside a dhaba or some place with people around.

PS: On last road trip, car-camped in Drass & Hundar: in the 1st case because accomodation wasnt available when we reached past 8pm and in the 2nd case because it looked like fun!

In a few short lines , you have managed to make me want to head to the hills . If you head towards Delhi and further on to the Himalayas , lets plan a car camping vacation together :-)

Originally Posted by rohin4110

I completely agree. While from the convenience point of view, it is a great idea, however, from safety perspective, not a good idea at all!!

Yes the initial designs/plans do look flawed from a safety perspective.

Originally Posted by VineetSoni

hi

Kindly have a look at the links I am attaching and see if u can make some thing of this form.

http://www.swissroombox.com/

Wow !!! This looks doable. Will go and take pictures today and see if we can manage a setup like this.

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Slightly off topic, but do such modifications require any endorsement from the RTO ? This does alter the seating capacity of the vehicle.

Is there any safety impact of such mods ?

Well if its a permanent mod, I believe it will. With a temporary mod , unless the vehicle is being driven with the mod, dont believe the RTO should come into the picture. Maybe the more experienced BHPian's can comment on the same.

[susudi]

Originally Posted by bwar

I liked the Maggiolina & Columbus rooftop tents being manufactured by http://www.autohomeus.com/rooftop/ . Unfortunately they don't appear to be available in India. Look for videos on Youtube, they seem to be awesome in the roof top category.

There is a lady who has a coach building industry in he south who was selling something akin to these on of the facebook pages https://www.facebook.com/vipina.jeya...7875926&type=3 . She quoted be Rs. 3 lacs for the same which I felt was not justified.

After all its a fibre glass shell with mattress inside and how much can the scissor setup for rolling up the canopy or the gas springs for raising the canopy cost,even after making a reasonable amount of profit. I think its just a matter of time before a domestic manufacturer/s realise the potential of the camping and adventure tourism industry and get their act together.

http://www.prolineracks.com/car-roof...-carriers.html
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=fi...h=736&dpr=1.25

Stuff like this is already available , it's just a matter of suitably modifying them.


I have also written to the iron mans indian distributor asking for a quote , will update the thread when I hear from them.

Thats good to hear, You can try www.aliexpress.com which is a part of alibaba.com, manufacturers from china directly ship to indiafree of cost, and i understand they are pretty reliable (not every one in ali express is a cheat) and before taking delivery you may have to pay 20% or so customs. Even otherwise, considering 3+lakh of an indian manufacturer quote, this should be well within 1200-1500 USD approx 1lakh rupees.

You can check the link here - http://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesal...-top-tent.html (Individual wisdom is surely advised before buying )

[bwar]

Originally Posted by susudi

Thats good to hear, You can try www.aliexpress.com which is a part of alibaba.com, manufacturers from china directly ship to indiafree of cost, and i understand they are pretty reliable (not every one in ali express is a cheat) and before taking delivery you may have to pay 20% or so customs. Even otherwise, considering 3+lakh of an indian manufacturer quote, this should be well within 1200-1500 USD approx 1lakh rupees.

You can check the link here - http://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesal...-top-tent.html (Individual wisdom is surely advised before buying )

Interesting

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DHL-s...534843052.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/CAR-T...532245873.html

These are 600 and 660 respectively. Do you think we can get them shipped by sea rather than DHL which will work out to be very expensive ?


Alibaba has even more variety and is much cheaper
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?...r+rooftop+tent

Possibly need 10 BHPians to get together and order.

[KedarB]

Originally Posted by bwar

Well planned dude. You are on the right track. Keep us updated about your experiences with the setup.

Thanks! will definitely post my progress on this thread!

Originally Posted by condor

An alternative to this: when driving, carry these frames on the roof. If this just a frame, it will not cause much of a problem if placed on the roof top. The interior space can then be used for luggage.[/list]

Originally Posted by bwar

I guess he will also have to keep it covered with plastic/ tarpaulin to keep the dust and water out from the wood frame and / or the matress if it also goes on the roof.

Thanks for the suggestion Condor, but if I manage to execute what I plan properly, the final size of the folded setup is not supposed to be very big. It should be flat and can be kept at the bottom of the trunk with other stuff on top of it. bwar is right, keeping it on top will need extra safety provisions for it, specially in monsoons

Originally Posted by COUGAR

If you mean marked campsites like the ones in the US with relative safety, common toilet facilities, place to plug in your campers electrical system and such, then no, we dont have many of those right now. But there ARE places where you can camp. The back of a car, if properly done up CAN be more comfortable than a tent.

I have been camping out for years in various forests and on some roadtrips on the roadside beside a dhaba. There are an amazing number of sites in Himachal, Uttarakhand where u can camp in peace without much disturbance from locals. Maharashtra and Karnataka have a fair share of such places mainly along the western ghats and along Satyamangala. Rajasthan I have learnt people can get intrusive, sometimes annoyingly so.

A typical weekend has me driving out to my favorite camping site: mine is one beside the Ramganga river. Once there, my friend indulges in his pastime of fishing, while I fly my latest RC build or read a book! We carry our own supplies of groceries and a Coleman Multi-Fuel stove for cooking. Toilet facility is the dabba system! We used to carry our tents earlier on such trips, usually on bike trips. But have now found the car is much more comfortable, especially in winters. Its also much more easier to make and break camp!

On longer road trips have found that the option of camping in the car can be a godsend! I usually dont drive after 8pm or so unless I am well rested in the day: which is like never! Its not always that we have good/safe accommodation in all places. The last time in Samba, we were asked if we wanted the sad looking room by the hour! In such cases, the option to camp out in the car can be very helpful! Learning from some bad experiences, I now park for the night beside a dhaba or some place with people around.

PS: On last road trip, car-camped in Drass & Hundar: in the 1st case because accomodation wasnt available when we reached past 8pm and in the 2nd case because it looked like fun!

This is exactly what prompted me to follow this idea! seeing you do it successfully makes me really happy that its doable in India. Thanks a lot for sharing, I am craving for a road trip now!

Originally Posted by VineetSoni

hi

Kindly have a look at the links I am attaching and see if u can make some thing of this form.

http://www.swissroombox.com/

Wow!!! This is exactly what I was planning, and looks far better than my crude sketches. And this box is used inside a Jazz so it will work really well in an Ertiga, Thanks a lot for sharing man! I think sourcing this might just be easier than building a custom solution of my own.

[bwar]

Originally Posted by KedarB

Wow!!! This is exactly what I was planning, and looks far better than my crude sketches. And this box is used inside a Jazz so it will work really well in an Ertiga, Thanks a lot for sharing man! I think sourcing this might just be easier than building a custom solution of my own.

Buying this would work out to be a very expensive proposition , the basic unit is costing Rs. 1,80,000/- without shipping or duties. Getting a metal fabricator/welder to make it based on this design would be a much cheaper proposition.

Yes , it will involve a lot more running around to source the raw materials and then get everything cut & made to size.

[KedarB]

Originally Posted by bwar

Buying this would work out to be a very expensive proposition , the basic unit is costing Rs. 1,80,000/- without shipping or duties. Getting a metal fabricator/welder to make it based on this design would be a much cheaper proposition.

Yes , it will involve a lot more running around to source the raw materials and then get everything cut & made to size.

Hmm you are right. I didn't look at the price and shipping in the excitement of spotting exactly what I was planning on. Nevertheless, this should give me some more ideas and help me refine my designs. I don't mind running around to get this custom made, but a product like this would have been preferred

[susudi]

Originally Posted by bwar

Interesting

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DHL-s...534843052.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/CAR-T...532245873.html

These are 600 and 660 respectively. Do you think we can get them shipped by sea rather than DHL which will work out to be very expensive ?


Alibaba has even more variety and is much cheaper
http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?...r+rooftop+tent

Possibly need 10 BHPians to get together and order.

There is a company called outdeck in bangalore, www.outdeck.com, which is owned and operated by a gentleman Mr.Manish tiwari. He can do the sourcing for you, you may have to pay 10-20% of his margin, but it is always better to get it from some one who regularly does it than re-inventing the wheel all by ourselves.


