The sun wasn’t up, but I could see my wife’s eyes staring back at me in the glow of early dawn. In her expression, I could tell the previous dark hours had been as uncomfortable and consumed by the disjointed thoughts of sleeplessness that I had endured. In the dark, alone - neither of us knew.
Between us was the cause; swaddled, thick at the waist due to a reusable cloth diaper with a soother clutched in her right fist. Astrid, our daughter, lay in the middle of the mattress taking deep, restful and rejuvenating breaths. Her arms were outstretched, forcing Michelle and I to lay on our sides with our backs against the aluminum support bars of our Eezi-Awn 1400 roof tent. I smiled and said - “the only thing Astrid surrenders to is sleep.”
That cool fall night on the shores of a remote northern Ontario, Canada lake was our last night in the roof tent. We had outgrown it. It was replaced with an Oztent RV3 ground tent which provided a number of practicalities and benefits over the roof tent option. Particularly for a young family.
Despite the ground tent benefits, there is no one perfect solition. Overlanding to new places, a growing child and over 10 years of new ideas and products in the roof tent market have made for some interesting cold winter nights at home deliberating on travel sleep systems. Go Fast Campers is one brand whose build quality and designs routinely get me excited; especially their new Superlite RTT.
So, from the perspective of a Canadian road tripper with Latin American miles - here are some quick thoughts on a new roof tent concept and how it would integrate into my travels.
The cons - roof tents are always expensive. The GFC Superlite, given all its pros, also achieves an attractive price point in the market. The biggest con for my family is the size restrictions dictated by the surface area of the average vehicle's roof. The shearpin family needs a Superlite in a side folding, 3 person sleeper configuration. The GFC Superlite - an innovative concept.