How much do you cram into your roof?

senorschmidt

New member
I'm in the planning stages for another epic road trip. I have an 08 suburban. This trip will be about 30ish days on the road with the wife, 4 kids, and a dog. We will be doing everything from camping to going into cities starting in CA, going to Maine, and back. We are planning on going without any trailer this time, which means I need to cram whatever I can up top or on the back. I have a steel rack already (48”x60”), a hard sided jet box I could use, or even a soft sided storage box. I'm really just curious to see what all people cram onto the top of their rigs. It is a pretty heavy truck, so I'm not too worried about putting a lot up top, since it will mostly be the lighter weight stuff like tents and sleeping bags (gear for 6 people adds up quick!) I'm just trying to get new ideas at this point, so let's see what you got up top.
 
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Happy Joe

Apprentice Geezer
On top... nothing.
Thought about solar panels until I tried camping with them (they do not work well in my preferred, shady, camping sites).
Every thing that I need (for 2 people) on trips of between a couple of days and a month fits inside a Jeep TJ (not always easily).... I do make weekly, more or less, trips to town for resupply and sometimes to do laundry.

Enjoy!
 

rgallant

Adventurer
Very little or nothing, but I am alone so it is easier. I would suggest you limit the weight and height of anything you put up there.

Start pretty simple, when I put stuff on the roof it is stuff I do not expect to use :

  • Spare parts
  • Emergency food box (stuff I would need in the event the vehicle becomes undrivable and I had to move to get radio reception)
  • An extra tarp
  • Brake fluid, PS fluid, oil - this is all in a low profile box
  • Small tent that I can backpack
I do not what your sleeping arrangements are but tent and sleeping bags would be pretty light - but you want a good secure water proof container to hold them.
You could also put the bulk of your clothing up there, and just keep a days worth onboard

Your simplest bet get everything you plan on taking organized packed well ahead of time and then pack the truck:
  • Allocate space for the family and dog
  • Pack heavy stuff 1st
  • Followed by the stuff you know you will need for the day.
  • See what is left that is what needs to go on the roof or be pared down
There is no easier way to do it
 

shmabs

Explorer
I just got back from about 16 days in baja with 3 adults living out of my 2007 4runner. I hate having things piled all over the place in the back or up to the roof inside so I used a soft and waterproof roof storage back and it worked awesome. We kept tents, sleeping pads, pillows, sleeping bags and snorkel gear up there. Generally I go to great lengths to avoid storing things on the roof, but i have to say it was really nice to have all that stuff out of the cabin, it made it much easier to stay organized in the cabin. What was helpful for us was keeping things that are the same "theme" in one area, in this case the theme was things we needed to set up camp.

I cross strapped the roof bag to the roof rack i made and the profile wasn't terribly tall because most of what was up there was soft. I didn't notice a change in handling dynamics, but at speeds above 70mph the wind noise was noticeable. I want to try to find a small, low profile, hard box to put up there. Something like a yakima rocket box, but wider and shorter.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I try to stick with light soft bedding in a sleek roof box. Most our trips are CA, Oregon, Wa, NV, AZ, ID, MO, Utah. Two parts for why. Gear security if it’s visible even behind glass you need to be on hyper watch and remove it to a hotel room in many stop over locations which can be a huge pain!!!

High speed long highway stretches. Talking 10-12 hr days at 70-80mph. I pass people with everything they own strapped to their roofs just hating life especially when the winds are blowing!

Your trip? Hell I’d get a 5x10 box trailer and lock everything in there with some added security stuff beyond stock and just go with the Burb nakid stock roof.

plus the random nut case that decides to takeyou and everyone else out you don’t want more than 100-150lbs max including the rack weight up on top. Especially dodging a blow out at 75mph crossing Nevada. That one even had the wife saying she was glad I didn’t have a ton of stuff up top.

lots of crap on the roof works for local trips. Long trips not so much especially if occasional hotel stays are mixed in. Plus the miles and time on the road the roof stuff gets old fast.
 
