My Rooftop Tent Was Falling Apart. Here’s How I Fixed It.

AFTER 200 NIGHTS, MY ROOFNEST SPARROW EYE WAS FALLING APART. HERES HOW I REINFORCED IT.

Having spent well over 200 nights in my Roofnest Sparrow Eye, there’s not much my tent hasn’t seen. From the salty Atlantic in northeastern Maine, to the red sands of Moab. Though much of my adventures are hopping state to state on Interstates, a large portion of my time camping is spent on washboard gravel roads and ill-maintained two-track.

Grainger 2 Hole Cushioned Clamp, similar to what I use.

I’ve ran into two issues during my heavy testing (re: abuse) of this tent over the past two years. Firstly, the included U-Bolts are quite easily bent and without much in the way of cushioning, they began to rub the paint off of my bed rack and bend themselves. The solution here is easy — a friend sent me some that he had used that were built to dampen vibrations. Both McMaster-Carr & Grainger makes these in an assortment of sizes — simply find the one that will fit your bed rack.

The second issue I ran into — likely caused by the factory U-Bolts as well — was the fiberglass shell separating from the aluminum rails to which they are riveted. These rails are what the tent actually mounts to your bed rack through, and therefore take all the forces from having 100 or so pounds shifting above your truck bed.

The solution here is easy — I simply drilled up through the aluminum rails & the fiberglass of the tent, installed a lengthy bolt with washers on both ends, used red threadlocker and some lock nuts. The results are a far more rigid tent that, along with the vibration dampening U-Bolts, has no chance of moving or coming apart while on the trail.

Here’s how I did it.

On the advice of a friend of mine, Joe (IG @4x4bound), the plan was to drill through the tents aluminum mounting rails and the fiberglass shell. Joe goes one step further on his rig — drilling through his steel bed rack, the aluminum tent rails, and the tent, mounting it without any brackets such as I shared above.

Both methods are valid, though his requires a bit more precision which I was not sure I could muster. I have quite a bad track record.

Anyhow, using a drill and some fresh drill bits I began with a pilot hole while laying in the bed of the truck and drilling up (with safety glasses!).

The view from underneath the tent.

Ultimately, my plan was to create a hole just large enough for a decently sized bolt — in my case M8x1.25x60mm to fit through. I would then use the largest washers I could find that would work with the relatively small bolt head, red threadlocker, and nylon lock nuts.

I began with a smaller bit and worked my way up to one a hair larger than the bolts I intended to use. The process was extremely straightforward and 6 bolts can be installed in 15 minutes.

From there, it’s simply a matter of installing washers and nylon lock nuts before the thread locker drips off the bolt. Between upgrading all four clamps and reinforcing the tent, there’s no doubt in my mind about future durability especially when I’m in remote areas. I can now put my entire bodyweight on the rear portion which overhangs the bed rack and the entire tent does not move.