Traveling with family

My family and I take my 2009 Tacoma double cab with us whenever we go to the beach. The problem is that with more kids, we have no room to bring anything in the car. I fill up the standard size bed and I am left with no more room. Do any of you have creative ways to add more cargo space. I thought about using a roof rack but they say the roof can only support 50 lbs. I am attaching a picture of a trailer I am thinking about buying. Let me know your thoughts.

 

I'm pretty sure it's rated for more than 50 lbs. But trailers are so useful, you should buy one anyway.

 

How many kids do you take??? Are you a Mormon????? Kidding if you want to you should buy a bed extender and the trailer

 

If you have any kids that weigh less than 50lbs, tie one of them to the roof rack

Actually there are heavier duty roof racks out there, could probably hold a kid up to 100lbs or so

 

Cheaper than the trailer and more useful (questionable) than good looking (also questionable) would be to pick up a cargo basket like a Yakima Load Warrior, run some cross bars or other across your bed, and use that for extra cargo space. IIRC it is rated for 100 lbs. But you could remove it and only toss it on when you need to, throw a cargo net over it and call it bueno?

Trailers and driving on sand might be more hassle than it's worth.

 

You could use a cargo carrier for your hitch.........a trailer would be more useful in the long run.

 

When I called Toyota they said the roof of the truck would only support 50lbs, not the rack itself. I am sure the rack could hold 100 or more. The other issue is that everything gets rained on. If I put a bed cover on, I lose space.

 

I like the idea of a the rack on the bed. Problem is that I wouldn't be able to use a bed cover. Everything would be wet.

 

What are you hauling? Could a double-decker type situation in the bed fix that? Put smaller things below and strap other, maybe bigger, things above the bed on a rack?

 

i would get a shell for the back..and put a yakima basket or one of those torpedo things ontop.

as cool as that enclosed trailer is..i want one. it will have it's share of problems. storage, parking that thing on a road trip, just being mobile on vacation is huge.

what about a cargo basket that goes into your trailer receiver?

 

dry sacks.

 

I'm pretty sure the roof can hold more than 50 pounds...



Now, just how top-heavy you want to make yourself is another question, too much and you might end up like the guy in the picture above.

 

I couldn't agree more about being mobile. It is really important. Maybe I should just get a roof rack and call it a day. Anything that can get wet can go on top. Dry stuff will stay in the bed.

Do any of you have recommendations on where to get after market parts like roof racks and bed covers?

 

Softopper.

I have two kids and we go camping regularly. I would fill the bed and have to tie everything off, now I fill the bed and can throw all kinds of extra stuff in without having to worry about wind or rain.

Plus is looks great.



Retracts in less than 2 minutes:



Back on in less than 5:

 

i like this solution.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/280742-yakima-thule-cargo-boxes-whos-got-em.html

 

Either soft topper or regular shell.

 

I used one of these for years when my girls were playing tournament softball. They are great for traveling because once you get to your destination you can take it off and store it in your hotel room, and you can get them for under $150. I got mine from Northern Tool.