How do you load your roof rack?

[tonkota]

How do you load your roof rack with camping gear? Do you use boxes or crates? We have some plastic tubs for food, but I need something to hold the camping stove, lantern, pans etc.

I've been looking at this medical chest for stuff and I think it will be great.

I just wanted to see what you guys use.

Here is mine:

[2mbb]

I tend to want to keep the heavier, metal items down below (not on the roof rack) and put light & bulky items up top. This is usually clothes, sleeping bags, etc. I have large duffel bags that I put the stuff in, but it's not as rain proof as I would like. Rain tends to seep in at the zippers. I could probably use something like a large leaf bag liner inside the duffel.

I do put my two burner coleman stove and other cooking-related stuff in a couple of Rubbermaid roughneck totes. But as I said earlier, those go inside.

[tonkota]

My dogs usually go in the back with a cooler or two. Everything else goes up high. I've been using a duct taped microwave box that was built pretty well for the last three years. It's a little worn by now and has been in the rain some.

[evldave]

I use a plastic waterproof fullsize truck box loaded w/all my soft stuff (tent, pads, bags, etc) it's light enough to just load throw up on the roof rack. I also have a yakima coffin to carry stuff I want easy access to w/security. All the other space on the roof rack is taken up w/various odds & ends/recovery gear/etc

After my last summer, I added a 2" receiver hitch to the back of my roof rack, now I can take one of those cheapo hitch racks and add 2' of space to my rack - it hangs out over the rear door and is perfect for wet clothes, smaller items. I have a backup camera attached to it, so not too worried about backing into things with it on there, and I can stand on it if need be (not that I'd want 200# hanging off the back of my roof rack for any length of time)

Probably not the best thing to have a lot of weight up there, but with 2 adults, 2 kids, and 2 dogs, there's only room for a food bag and small cooler inside, so everything goes up top. Maybe someday I'll have time to make a trailer or $$ to buy one, but for now it's the best I can do

[sirenmoses]

Soft-goods (clothing & bedding) in dry bags designed for rafting, Action-Packers in a couple sizes for food/kitchen, RocketBox for things I just gotta lock, and rear seat if there arent any passengers there.

[calphi27]

Originally Posted by evldave

After my last summer, I added a 2" receiver hitch to the back of my roof rack, now I can take one of those cheapo hitch racks and add 2' of space to my rack - it hangs out over the rear door and is perfect for wet clothes, smaller items.

do you have a pic of that setup?

[reffug]

Originally Posted by tonkota

I've been using a duct taped microwave box that was built pretty well for the last three years. It's a little worn by now and has been in the rain some.

necessity is the mother of invention..............

[Atoyot1031]

x2 on trying to keep the lighter stuff up there, but I also tie down my 20lb. propane up there and a few other odds and ends that are normally stored in a plastic footlocker.

[Atoyot1031]

You can kinda see it here on my old 80...

[latinoguy]

I have a Rubbermaid action packer...The large size and put in all my kitchen, cooking, propanes, and stove camping things inside it...It accomodates quite a bit of things..I can then either strap it to the roof or inside the rig...Action Packers are good for this application.

[tonkota]

I found this box at Lowe's today while looking at paint with the wife. Pretty sturdy and big enough for the stuff I want to carry. The top doesn't latch on, but I strap all my roofsrack stuff down any way.

[Max.Powerzz]

We just drove over 2,000 miles cross country with a few rubbermaid tubs strapped to the rack. They held up great through snow/rain/sleet up and down mountains. Not the prettiest alternative but they held up really well and are cheap.

[e9999]

I would not mind having a bunch of low height action packers or similar up there for small stuff. Maybe later.
The most useful and safe use for me is all the bulky clothing and sleeping stuff. I use one of those inexpensive large soft plastic roof rack bags for luggage transport. I can put 4 or 5 duffel bags plus several sleeping bags and it still uses only about 1/4 of the roof rack.
I also put up my big firewood lugs up there and a couple of small tool boxes.

Note: I found that using a very long strap and wrapping things with it several times, going under the crossmembers each time is a great and flexible way to hold things up.

[jbs11]

Before getting our Chaser from Adventure Trailers, I used some clear plastic boxes (similar to action packers) from Home Depot. The ones I used were about 15"x12"x12". I added weatherstripping around the rim and they proved weatherproof through rain and snow. The nice thing about them being clear is that you could see what was inside (so could potential thieves- we kept nothing valuable there), so looking for something was MUCH easier. On a mutil-week trip with trash bags, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, propane cylinders, and myriad other supplies, this greatly simplifies things. I also strapped or bungied each one individually, so I only had to open the one I needed. These lined the sides of the rack and less-frequently used stuff was in dry bags in the middle. You can get an idea in this pic:

[evldave]

Originally Posted by calphi27

do you have a pic of that setup?

Not fully loaded, but I'll snap a pic of it empty this afternoon...

[jpwelling]

We were 4 up for our trip from SoCal to Deadhorse, AK so almost everything went on top. We took the middle seat out and put the cooler there. Thats an African Outback rack with Double Jerry Can Holder. The white carrier is an "X-cargo" we got about 15 years ago from Sears and migrated it from the minivan to the Cruiser when we upgraded. I don't think Sears still sells it but I've seen them at RV supply places. It has the sleeping bags, tent and clothes duffels in it. Its about 2/3 the width of the rack so the far side of the rack has the camp chairs and other stuff that can tolerate getting wet. Beside the gas and water cans are a pair of 6 Qt. Walmart Spaggetti pots for holding 2 propane cans and a Rubbermaid camp box with utensils and stuff.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/attachment.p...1&d=1208291036
cruiser.JPG