ARB Esperance roof tent promises style and ease of use

Stylish and easy to use Esperance roof tent from ARB now on sale through Britpart dealer network

We don’t normally think of ARB as being given to fl ights of fl orid language. So when the company describes its new Esperance Roof Tent as ‘drawing heritage from the beautiful beaches and crystal-clear waters of one of Western Australia’s most renowned coastal environments,’ we were prompted to take a look and see what they were on about.

Turns out Esperance is a town on the south coast, about 450 miles from Perth, and when you look at pictures of the place you basically want to go there and stay forever. Turquoise waters lapping beaches of pearly white sand where kangaroos bask in the sun – it’s that kind of vibe. A place for surfi ng, swimming, scuba diving and just generally loving life amid a landscape from a dream. You can defi nitely tell why ARB decided to name a roof tent after it.

The whole outdoorsy thing goes well with the tent’s design, too. It’s not the sort of old-school variety that you might associate with a Troopy doing battle with the Canning Stock Route, but a sleek, slim, modern hard-shell design that’s compact and light in weight.

ARB says its design brief for the Esperance was to create a goodlooking tent with lots of features and ‘quick and effortless’ set-up and break-down times. The result was a unit with an internal telescopic ladder, gas strut assisted opening and a closing mechanism needing only three push-lock ratchet straps.

The tent opens up to a size of 1520mm long, 2000mm wide and 1200mm high, with all of that available inside for bedding. It comes with a 4cm thick, highdensity sponge mattress with a washable quilted polyester cover, and features a ‘stargazing moonroof’ as well as three zip-up windows with midge-proof mesh screens to help manage airfl ow.

Stainless steel hardware is used throughout, the cover is made from 200GSM fi re retardant poly cotton and the fl y screen is removable 210D fi re retardant canvas. The cover and fl y have water heads of 2000mm and 3000mm respectively.

Inside, you’ll fi nd a variety of stowage pockets for shoes, keys, toiletries and so on. There’s also a dimmable LED light with concealed wiring – as well as an external strip light to help you fi nd your way around in the dark. Nobody wants to meet a hungry snake while answering a call of nature, after all…

The Esperance Roof Tent weighs in at 56kg dry and can accommodate up to two adults and a child. Weight limits are 500kg in the tent itself and 150kg on the ladder, but ARB says your vehicle’s roof bars must have a load limit of more than 75kg and be a minimum of 760mm apart and a maximum of 40mm in height.

You’re looking at a top speed of 68mph with the tent in place, too. Not that this should come as any hardship at all, especially if you’ve done the obvious thing and taken your Esperance tent to hang out in Esperance itself. People say off-roading is about having fun in the slow lane: here’s proof that on a good expedition, the best bits come when you’ve stopped altogether.

As usual with ARB, customers here in Britain are able to get these tends through the Britpart dealer network. To fi nd out more, head for www.britpart.com.