Ladder to rooftop tents : Product development of a new contractable ladder suited for Thule rooftop tents

Abstract: This thesis report contains the development of a new ladder specifically designed for needs of the rooftop tent users. The project has been conducted by two students wor- king full time over the duration of twenty weeks with the start in mid-January and is a culmination of their education in industrial design engineering at Luleå university of technology. The thesis is a collaboration with Thule which is a Swedish compa- ny specializing in outdoor and transportation products for the active user. Thule’s largest user base are the occasional users, which uses their products once or twice a year. The current ladder used by Thule today is a telescopic solution that is mainly deri- ved from standards concerning contractable ladders and not specifically made for rooftop tent ladder. Thus, it has a lacking usability and is constructed from many dif- ferent parts which makes it unnecessarily complex and heavy. This has led to Thule wanting this project to explore the possibilities of creating a more weight optimized and cost-efficient ladder that can achieve several lengths ranging from 1,5 to 2,5 meters. This while also making it more user friendly and safe while incorporating the company values. Thus, the mission statement reads: “To create a safe, high quality, and easy to use rooftop tent ladder for the occasion- al, recreational user while reducing weight and complexity” The schedule has followed an iterative process influenced by the phases of design thinking, which is to emphasize, define, ideate, prototype, and finally test. This has helped to solve the complex problems by focusing on the users and their needs. To start this off, an extensive analysis of the market competition, users, Thule, and the current ladder was performed to be followed up with more creative methods as bra- instorming and different stages of sketching, aimed to solve the problems that was found. All of which later was constructed to a feasible concept with computer aided design, prototyping methods, and computer renderings. The result is a new rooftop tent ladder with a sliding design, fulfilling most of the project scope as well as solving other problems found in the first phases. The project has also provided Thule with a full-scale, functional mock-up to prove the concept, as well as some recommendations for future work.