Hard Cartop Carrier help

[tripletots]

I am thinking of buying the Sears Hard Cartop Carrier for our Disney travel in August. We already own the foldable one but I remember last year in Fl. the temp of the top of the car was like 200 degrees and it made it hard to get it fastened without burning yourself. Anyway, I was thinking we could leave our stuff on top of the car when we check into POP (it will be early) and then just head to Disney Studios and unload at night.

I have a friend who said they take theirs off and put it on the balcony. She said she's afraid it will get stolen. So.....how safe is it to leave your stuff in the carrier and how safe is it to leave the carrier on the car empty. I was thinking of convenience.

So, owners of cartop carriers, what do you do?

 

[ukwildcat]

We have a hard top carrier. I've never left anything in it for any great length of time, but I never thought about anyone stealing anything either. I'm not so sure it would be such a bad thing to leave your luggage in the carrier for the day. But like anything, if somebody wants to steal something badly enough, there is very you can do to stop them. We leave our carrier on the car during our trips.

 

[shelly3girls]

I was hoping you were goingt to ask for advice on which to buy. We need to purchase a carrier in the next couple of weeks and really don't know where to start.

 

[graygables]

Before I got my cargo trailer, I used a Sears hardtop carrier and a hitch tray for my merchandise. We travelled a LOT with the top carrier and to be honest, it's a pain in the rear to get on and off, so no way would I mess with it ON the trip. It does lock and I've never had any issues with it at WDW, downtown Nashville, across country to OK, scary part of St Louis. Never a problem. I honestly think thieves are looking for a little more to jack than my car top carrier full of clothes... Not to mention the general pain in the butt to get into it quickly to rummage and find anything of value.

As far as the carrier goes, we got the Sears X-Cargo Sport and had them install it the first time. It holds a LOT, very deceptive from the first look at it. I have a Kia Sedona and could access it from either side sliding door or by standing on the hitch tray on the back, but if I were going to continue to use it, I would have tossed in a stepstool (I'm 5'5") to make it easier. BTW, I even left stuff bungied on my hitch tray with no problems.

 

[tripletots]

I was hoping you were goingt to ask for advice on which to buy. We need to purchase a carrier in the next couple of weeks and really don't know where to start.

If you go online at Sears and type in cartop carriers, a bunch will show up. They have their own brand and they have Thule. I just need a big one and Sears just happens to be the one. The Thule excursion is 13 cubic feet, and Sears has two, X-Cargo is 20 cu. ft. and the Xtreme is 16 cu. feet. The first and last are more aerodynamic (so Sears told me), but they said I probably need the large one since there are 7 of us. I could be wrong, just going by what the salesperson told me over the phone.

Thanks for the info. I feel more comfortable about leaving our stuff in it for the day and will leave it on top of the car during our trip. Besides where would I put it in our room at POP (we have 2 rooms, but also have 5 kids).

If anyone else has any suggestions about which to buy, please feel free to let me know, I'm not going to buy one until Tuesday (July 24th).

 

[shelly3girls]

Great, thanks for the info! We will be traveling with 7 also so we need all the space we can get!

 

[sbouncer]

We have the Sears X-Cargo and belive me 20 cf is alot of space. There is more than enough room in there for the luggage for the 5 of us for the week and we leave the carrier on when we unload. As a previous poster said it is just time cumsuming to take it on and off while there.

 

[ToInfinity]

We have friends that use one of the Sears hard cartop carriers and they have been really pleased with it. They used to have the soft one but didn't like the idea of keeping things in there for long times unattended (even if just stopping for lunch).

Although there is no guarantee ever that someone would steal your stuff (even if it is locked INSIDE your car), the hard cartop sounds like a great option.

 

[blessedby3]

We always leave our X Cargo on top of our car for our whole vacation. Too much trouble to take it on and off. Ours has a lock so we lock it, but Im sure if someone wanted to get in it bad enough they could with no problem. We never leave too much in it, all the luggage comes to the hotel with us, but if we are at the beach we will keep our chairs and beach toys in it sometimes.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

We have the large Sears hardtop carrier and use it for every driving trip to WDW. It holds at least 5 sizeable suitcases plus assorted smaller carry bags. Instead of having tons of junk in the van, we keep a cooler, pillows & blankets (hoping the kids will sleep most of the way!!), and a small step ladder for accessing the carrier. We've never ever taken our carrier off and wouldn't dream of doing it. It's too much of a pain to install and way too large to store. During our 1 night at Sports last week (followed by 9 nights at POR), we left everything in our carrier overnight and never had a worry about it. I have to admit I didn't feel that secure about it 2 Spring Breaks back when we ended up spending a night at a really ratty motel on the way home. Despite it being 2 am and dh & I being exhausted, we both agreed to unload the carrier and take all our bags into our room.