“I have a few different setups,” says Brad. “I’ve used many depending on where we are going and what family members are coming. Sometimes the wife and the three kids come. For the quick overnighters the boys have the setup refined really well. Everything’s quick and works together well.

THE DAYTRIP AWAY FROM CAMP

It’s surprisingly quick to extract the ute away from camp for a day run somewhere. The two awning walls come down, the awning is zipped up within a couple of minutes and the rest of the campsite is left exactly where it is. It’s definitely one of the easier setups in this regard.

BENEFITS OF THIS SETUP

1. 1. IT’S MODULAR
   You’re not committed to having to put the entire camp setup together if you don’t have to. It can be as simple as rolling out the swag if you’re on the way home from a trip and need a quick couple of hours sleep.
2. 2. EXCELLENT WEATHER PROTECTION AT NIGHT
   A good swag by itself should be well enough to keep a late night downpour at bay, but throw it under the awning tent with a couple of the side walls and you’ve got excellent protection from the weather.
3. 3. IT’S CHANGEABLE
   You can set this campsite up to suit which direction the sun or the wind is coming from. The awning’s the only real fixed part of the equation, so you park the ute as a windbreak and set the walls and the gazebo up to suit.

THE DOWNSIDES

1. 1. WET WEATHER CAMPING
   One of the only times a swag isn’t great is when the rain keeps on keeping on, and you’re in a spot where the water won’t drain away. Any good swag will have a waterproof PVC base like all Adventure Kings Swags, but you’re still down on the ground.
2. 2. WIND DRAG
   Swags up on roofracks create pretty serious wind drag, which does have a negative effect on fuel economy. You can fix this by adding a wind break at the front of your roofrack, or by carrying the swags inside the vehicle where possible.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

3. 1. MESH FLOOR
   An Adventure Kings Mesh Floor spread out either direction than the footprint of your swag keeps the bottom of the swag clean and gives you somewhere to get in and out of your boots easily.
4. 2. AWNING WALL
   Brad’s taken his awning to the next level with a pair of Adventure Kings Awning Walls. They’re an ultra-cheap way to extend bad weather protection.
5. 3. MOZZIE NET OR AWNING TENT
   If you want some serious swag luxury, get a hold of a mozzie net or an awning tent for your awning. Throw your swag in there and you’re completely out of the elements.

THREE MYTHS BUSTED

1. 1. SWAGGING HAS TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE
   You can get up to a 75mm mattress in a lot of swags these days, and if you still find it’s not quite enough, throw in a small self-inflating mattress.
2. 2. AWNINGS (AND SWAGS) AREN’T WATERPROOF
   We’ve camped in some absolutely torrential downpours in our swags over the years. Bung ya swag under the awning, drop one corner down to prevent water pooling and you’re laughing.
3. 3. YOU’RE NOT FULLY PROTECTED BY SIDEWAYS RAIN
   Brad’s solved this problem by adding the awning walls to his setup. Simple and ultra-effective.

ROOFTOP TENT

Up in the sky is a camp setup that takes comfort to whole new levels

There’s just something about a rooftop tent that screams adventure. It’s that idea of literally carrying your home up on your roof, ready to escape at a moment’s notice. If you want the ultimate in comfort and weather protection then it’s hard to go past bolting an Adventure Kings Rooftop Tent to your vehicle because it’s some of the most comfortable camping you’ll ever do. Jake’s the owner of this mint D40 Nav, and after doing the swag thing for ages he’s stepped up into a rooftop tent and never looked back.

SETUP & PACKUP TIMES

Jake’s obviously got a pretty good handle on the setup, because he had the rooftop tent and the awning setup and the table out in a fraction over 11 minutes. Add about five more minutes here if you want to setup the annex room, which zips to the underside of the tent and pegs down into the ground.

OVERNIGHTERS v LONG STAYS

Some rooftop tents offer an annex room like the Adventure Kings ‘Tourer’, and while Jake didn’t have his with him, they add about five minutes of setup and packup time to each campsite. They’re a great addition for any stay longer than a night, but for quick overnighters you’d just stick with the rooftopper itself.

THE DAYTRIP AWAY FROM CAMP

Here’s where a rooftop tent’s biggest downfall is. By design it has to be packed away when you want to leave camp, so ‘going home packup time’ just about directly equals ‘daytrip packup time’.

BENEFITS OF THIS SETUP

1. 1. BEING UP OFF THE GROUND
   It’s great when the weather’s hot cause you’ll grab any bit of cool breeze available. Also tops when it’s raining to keep you up and off the wet ground.
2. 2. BIG, COMFORTABLE BED
   The bed in a typical rooftop tent is massive, usually well big enough for even the biggest 4WDers. And as long as you buy a good one, they’re seriously comfortable too.
3. 3. ANNEX ROOM
   Depending on design, some tents offer an annex room. If you plan on staying in one spot for more than a night, it’s a beaut bit of private space that lets you stand up to get changed or just get out of the elements.

