Taking Esky on first road trip.

[zach2011]

So on Sunday, we're leaving for vacation.

There will be 5 of us and we're taking my mom's Escalade. And I think we're going to be using the roof rack for once because now that she doesn't have an ESV, we have a lot less luggage room. I don't think there will be enough for all of our luggage in the interior.


With that in mind, my question is - what do you recommend we buy/use for putting the luggage on the roof? As much as I personally hate to do this, we gotta do it.

Thanks

 

[Modded]

I can never see myself ever using my roof rack, neither have I ever used one, so I have no clue!

 

[David4Jesus]

Why not buy a hitch mounted luggage carrier. I could never mount anything up top but out behind it has been fine just strap it down good. Between the little room you will have behind the third row and on a decent hitch rack you should be good, and get a weather cover.

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[GalaxyBlackEsky]

I just did this, this past weekend. I had 6 people in the truck and went on a 200 mile trip. I actually used my parents Thule and just used stock racks but had to use a tie strap to hold it to the side worked great. But I need to by the roof rack part for my truck.

 

[rogersinsel]

So on Sunday, we're leaving for vacation.

There will be 5 of us and we're taking my mom's Escalade. And I think we're going to be using the roof rack for once because now that she doesn't have an ESV, we have a lot less luggage room. I don't think there will be enough for all of our luggage in the interior.


With that in mind, my question is - what do you recommend we buy/use for putting the luggage on the roof? As much as I personally hate to do this, we gotta do it.

Thanks

Use a car top carrier of some type. Either hard or soft. You'll want to be able to get in the back if neccessary and the carrier locks! I know the top carrier could look better, but having something sticking out of my Tahoe's butt, well, that ain't happening!

 

[Tonygxp]

I always use hitch mounted carrier with the all weather bag. It's huge like 16.9cuft. holds enough for family of 4 with room to spare for a two week trip (NJ to FL). If i wanted a roof mounted one the Thule hands down. It's expensive though but it works great.

 

[zach2011]

I don't think we have enough time to get either of those though...plus when I talked to my mom she said "Your aunt and uncle probably have every type of strap known to man, we'll be fine."

I'm dreading to see what this will look like.

 

[Cr8ter]

Get the Yakima Skybox Pro 18. I got one for the same reasons and it works perfectly.

 

[jerryp]

Cargo box

We've used a Thule Spirit cargo box on our 2007 Yukon XL Denali for the past 3 years and are very pleased with it.

We use it primarily for skis and snowboards but we've also put luggage up there. Very easy to attach and remove without tools, but you will need 2 people to get it up/down, primarily due to the box being large and awkward to maneuver. They'll tell you that you should get the Thule racks for it, but it attaches fine to the standard luggage rack that comes on the Denali (and I assume the Escalade).

Note that the standard luggage rack has a 200 lb. weight limit. The Thule Spirit weighs about 60 lbs. empty. Other Thule cargo box models are lighter (because they are made of thinner plastic). Yakima is the other main manufacturer of these types of boxes and roof racks.

You might check to see if there is a place near you that rents roof racks and cargo boxes such as Rack n Road. We've used them in the past for cargo box and rack rentals (for other vehicles), and also purchased our cargo box through them.

Whatever you wind up doing, make sure that your cargo box/luggage/whatever is mounted far enough back that it has no chance of vibrating against the sunroof and breaking it. I learned that one the hard way at 70+ MPH. Fortunately the weather was cooperative (clear skies) and we just continued on to a day of skiing, but it was quite a surprise to hear a loud bang and have a shower of glass come down on driver and passengers.

 

[zach2011]

OUCH. Good tip, thanks for sharing that Jerry. We're leaving in about an hour so that's not nearly enough time to get any type of luggage holder/carrier.