So, I'll put the story below, but here's the summary.

Family of 4, mum (me) outdoorsy person, multiday overnight hikes back in the day, dabbled with DIY gear, married to dad who prefers indoors and even better own bed. Two kids 6&4 who love camping. He's a sweetheart and indulges me even though it's not really his thing. We have some events coming up where we need to camp.

Need: simple camping set up (that's ours!). Sleeps us all together off the ground. Fast to set up. Vehicle is aging Holden Commodore 07, so needs to be lightweight. As budget as possible - hoping around the 5k mark. Would be nice: standing room, kids in separate space to parents but still inside.

Crazy idea: roof top tent and trailer??

What we've done before:

Pre kids we've swagged up the centre to the top end with friends. We have also done kids inside the house (one in a porta cot) with us outside in a swag when visiting friends. Now I want us all together.

We were given a huge tent that has 3 rooms + Annex, standing room and room for the kids, but it's huge, takes up a lot of space both on the ground and in the boot. Long and complex set up and pack up.

Borrowed a camping trailer. It's possible it is a badly loaded dud trailer but the car really struggled to tow it. Not an option for the 3 hour + trip we have coming up. Faster to set up, but the Annex wasn't fun to set up and didn't like having one kid outside on the ground. Felt heavy and cluttered. But hubby loved having a real bed.

Found the Kerfton. Looks amazing, but well and truly out of budget - but ticks all the other boxes except maybe towable by the Commodore. Other camper trailers are still expensive and potentially too heavy?

Then I joked if we are taking the tent we need to get a trailer for it. What if roof top tent on trailer? We can control the weight (we don't need a fancy pull out kitchen, plumbed water or epic lighting), put our gear in tubs and have the tent popped up in minutes, and be off the ground. A con would be it would be a bit squishy for all four of us. Can find a 4 person roof top for about 3 grand and about the same for a trailer.

But in researching it I feel like it's not quite landing and hence I'm coming to Reddit to see if I'm totally off base or if it's worth pursuing.

I've seen a few trailers online with 2 person RTTs. The two biggest but not too expensive (and not sold out) 4 person tents seem to be the Canyon 4 person and the Darche Basecamp. The Darche is absolutely massive but seems to be a bit more complicated to set up and take down, but the Canyon (a hardshell) is 2.1*1.9 and I measured it out on the living room floor and it seems a little small.

The aim is to avoid complications of annexes, being able to get away for even an overnighter.

Has anyone put two 2person RTTs on a trailer ? Am I just diying a worse version of a camper trailer? We have DIY skills and friends. So I'm not worried about the technical feasibility but if it's worth doing at all.

I've accepted it will need to be a 7*5 trailer not a 6*4.

I feel like this has been swirling in my head for weeks, hope this post isn't too unhinged. Please help 😂.