Rear tent

[Eddi]

Good afternoon all,

When I purchased my Carawagon i also got a "tent" that I was told attached to the rear end of the vehicle. It came with a host of galvinised rods that must make up a framework to support the canvas. I spent yesterday afternoon trying to figure this one out......does anyone have any assembly instruction for a rear mounted tent ?

[RMS]

That doesn't sound like any Carawagon rear tent I've seen.

Normally there is a self-supporting frame which pulls out from the rear of the roof section. Note there are no uprights - the frame poles are cantilevered, with a couple of foot left inside the roof when fully extended.

Here you can see the end of the frame (just above the rear door) when pushed home:


Here you can see the bars extended, with a sun shade (pink cotton bed sheet!) spread over it.
As you can see, no uprights needed :

The Dormobile rear tent on the left (Mick's, Jabbawocky on here) is a custom made awning with a frame and 'hooks' on to the back of his Dormobile.

This picture shows an original Carawagon rear tent on the right, and the roof frames extended on the two Carawagons behind and a tarp thrown over and down the back - our usual 'show' configuration:



I think if you've got some sort of frame which needs putting together, it could possibly be an after-market one, possibly a small caravan awning

Cheers,
Robin.

[RMS]

By the way, I've got an original Carawagon awning, the same as the blue one in the above picture, and a side awning, with all the fittings (awning groove etc.) on one of my project Carawagons.

However, as we normally do the 'show stand' configuration, either back to back or side by side, using a tarp, I've not bothered even getting it out of its bag to check yet!

If we were travelling solo it might be a different story - it would make a very useful living area which could be closed at night

Cheers,
Robin.

[Eddi]

Hi Robin,

Managed to get hold of seller today and he says tent was made to fit on the back of the vehicle but he can't remember how. He's going to try and find some old photos and send them to me. He does remember using the tent as a "lounge" when camping in Mozambique....
Here's hoping !

Regards

Karl

[chippit]

Free standing tent poles

This is the free standing tent that was with my carawagon when I bought it. It does not have the pull out awning poles but has free standing poles with a couple of poppers on the roof that the tent fixes to.

Free standing tent

[Eddi]

Thanks for those pics, that is exactly what I received with my vehicle too. I'll try again at the weekend to assemble the frame..........the tent is identical !

Regards


karl

[RMS]

Ah, interesting that two of you have the same.

I wonder if Searle offered this as an aftermarket option, or if there was another company which was producing them, either for Carawagons or as a general rear tent for any vehicle?

I don't suppose either of you can find a manufacturer's label on the tents anywhere, can you?

Oh, and by the way, it looks like a pain to put up, but it looks a lot bigger than the pull-out frame type

Cheers,
Robin.

[RMS]

Ooooh - look what I've just found looking through the brochures

Original option list:


Later option list:


I would have possibly said it was an age thing; ie. originally the frame type as that is the first brochure marked as "Searle Optional Extras", then in later years they changed to the frame tent (probably cheaper/easier than modifying the roof?) as the colour brochure is marked "Carawagon Specialist Conversions".

However, I can see from my office window, my 1972 S3 Carawagon has the pull out frame type

Cheers,
Robin.

[chippit]

We assemble the roof section 1st then lift the whole lot to put the corner poles in, not a one person job.
I have another carawagon body and roof that has the pull out poles but no tent to go with that one, probably a better design as you don't need to carry the bulky poles inside the vehicle. Eventually I would like to get a tent made, I noticed in an earlier thread someone on here had one made (very nice it was too.) I was quoted £700 to £1500 it will have to wait a while. Any recommendations?

Regards Christine

[Eddi]

Success ! Thank you both.......Christine, the pic of the framework will help a lot. It looks to me like I may even have too many poles maybe the original owner took spares for their epic trip.
Next question, I've noticed small holes on rear doors and sliding window panels under the windows that look like they're there to put poles of some sort into ?

I've posted 3 pics to my FB carawagon album.....

Karl