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Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
I have, in the past, loaded up my roof pretty heavily. I have recently put the whole thing on a serious diet. When I got a new solar panel, I moved it aft (key for the geometry of my pop-top), and changed from a large 45"x50" roof basked to a very small 21"x47" basket (a converted Harbor Freight aluminum hitch-mount cargo basket). The small size of this basket really helps prevent overloading! I documented the construction of some of this on my blog here.

In general now, I only put things on the roof that are:
  • Infrequently used (ARB awning room fabric or side panel)
  • Too bulky to fit safely inside the cabin - my Skottle tends to ride up there now since I haven't currently got a way to keep it from flying into the passenger area during an accident
  • Too dirty to put in the cabin (my elevated firepit and a single bundle of firewood, for example)
All told, I try to limit the roof to about 40lbs of gear (not counting the ~15lbs for the basket, the solar panel, and two crossbars). This forces me to make choices. I always only ever need an elevated firepit OR a propane firepit (conditions determine). The wood/charcoal firepit doubles as a Roadii grill, so I often skip the skottle and just bring the appropriate cast-iron vessels (which can be stored safely under the bed inside).
 

llamalander

Well-known member
I tend to put things up top I don't want in the cab or the back of the truck-where we sleep.
Firewood, fire pan, ammo boxes for trash and the toilet and a stool to have handy all fits in my rack and gets held down with straps &/or a net.
The ammo boxes sit in their own tray with a strap and they are easy to access/empty at the gas station, box on the back holds all the propane fixtures that smell.
On the shell is a solar panel and underneath are some fiberglass sand-ladders. Probably about 200 lbs all told, nothing so valuable we would stop a trip if it went missing. While it could all actually fit in the back, the bed stays made and ready with just a duffle bag or 2 on top and I can see out the back window. Everything having a place is a big plus, packing and unpacking is easy.
 

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rayra

Expedition Leader
OP talk to @CrazyDrei , he's been using a basket and a roof coffin for a long time on his Suburban.
You've got about 36cu' behind the 3rd row seat, but with 4kids and a dog and that long of a road trip, you aren't going to have anywhere near enough room. And you might even want a hitch rack too.
 

MCX

TalesFromTheDesert.com
Usually just extra gas. I typically go out where there's no place to fill-up and the Xterra has a woefully small gas tank.
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Sounds like you got a similar setup as I do with the 48"x60" basket and a Jet box.

Here is my setup.

bcrlg2m.jpg


I drove to Alaska two times like this. I had around 650-800lbs of junk on the roof. But I spread the load out between 4 low profile Yakima cross bars. When I drove to Alaska this was on the roof basket: 1 full size spare tire for truck, 2 spare tires for trailer, 3 fuel cans totaling 30 gallons of gas, most of the time I only drove around with 12 gallons on the roof. Couple camping chairs. In the box: clothes, some tools. In the trailer: sleeping bags, pots, pans. Inside of the truck had a fridge behind the drivers seat and a cooler of food right behind the front center console. I have captains chairs second row. Inside of the truck was virtually empty.

With 6 people you have enough space to stuff everything you will need to a month behind the 3rd seat. You just have to have tetris precision when packing and unpacking every day. A dog adds another challenge to the trip. What kind of dog? Is it a big or small dog? If it's a small dog you can get a cage and keep it in the back on top of some bins, which make daily routine of unpacking and packing really quick and easy. If its a larger dog, it will need more space, 100lb lab will need at least 1/2 of rear cargo area.

We traveled several times with 5 of us and a pommeranian and a lab comfortably for a couple weeks.

xpGlUeH.jpg


35" spare donut in the cargo basket. My basket is 36" wide 72" long and Ski box is 18" wide

fniIpcr.jpg


Box side view

Since you will be traveling in lower 48, I would pack as minimalistic as you can. I would start by figuring out how much space you want to give your dog. Then get plastic bins: 8 of them that will fit in the remaining space behind the 3rd row. One bin for everyone and one for truck tools and one for camping gear/mess kits. Put bulky stuff like sleeping bags in the jet box, camping chairs in the basket. I would stay away from soft sided bags, they don't really last and wind noise is really annoying.

Good luck and we look forward to your trip and pictures.
 
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Outdoorsben

Observer
Pretty much nothing goes up there except a solar panel or a canoe. However, since I sleep in my Jeep I put the totes inside up on the roof overnight.
 

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