Rooftop carriers...tell me what you think

[kimbac3]

Do you love them? Hate them? How do they affect gas mileage? Do they really offer you more space?
I have an opportunity to borrow one and I want to know the pro's and con's as I've never used one before. We have 5 people going 12 days staying at a rental home..so we need quite a bit of stuff.

Can anyone offer any thoughts?
TIA,
Kimba

 

[dyna]

I've got one from the early 90's big hard box type thing straps on the top of van. Used it more in back of truck for hauling luggage than on roof top of van. lol

Mine does cut down on gas mileage by a couple of miles a gallon at least. DH is 6'3" and he needs a small stepladder to get in the carrier when it's on top of my mini van. So if I was gonna use it I'd make sure I didn't have anything in it that I needed till I got to where I was going and would only ask him to climb up there once.

When DH the 3 DD's and myself traveled and used the carrier we could fill it up rather quickly but you know how teens are about packing stuff and 2 of the travelers was teens.

Can you pack 1/4th the stuff or even half and do laundry? That might be an option that helps out too.

 

[LittleP]

I would borrow the carrier in a heartbeat. Your trip will be much more comfortable if you have more room inside your car. Well worth the minimal loss of gas economy.

 

[MissionMouse]

We have a Yakima Platinum Pro series with fairing to provide more space in the internal area of the vehicle. This model locks (security key) and opens from either side of the car which are not common to all carriers. I would have concern storing goods in a non-locking model, especially if you are going to loose line of sight with the car and stored costly items in the carrier.

You add drag whenever you add more surface area, so adding a carrier impacts fuel efficiency. The overall impact depends on the aerodynamic design of the carrier and the fairing eliminates wind noise that can occur at highway speeds.

There are also weight limits defined by the carrier manufacturer and your car mounting 'configuration.' So there are limits to what you can put into the carrier and overloading it can result in damage to the car or loss of the carrier at highway speeds.

 

[kimbac3]

I'm in the process of deciding what to bring, I hoping to get by with out it if I can. I assume it locks because the person I'm borrowing from takes it to WDW every other year. I still hate being responsible for other peple's things. But I will take it if I need it. My DH will definately be the one to get in and out of it..I'm only 4'11"! Thanks for everyone's input..if anyone has any more advice keep it coming!!
Thanks,
Kimba

 

[swilshire]

We have a soft-sided one that I couldn't live without. We take it in the box when we fly somewhere. It takes up about half of a medium size suitcase, but it is wonderful to have when we get to our destination if the whole family is flying. We also used it this summer when our daughter flew up to join us mid-trip. We didn't need it with only four of us, but when we added one more person with bags and all the stuff we bought along the way, it was a lifesaver.

We paid about $50 on sale at the Samsonite outlet for it. It's not a design you would want to get things in and out of several times a day. Once it's all strapped on, you just leave it until you reach your destination. My husband broke one of the buckles once and when I ask Samsonite about buying a replacement, they GAVE me a whole new carrier.

It is a big more difficult to use on our full-size van because it's a stretch for even my 6-footers, but it's very easy on the mini-van. We have left it overnight a couple of times, but don't really leave anything valuable it in. I assume a determined robber would break the windows out to get to the things inside the van, so the carrier is not that much worse.

Our carrier holds four medium size suitcase and some additional bags of stuff. It makes a huge difference in the space in the van, especially nice when the whole family of six travels.

Sheila

 

[Carrie772]

Tell me more about the soft-sided thing. Did you have to order it? My dad used to have this zip-up tarp he would bungee to the top of our station wagon with all our luggage inside. Was it like that?

 

[disneyeveryyear]

This year we had 5 in the minivan for a 10 day vacation to Mt. Rushmore. I took out one of the back seats and still needed more room.

We bought the Sears Sport SV-20 (found used on internet). It is more aerodynamic than the Coleman sold at Target. DH and I were able to mount it in approximately 15 minutes. I am only 5'3", but I was able to load it myself the night before we left (DH at meeting). I just opened the van doors and stood on the floor of the van. We packed the suitcases in the middle and back and used the tapered front for duffle bags, etc. All of our long-term luggage went up there and was locked in. We only carried over-night bags, cooler, snacks, wheelchair, etc. in the back of the van.

It worked great for us and we still got good mileage (even with A/C on)! I am so glad we got it. I have left it on the van for our trip to the airport in mid-November.