THE DOWNSIDES

1. 1. CLIMBING IF YOU’VE GOT CROOK KNEES
   There’s no getting around it, sorry. If you have bung knees then a swag’s a better option than a rooftop tent.
2. 2. SETTING UP ON A LIFTED 4WD
   If you’re running more than two inches of lift you’ll find it’s easier to get UP on the roofrack to pack the tent away, rather than continually climbing up and down each side of the vehicle. Not the end of the world, though.
3. 3. GETTING DOWN TO PEE
   In case you’re wondering, yes, it does suck a little to have to climb down at night to visit the beer recycling factory – but only a little more than getting out of any nice, warm bed!

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

1. 1. LED STRIP LIGHTS AND USB CHARGERS
   Run a length of 6mm twin-core cable up into the tent and use it to power some LED strip lighting and some USB chargers for the mobile phones.
2. 2. WIND DEFLECTOR
   They are big, bulky bits of gear to sit up top, but you can minimise the wind-drag effect with a simple wind deflector up the front of your roofrack.
3. 3. LADDER EXTENSION
   If you’ve got a big truck you’re running a tent on, any good suppliers of rooftop tents will have ladder extensions to ensure the ladder reaches the ground. No need to try and prop it up on a besser block or a bit of timber!

THREE MYTHS BUSTED

1. 1. IT DRASTICALLY AFFECTS HANDLING
   Most rooftop tents weigh around the 60kg mark, which is about the same as two jerry cans and some swags up on your roofrack. Sure, you can feel it to an extent, but unless you’re running 6inch+ coils, ultra-soft shocks and no swaybars then the effect on bodyroll will be minimal.
2. 2. IT’LL NAIL YOUR FUEL ECONOMY
   Our experience tells us a rooftop tent negatively affects fuel economy somewhere in the region of 10-15%. It’s actually less than a couple of swags up on the roofrack thanks to the uniform shape of the rooftop tent. Here’s where that wind deflector will make a big difference.
3. 3. THEY’RE A PAIN TO SETUP AND PACKUP
   They’re actually surprisingly easy to setup. If you take into account the fact that you’ve gotta get a swag unstrapped from the roofrack, both are just about on par with each other. It makes it a heap easier if you have good sidesteps and a rear bar to stand on, or are okay with jumping up on the roof.

UTE-BACK CAMPING

Nowhere near the simplest setup, but this shows just how versatile ute camping can be

If you want to talk the ultimate in versatility, it’s hard to go past a ute. There’s just so many ways you can set up a tub or a canopy to be a serious slick touring rig, but we reckon Dan Zosky’s D22 just about takes the cake. He’s built the ute with a lift-off canopy that means he can rock up to camp, set up for a week and still easily bugger off for a day trip when the mood strikes.

SETUP & PACKUP TIMES

This is one seriously quick setup. Aside from the typical rooftop tent and awning setup times, to unhook the canopy it’s simply a case of grabbing four legs from the back of the canopy and manually winding them down on each corner. Then there’s a single Anderson plug to unhitch and you’re done. Total setup time was a tiny fraction over 16min flat, not bad at all!

OVERNIGHTERS v LONG STAYS

The obvious big difference between quick stops and extended stays for Dan is whether the canopy stays on or not. For overnighters the setup time is identical to Jake’s D40 – about 10 minutes for the rooftop tent and the awning.

THE DAYTRIP AWAY FROM CAMP

Here’s where Dan’s setup rules supreme. He literally drives off leaving the entire campsite intact. If the canopy’s still on the ute it’s about a five minute job to unplug everything. Way too easy!

BENEFITS OF THIS SETUP>

1. 1. ULTIMATE VERSATILITY
   You can’t argue with the ability to choose between a work truck and a fully-kitted touring rig. It could literally save you the cost of buying a second 4WD!
2. 2. EASY DAY TRIPS
   This would be the absolute ultimate setup for a place like Fraser. Get up to that perfect campsite, set up and then you’re free to hit your favourite fishing or swimming spots for the rest of the week.

THE DOWNSIDES

1. 1. WEIGHT
   Even though it’s alloy and not steel, there’s still a considerable amount of weight in that full canopy. Nothing a properly setup rear suspension can’t handle, but definitely needs to be taken into account.
2. 2. COST
   It’s definitely not one of the cheapest setups we’ve ever come across. Even though Dan’s in the metal fabrication industry, he said he priced up the canopy and found it was worth it to get someone to knock it up for him.
3. 3. STORAGE SPACE
   Leave the canopy at home and you’ve gotta have somewhere out of the way to store it. Not much point going to all that effort of taking it back off on Sunday arvo if you’ve gotta move it to get the missus’ car out of the garage on Monday morning.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

1. 1. ELECTRIC LEGS
   Okay, that’s sort of getting into the ‘un-necessarily fancy’ side of things, but seriously, how cool would a set of electric legs be? Push a couple of buttons to lift the canopy off the tray.
2. 2. ON THE LEVEL
   It’d be the smallest of mods, but a spirit level on each corner would really easily allow you to perfectly level the canopy out when it’s off the ute – essential with a rooftop tent.
3. 3. CARRY A GAZEBO
   Chuck an Adventure Kings Gazebo in the canopy so you have portable shade that goes wherever your canopy goes. It also means if you have all your camping gear installed on the canopy and you remove it for a daytrip, you can chuck the Gazebo on the tray and still have shade when you stop for lunch.