Sudhi

[VineetSoni]

Originally Posted by bwar

Buying this would work out to be a very expensive proposition , the basic unit is costing Rs. 1,80,000/- without shipping or duties. Getting a metal fabricator/welder to make it based on this design would be a much cheaper proposition.

Yes , it will involve a lot more running around to source the raw materials and then get everything cut & made to size.

hi
i will give a rough sketch of what can be done at home to make some thing like this without spending much.

[VineetSoni]

Originally Posted by bwar

Yes , it will involve a lot more running around to source the raw materials and then get everything cut & made to size.

Originally Posted by KedarB

Hmm you are right. I didn't look at the price and shipping in the excitement of spotting exactly what I was planning on. Nevertheless, this should give me some more ideas and help me refine my designs. I don't mind running around to get this custom made, but a product like this would have been preferred

kindly have a look at the word file attached.

it is a very rough sketch. something out of brainstorming. the plan can be improved at many levels. this is just the basic idea.
The plan for making a bed in car.docx

[bwar]

Originally Posted by susudi

There is a company called outdeck in bangalore, www.outdeck.com, which is owned and operated by a gentleman Mr.Manish tiwari. He can do the sourcing for you, you may have to pay 10-20% of his margin, but it is always better to get it from some one who regularly does it than re-inventing the wheel all by ourselves.


Sudhi

Thank you for the lead , will write to him.

Originally Posted by VineetSoni

hi
i will give a rough sketch of what can be done at home to make some thing like this without spending much.

Thanks, that will be a great help.

[KedarB]

Originally Posted by VineetSoni

kindly have a look at the word file attached.

it is a very rough sketch. something out of brainstorming. the plan can be improved at many levels. this is just the basic idea.
Attachment 1270146

Saw your word doc, thanks for sharing. Its actually similar to what I was thinking, but your's seems simpler.

I do have a couple of queries -

• When the sheets are opened, is the hinge facing downwards? I think it has to be for the structure to stay flat while resting on the folded seats. If they face up, putting pressure on top of the aluminium sheets will result in hinges folding in.
• If the hinges are facing downwards, and one of the aluminium plate is welded to the box, how will the sheets fold?

Please excuse if I misunderstood what you were trying to say.

The challenge will also be to get the exact height of the box which is going to support this structure at the trunk's/boot's end. This height should be such that, when the sheets are opened and rested on top of the folded seats, the surface remains relatively parallel to the ground.

[autoholic]

I suggest you make something that slides out/ folds out of the tail gate. You will have to keep the tail gate open while camping. There can be some slide out supports from a roof top carrier that can be used to mount a canvas zip-up type tent covering the open area.

Points to consider in this setup
1. Night time temperatures.
2. Setup Cost+Hassle vs cheap hotel+more fun time.

[VineetSoni]

Originally Posted by KedarB

Saw your word doc, thanks for sharing. Its actually similar to what I was thinking, but your's seems simpler.

I do have a couple of queries -

• When the sheets are opened, is the hinge facing downwards? I think it has to be for the structure to stay flat while resting on the folded seats. If they face up, putting pressure on top of the aluminium sheets will result in hinges folding in.
• If the hinges are facing downwards, and one of the aluminium plate is welded to the box, how will the sheets fold?

Please excuse if I misunderstood what you were trying to say.

The challenge will also be to get the exact height of the box which is going to support this structure at the trunk's/boot's end. This height should be such that, when the sheets are opened and rested on top of the folded seats, the surface remains relatively parallel to the ground.

As I said the plan is basic well two things which I can think of
1. Only sheet 1 is attached to box. Sheet 1 to sheet 2 hinge facing done so that sheet 2 folds on sheet1 then next joint sheet 2 to sheet3 hinge facing up so that sheet 3 folds on sheet 2 and so on alternating it. We will have to use pading on top of these sheets. For eg. See attachment



2. We can add extra detachable legs at the centre and far end of the bed
By doing this we can remove the height factor
The design can be worked on as per once need

[VineetSoni]

Have a look at another sketch this might explain a few more things



And yes height will be challenge but can be achieved