Soft or Hard?
 

We're heading off on our road trip on Saturday and need to use a roof-top-carrier thingy for the first time (darned children growing and demanding legroom.....)

Friends have lend us a canvas strap-on (:eek:), but there are hard boxes on sale at Sears this week, and we're bound to need one again in the future.

Does anybody have any experience of using these? Which would you recommend? Seems like the hard box may be easier to drive with (less resistance) and easier to attach, but will take up so much storage space and has no flexibility in it's dimensions.

http://www.thule.com.au/images/news/JETBAGboxclosed
http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/...resized200.jpg

All opinions appreciated, exspecially those packed with double entendres or creative ideas for child storage/size reduction :D

Hard boxes look more stylish. Might be better for fuel economy too.

Hard storage cases are preferrable in so many ways: they protect your stuff, they provide a framework for packing loose, irregularly-sized objects (you don't want a container to have "flexibility in it's dimensions"!) etc.

I have used a hard storage case on top of a van, for a family vacation, and it worked great. I've also toted stuff around every day for years, as a drummer, a computer guy, and when I used to work in the construction field; and hard cases are what you will be wanting if you use this storage much. Floppy storage bags are so frustrating and unreliable, even dangerous. Establish a consistent storage area that you can count on.

Flint nailed it - and the security isssue too - My bro in law had a soft one "disappear" while they were at a rest stop - NOT cool. I have a hard one - works great keeps stuff dry and its more aerodynamic than the soft ones. Yes the storage is a drag, mine is in the cellar (hahaha) attached to the rafters & out of the way.
:2cents:

You could also do bicycle hooks to the ceiling of the garage, etc.

Good point - not for me though - I don't have a garage. :mad:

Use it as a coffee table when you're not travelling.

I find it very strange that people care how it looks.
I would choose hard.

You've never bought anything based in part on looks?

If all things were the same and that was the last aspect in consideration or the main function of the object.

So you would care how it looks. OK.

Is that what you got out of that? LOL!
In NO way would I make my decision on which one to get based on looks.

I usually buy based on looks, as long as it will work good too, but this is a luggage carrier. It's going to nerd up your vehicle, no mater which one you choose. Just accept the fact that you are now Clark Griswold, and don't worry about looks.

I drive a bright red slightly battered 6yo Windstar -you can't make them look any more nerdy :lol: (no I don't care what it looks like -function and price is all).

With the "flexibility of dimensions" I was thinking along the lines of being able to absolutely stuff it at one side -the flexibility allowing me to squeeze things in that might not have made it into a rigid box, but I hadn't considered the security angle at all, really -I usally chain things on anyway, but.....

All good points, thanks

Do you have sport bars already?

We have bars that go across at the front and the back. We also have an assortment of bike racks and the like that we use when we need more.... why?

The factory cross bars are generally kinda flimsy - and the picture of the carrier you attached looks like it is shown with sport bars. Depending on how much wind gets up under that thing and how it attaches, the sport bars may be required... so you may wanna figure that into your costs.

Hard's soooo much easier to work with.

There she goes.
 

Road Trip, woot!!

You just don't know how close to the truth that is :lol:

thanks for the heads up, jinx

Not many people over here use roof top storage on their cars.

How much stuff do you need to take on a road trip? Doesn't it all fit in the boot?

Most of it.

Lots, we like to camp and we don't like to do laundry or shop, so we take as much as we can damn well fit in. :lol:

I wish you'd stop spying on me, though, Bruce (and who cleaned my car?)

BS Ali ;) there are hundreds of those things traveling up and down the highways.

Maybe in Victoria where it rains. Peeps around my parts seem to prefer trailers.

So you don't do 'roughing it' type camping? ;) What do you need clean clothes for anyway?

Not on long road trips. We like a 5-person tent for us, a separate one for the children and airbeds :D


Don't necessarily need clean clothes, but prefer not to have to chip them off the children which is what happens after more than 2 days max. (We're going for 3 weeks)

HOLY SHIT! No wonder you need extra storage space.

FWIW, The one I have doesn't attach to sport bars. It attaches with four clips to the groove above each of the side windows.

Trailers hold even more! I can't be doing with towing, though.

Yeah they do hold heaps. I dunno. It just seems weird to be taking so much stuff though. We just have two small dome tents when we go camping. We have our cooking bag with utensils and plates etc. We have our skin care bag with insect repellent and sunscreen etc. We have our first aid kit and a small bag each, napsack size for our clothes and just wash them daily. Other than that, there's a bit of bedding and that's it besides whatever food we take. All that fits in the boot of our car or if we're going in the boat, it fits in the boat which we tow.

Oh, and a gass stove with two burners and sometimes, depending on where we go, we might take the webber to bake bread/damper in (because in most places you're not allowed to have an open fire).

Mine is a thule, and l got it for about $120 bucks a few years ago I got it at Pep boys - if memory serves.

We used to camp like that.... then we Americanized ;) Why sleep on the floor if you can fit an airbed in? Sex is more fun on an airbed too :lol:

Is it good? worth it?

I have to add though, if we go somewhere that there's no fresh water, we do need more storage space, but we invariably have the boat then so it fits in there.

Sex is more fun outdoors when the kids have gone to sleep (which is usually fairly early when we go camping). ;)

Way too much Deet required

(and still more fun on an airbed -particularly on a lake)

What's Deet?

A blanket on the beach is nice. Afterwards you can go for a nice refreshing swim.

Does wonders for the constitution.

Can we stop talking about sex now....please?

Bug Spray. Nasty chemical. not good for children or women of childbearing age or anyone for that matter. But about the only thing that works round here.

Hoping not to need it in the desert, though, so will keep the suggestions in mind......

Sorry ducks. So back to the hard one. Is penetration an issue? Rain, that is?

Stop sooking Ducksy. lol Poor baby. Why don't you give yourself a little touch up if you're getting antsy?

Bite me, both of you

move a bit closer

We have had both. Hard is better. But please do not believe that the hard style makes it waterproof. It will not. most say "water resistant". Put all your stuff in steel sack plastic bags. It will still get wet. Good luck.

I think it was well worth the $120 or so it cost. My ex bro in law has a canvas one and it was worthless in any kind of precipitation.

I have driven 10 hours from PA to NC 3 times with mine - once in a downpour - nothing got wet, in part because we, as merc said, put stuff in plastic bags. We also put the stuff that mattered the least in there - Like my clothes and the "extras."

Thanks.

if you were closer you could have borrowed mine

Well we think we've decided to buy the hard one. We checked out the factory roofbars issue and it seems like we should be OK.

Thanks for the offer yesman -probably for the best we're too far away -we're utter slobs... :lol:

Uh...

Nibbled to death...


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... by Ducks? :3_eyes: