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Roof Rack Roof Rack

JoeB-NW

JoeB-NW

Novice
I have searched and searched this forum, I have found only two references to the CI roof rack option. One of these posts was mainly in regard to using the roof to carry bikes.

When I sent out my original quote request to Cary I had the roof rack on it, later I had him remove it due to a few concerns about functionality; I will explain.

My intent is to use the CI crossbars to install a basket on the roof to carry items that I would prefer not see the inside of the 560, i.e. wet and dirty shelter, outdoor floor mats, campfire in a can, small BBQ grill, small fuel can, etc.

My remedy to these items messing up the inside of the CI without having a roof system was, like some of you, to place a heavy gauge piece of plastic or tarp on the bed.

My concerns with the basket; Is the fantastic fan automatic? If the vent opened would it hit the bottom of the basket? Would the vent stop automaticly if it did? Would it break the vent lifting mechanism if it did not? Would the vent open far enough? Is there a manual setting for the vent?

The roof rack is an option that should be installed during the build, not after, in my opinion. I can see many benefits to having it, with my only concern being the roof fan. I would love some input from those that have some experience here.

Thanks in advance for you advice.

Joe B

P.S. Using the TV to store and transport these items in out of the question. This space is reserved for our two dogs. Everything MUST be transported in or on the 560.
 
Joe you would restrict the opening of the fan and the sunroof. My suggestion, put the rack on the tow vehicle.

Give Cary a call and he can discuss the cons. When I had the same discussion a year ago I dropped the the rack option.
 
Joe B, check out the picture in the General Photo Forum called "Raindrop found in the wild" around Sept 2012. That Raindrop has a roof rack and Benn used it to attach various awning solutions. It worked very well for him.
Mike
 
Joe-Late reply but I just bought a used 560 and want to add a basket or a storage box to the roof. I found some extra high gutter foot packs. They are 11" high. I have a fan but it is manual so I control how high it goes so that shouldn't be a problem. To use these you do have to add the Thule artificial gutter mounts to the trailer. I found them used on Craigslist so I saved a bunch of money there. I haven't yet mounted anything but have all the parts. What I did realize is the storage box on top of the high mounts won't fit into my garage. I think the basket will. Have to check clearances. Anyone else try this approach for the roof rack system???
 
Nubie to CI forum and this is my first reply to a post. I too thought a roof rack with be a terrific add. Seems to me one wouldn't have the fan open while on the road. Therefore the basket could be hinged to till upward in the back or side to accommodate the fan opening while setup in camp. Or…. modify the basket to provide an removable opening over the fan once the basket is unloaded.
 
This sounds like a potential Wish List item - to offset the vent to one side of the trailer so that it is possible to add a cargo box or storage basket without the cascading problems associated with working around that issue. But I suspect that's likely to be an impractical modification - my memory is that the vent sits a tiny bit higher than the sides of the trailer, so that water naturally drains away from all of the various seams. I can only imagine the headaches associated with designing the same drainage with the vent offset to one side. That's likely to be a major modification to the roof design.

The easiest solution is to use the tow vehicle for the roof rack box or basket. But no matter where it goes, adding an accessory or two to a roof rack (aside from perhaps skis) often means the vehicle/trailer will no longer fit in the garage. Too often these items get scraped off the roof when the driver forgets that they are there.

When traveling it's always a temptation to bring along everything that you MIGHT need. Folks that have done extensive self-propelled travel (backpacking, kayak or canoe touring, bicycle touring, etc) quickly understand the downside of such thinking, mainly because of the extra amount of their effort needed to transport those non-essentials, both in terms of the weight and bulk that they need to move, but also in terms of the amount of stuff they need to wade through to find what they really need.

The longer term lesson that they learn is that life is pretty awesome when everything that you really need (not just think you need) is within arm's reach. The folks at CI have really nailed that for us in the way that they've designed the cabin interior and the galley.

For those whose tow vehicle is also inadequate for carrying or storing their basic gear, I'd suggest designing and making your own storage box to mount to the CI roof rack. I wouldn't be inclined to make it waterproof, simply because water being forced into a seam at 80 miles per hour is not an easy thing to overcome, unless you've got a considerable skill set and the necessary tools and equipment. A lot of the stuff that JoeB described wouldn't be hurt by occasionally getting a little wet (in fact, it sounds like much of it might be stored wet at times). Other stuff could be packed in garbage bags to keep them dry. Whatever you design simply needs to allow for the fan to be raised without any problem. And if it completely covered the fan (remember that the rack is a few inches above the roof so there's plenty of room to exhaust or intake air), then you wouldn't need the Fantastic Fan option - there would never be much possibility of a sudden rain shower soaking your bedding.
 
In our experience so far, we have only recently added the bars to our roof rack. Originally we were going to put our box on there, but discovered we couldn't open the vent or sunroof (we didn't ask as many questions 5 years ago). The bars also interfere with the side tent if you decide to use that. You will need to sacrifice there. We thought it would be good for boats and paddleboards or bikes eventually, but I will need Mick me to use them in that function (putting things on the truck will be even more difficult). Would I save the money? At this point, probably and I would have put it towards a trailer hitch on the back of the trailer so I could put bikes there.
 
