Looking for good lifting slings to mount rooftop tent to a lifting hoist... any ideas? (1 Viewer)

[atsparkinson]

So my garage has about 20 ft of ceiling room, meaning a lot of volume is going un-used and I am planning to install some cross beams and possible a platform. It is also a great opportunity to engineer a hoist system to store the rooftop tent when it is not being used. I have seem some DIY builds on other forums but I cant find a hoist or hoist slings that would :

1. Prevent sway
2. The slings would be easily removable so i can simply lower the tent onto the truck.

Harbor freight has some good prices on hoists but my knowledge on these things is minimal. Any help would be much appreciated!.

 

[cruiserpilot]

What kind of tent? Autohome actually sells a hoist for their tents at a very reasonable price.

 

[atsparkinson]

James Baroud Grand raid ... I’ll check Autohome

 

[e9999]

any number of DIY contraptions will easily lift a tent off a roofrack. The weight is very little by hoisting and slings standard. Even your typical inch or inch and a half ratchet strap would likely be plenty strong enough. Just wrap them around the tent. If you want to be extra careful you can buy those tube straps used for mountain climbing by the foot, but that would likely be way overkill. My local Ace sells generic 1" flat strap by the foot. I think those are already rated at something like 1,000 lbs. A little electric hoist is inexpensive but a multi pulley system even more so.
The sway (but why is that an issue?) you could control with a couple of ropes on the sides or if you want to go extra engineer build a rectangular rack or platform that would slip up and down on side tubes or cables. But I think that would actually be conterproductive.
I put my heavy roof rack on and off simply with 4 cables, one to each corner, gathered at the center, and then up to a hoist. Having the ability to move the thing sideways easily is actually a big plus, so that I can set it just right on the roof, otherwise I'd have to relocate the truck like a dozen times to get it right.

 

[UTkruzer]

Harken hoister that's sold by several vendors for jeep hard tops.

 

[Shoredreamer]

We use simple tow straps at Rhino Adventure Gear. Have done hundreds of James Baroud tents. The fiberglass can be slick, so we either use 1” foam strips between the strap and the fiberglass on the edges or have some plastic wrap go around the tent circumference.

 

[atsparkinson]

We use simple tow straps at Rhino Adventure Gear. Have done hundreds of James Baroud tents. The fiberglass can be slick, so we either use 1” foam strips between the strap and the fiberglass on the edges or have some plastic wrap go around the tent circumference. View attachment 2110233

Is that just a harbor freight hoist? I was hoping for a solution that would mount it more flush... thanks for the tips on the straps.. that is sort of what i had in mind!

 

[Fisher23]

a couple kayak or canoe lifts? they are strong and cheep.

 

[e9999]

one thing to keep in mind is that you may not want the lifting straps to be at a shallow angle, like almost "horizontal" on top of the item you are lifting because they would then exert a much greater compression force than the weight of the item itself. As in crush things inward, not so great for brittle materials like a solid shell. So the more vertical, the better. Or use a spreader bar of some sort that will take the compression stresses. Or better yet, build a simple rectangular frame with tubing or 2x4s the same size as the tent, hang the tent from the frame and then lift the frame.

 

[kruisinkid]

2 lengths of rope, square knot in each
look up spanset. i dont know if they make anything at that much of a lower rating. worth a look. we only use the bigger stuff at work.
harbor freight 2" tow straps.
flush?
never go flatter than 30deg on each bridle leg also because tension force exponentially increases and you also risk snapping the strap/rope.

 

[BMThiker]

I'd rig up 2x4s just longer than the width and drill holes at each end. Then run a length of rope under each 2x4 span, up through the holes and knotted. These will support the tent without the tension. Then you can attach your hoist rigging to the 2x4s.