 

[Torontogal]

I asked a similiar question in a recent post. We did the Florida drive from Toronto in a Toyota Sienna with 2 seniors, my hubby and I, and 2 children.
Needless to say, you do accumulate a lot of stuff especially from Disney shopping!
We bought one from Sears (cannot remember the exact model - if you PM me I can ask hubby) and it is fantastic! We bought it in Florida at Sears and we were told that THULE actually makes it! Sears simply stamps their name on product! It really saved us room and had no problems with mileage, etc. Sears also installed it for us for a small fee.
We met another couple with the same one and asked them what they thought. They used to have the plastic, vinyl type and it leaked. The Sears one is great and much cheaper than buying a Thule.
Love it!
P.S Make sure you buy something with a lock since not all of them have locks. The Sears ones do!

 

[swilshire]

Tell me more about the soft-sided thing. Did you have to order it? My dad used to have this zip-up tarp he would bungee to the top of our station wagon with all our luggage inside. Was it like that?

I didn't order it. I love luggage, so often stop by the Samsonite outlet. I ran into it on sale there. I've seen a similar one at Target even cheaper.

The one at the bottom of this link is probably the one we bought, though we paid $50 or $55 at the outlet about two - three years ago.

http://www.youronlinepetstore.com/rooftop.html

The only thing to watch is there are water-proof models and water-resistant. We got the one that was water-proof and have never had a problem in spite of driving through heavy rains. I would be nervous about the water-resistant.

We had a hard-sided model years ago. I liked it, but I think the soft sided one is simpler, particularly since it is packable when you fly.

Sheila

 

[debbie in Seattle]

We had one waaaaaaaaaaay back in the days our kids were small. Loved it, but had it broken into while we spent the night in a hotel (had our camping gear in it lost it all). Otherwise, loved it.

 

[bigmac5]

We bought a carrier that fights into our hitch. We put 3 rubbermaid totes on it and it worked great. DH would have a very hard time getting into one on the roof as he is 5'8" and has bad knees and hips. We have a van and if you wanted any thing out of the back the totes would have to come off. It made no difference in the gas milage and HD said it drove like nothing was there. We were very pleased. We travelled around Florida for 9 days before going to Disney, so we needed lots of room for lots of stuff

On our way back from Florida wa saw a vehicle with one of those soft car top carriers and I don't know if it wasn't attached properly at the front but air was getting underit and I thought it was going to flip off.--would not be good for gas milage.

 

[kimbac3]

Keep all your thoughts coming! I'm still trying to decide if we'll use one or not.. so I'm glad to here your thoughts. I like the carrier that fit's into the hitch. That's cool!
Thanks Again,
Kimba aw:

 

[psiprez]

An relatively inexpensive spacesaver is to use a bike rack (on the back of the vehicle) for other items.

I have seen all sorts of baby equipment (strollers, walkers, baby gates, highchairs) bungeed on bike racks, along with folding chairs, beach umbrellas, pet crates and anything else securable. I don't think I would have the guts to put my actual luggage there, though!

Sadly, in this age, I would definitely not leave items in a rooftop carrier or bike rack overnight at a hotel. Take the stuff inside your room, or lock it in the car.

 

[kileybeth]

some additional thoughts, I'll try not to repeat, hyou've gotten a lot of good advice already.

go soft sided. mine folds up into approx. 12x12x6 inch cube (back in original zip up bag) and fits nicely into luggage if you are only flying one way or renting car and changing locations mid flight.

we too are family of 6/7/8 (don't ask!)and drive an extended length aerostar(huge amount of storage) but with that many kids and strollers, car seats, etc. . .it is so nice to have room for feet and legs inside van.

I do not have a tall husband (5'8") and he truly does grouch everytime he has to put it up or get it down. says it's a half hour exercise to make one want to simplify their life! that said, he's quit complaining since he like a nice neat organized van to travel in better than stuff exploding everywhere!

my soft sided carrier held 5 medium rolling suitcases and a misc. bag. some are longer and less wide dimension wise, some are squarer, read the dimensions and know what you want to put in it.

been through rain, snow, and ice storms and even though I wrap in black trash bags each time, nothing has ever been the slighest bit wet.

best news yet. we've borrowed one (high quality from a friend~ didn't like zipper thingy) purchased two (cheapies!! one from Walmart and one from auto store Pep Boys~ both $20 a piece) Pep boys one had better dimensions but also got small rip on first use (bum) but at that price I guess I could just consider it disposable! I didn't though, I returned it and said I thought it shouldn't have done that and they offered me a new one or a complete refund, works for me.

caution: we travel to cities a lot, watch out, it won't usually fit in a parking garage on top of a high van, might be okay on a car or lower van. because it is so high up and so well belted down I can't imagine anyone trying to steal it!

ideally, we'd all own huge SUV's or 8 passanger vans with all gas included !

 

[amwhitaker]

Just used ours for our trip to Myrtle Beach. We packed all of our beach chairs, umbrellas, Wonder Wheeler, fishing poles, empty coolers, bags, ect. Ours isn't huge, so we had our luggage inside the van.