What is in Your Rooftop Boxes

I have seen others ask the question and I have asked it several times myself, so thought I would try starting a thread. I have a roof rack on order and have a couple of pelican cases, so seems like a good time to ask TW.

Some questions are:

-What type of storage box have you added to your roof rack?
-What do you store in the box and why?
-How do you keep it organized?

And of course, pics and lessons learned are always welcome!

 

Wind noise.

 

Yeah, I am sure!

 

I am looking into ROAM Adventure Rugged Cases as well, specifically the 83L ones to be used with their Prinsu mounts. Hopefully some users would chime in if they have this set up!

 

Mostly I store stuff that I won't need frequent access to, and which can hold up to some degree of heat exposure (although the inside of the box seems to stay decently cool even in the So Cal sunshine parking outside.

Tire "spider" (folding version), chains, jumper cables, ratchet straps. Sometimes a mil surplus wool blanket. It'd be a good place to store emergency hand tools (I've got a drawer in my bed box that I use for that purpose though). Smaller recovery hardware (shackles, snatch blocks, cable blanket) would probably do well up there, maybe your tire inflator, although that might be something you'll want to be able to access quicker. I think I've heard of some people storing their camp furniture up there, but don't do that myself.

I'd avoid any kind of synthetic ropes, or anything with a battery built into it (portable jump starters, soft shackles, cordless power tools.

 

My box is used as mainly dog item storage lol. I do keep my air hose in there, but mostly dog bowls, dog life jacket, harness 50ft leash, dog jacket etc etc.

 

I used the sherpa mounts on the roam boxes, really like the design of the mounts. I had some foldable chairs but the hard items were noisey clunking around up there. I now keep my ground tent sleeping bags and pads up there. Kinda nice to just leave them in there and throw the box on when we head out camping.

 

My ex wife....

She won't notice

 

Depends on the kind of trip, could be camping stuff or could be recovery gear.

I have the 83L along with the Rugged Mounts, What do you want to know?

 

Rooftop boxes? No sir, I don't have an Instagram account.

 

What made you pick the 83L vs the bigger 95L? How much does it impact wind noise and fuel economy, as well as ergonomics (hard to load / put back on top of the Prinsu)?

 

This is the same with my wife's. Dog bowls, leashes, harnesses, all dog stuff. We have 5 dogs so having this stuff with us all the time helps a lot.

 

Yep my dog goes everywhere with me so its super handy to have it with me at all times AND out of the way.

 

Nor do I, but my bed gets full with camping gear and I am hoping to offload some items to the roof.

 

As far as organization, I bolted one or two 24" sections of E-track into the bottom of the plano box I mounted on my rack. Without anything attached to it, it lays flat enough to be out of the way, and it allows for adding/removing several kinds of tie-down points (It's probably also possible to build a kind of divider panel onto some version of fitting for those who are a little crafty) for either web or cord/rope tie-down points along the length of it; there's even e-track compatible bungee straps now.

Most of the stuff I have in there doesn't really need to be lashed down (tire chains aren't going to get damaged by having a wrench bang into them...), but if I do decode to put something up there that I don't want shifting around, it's a good option to have.

 

Colombian fun dip!

 

I didn't want the taller profile of the 95L, and the 83L size housed the things I wanted it too. Only time I notice extra wind noise is in a strong cross wind, and even at that it's only a slightly noticeable. I only average 14-15MPG when loaded for a trip and didn't see a change with the added case on the roof. Using the rugged mounts the case removes easily, just 2 latches (which can be locked) and can lift it off. That was the reason I used the mounts, they stay on full time but the case only gets mounted when needed. While on the roof access is good to the case while standing on the sliders.

 

I have a Pelican 1600 that I ratchet-strapped (easy/fast to don/doff) to my Front Runner roof rack, and typically just have some recovery gear in there. This usually includes a tow strap, couple soft shackles, and couple D-rings. I could easily fit more in there if needed too.

 

Haha

I assume it’s where these folks keep their piles on internet money!

Honestly interested though, and I do like the look, just not the practicality.
But also, I wear New Balances, so there’s that.