We used a very small 1 foot tall footstool to access our bikes when we carried them on the roof rack on our trailer, and of course there are taller stepstools/stepladders available, to suit individual needs. Some can double as an extra chair.

The hitch is an option, and a hitch rack is a LOT cheaper than a roof rack. Some folks think they can get one of the swing arm racks, so that they can pivot the bikes 90 degrees away from the galley and thus be able to use the galley fairly easily. But do some research. Those are VERY heavy (all steel), and I suspect you'll exceed CI's recommended hitch weight with just the rack, without any bicycles attached to it. And they aren't cheap.

A standard hitch rack has its pluses and minuses. It'll be a pain to access the galley if you are frequently moving from campground to campground. It'll work better if you have a destination in mind where you are planning on staying a while. Road grime is going to get in the drivetrain more easily with a hitch rack than a roof rack. There are cheap covers to protect the bikes, but for hitch racks they do a pretty good job of obscuring the trailer's brake lights.

Every solution has its tradeoffs. There are some vehicles that are large enough to carry a bike inside, and avoid some of the issues with external racks. Most will require you to lay the bike on its side, on top of your other gear (also a hassle). Few will be large enough to carry two or more bikes.

Pickups are a good option. The bikes are better protected from road grime and pickup racks are some of the cheapest rack options. If you want the bikes fully enclosed, a tall topper is sometimes an option, plus the bikes will be out of sight, rather than out in the open inviting thieves.

The bottom line is that it's a good idea to thoroughly research all the pros and cons before making a choice.

Of course nearly all vans are big enough to carry bikes inside. The new, smaller commercial vans have mileage comparable to a RAV4. Not all have a 1500 lb or greater tow capacity. Ford's Transit Connect seems to have the best tow capacity, horsepower and torque. There's a wagon option with three rows of seats (the rear rows fold very flat) or the cargo van version (basically an empty 4' by 4' by 9' box in the long wheelbase version).
 
I have a folding bike which I put in the back of the car, but I am not willing to fork out the cash for a folding bike for my 7 year old. He outgrows them too quickly, so until then we have to find a place for his bike, which has been on the bed until recently. He just got a new bike for his birthday and it is bigger, so I haven't tried putting it through the door yet. That has been our solution up til now. I am not sure I am strong enough to put the bikes on the roof racks. That is my bigger problem. He has an Electra Cruiser and they are kind of heavy to lift over my head.

And even though I hadn't really thought through the various uses or issues for the roof rack system, we do research among everything to exhaustion. Back when we got our rig, there wasn't a lot of info on the forum as it was still pretty new and while Cary suggested we not get it, we decided we would rather have it and avoid regretting it later. We haven't regretted it, but we are still working out how we want to use it. It has come in handy for lashing my solar tube shower and storage tube to. That is the current use for it. We seldom use our side tent (unless I am being eaten alive by Mosquitos, which creates a nice barrier area as I have become allergic to their bites), so it hasn't been that much of an issue.
 
I don't post to be critical of anyone. My experience was the same as yours, when we bought, nobody had yet discussed on the forum the pros and cons of adding a roof rack or using a hitch rack (beyond the obvious - that the hitch is located in front of the galley door). And while we attempt to work through all the issues, when buying a trailer there is a lot to consider, so it's hard to get everything right. Cary had advised against the roof rack for several reasons. The main one being that some gear (canoe, flatwater kayak) would be too long and interfere with the galley hatch. Besides, you'd want to be able to drive to the water for launching, so the tow vehicle is the better option for carrying those items.

Our primary use for the roof rack was always to carry bikes, and we aren't the sort of folks that drive to a trailhead to start riding - we would always want to leave from the campsite. So the bikes didn't need to be on the tow vehicle. Plus I know of enough folks absent mindedly parking in their garage and scraping their expensive bikes off the car roof that I figured it would be inevitable that I'd make the same mistake.

In the back of our minds, we thought if we did need to carry a lot of gear (say bikes & kayaks) and needed a place to store helmets, oars, etc, a roof top box might be an option. But once we had the trailer we realized the impracticality of that (at least in regard to what was available from Yakima), due to the location of the rooftop fan. Since then we've opted not to carry our kayak with us. We figure we'll be traveling a lot, but not using the kayak very often. While it's fun to be on the water at times, we realized that it would be impractical to haul a kayak and gear on a prolonged trip.

As for carrying bikes on a hitch rack, one or three speed bikes (I assume like your Electra) are the best option. The parts to replace the entire drive chain (chain, front and rear sprockets) run about $40 or so and the labor to replace them isn't that much. If you oil the chain regularly and replace it often you'll probably only be out $11 for a new chain now and then, and only if the bike gets ridden a lot of miles). So extra road grime in those drive chains isn't that big of a deal. On a rear derailleur bike, those costs jump considerably, even on the low end models. And on a high end bike the drive train can be so expensive that you might as well just leave a trail of money behind you as you drive down the road, unless you plan to clean the drivetrain fairly often (not my idea of fun).
 
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