Roof bags?

[Pskhaat]

For a short period of time, I would tour with a set of waterproof duffel bags (large North Face) on the roof, properly packed and strapped down. I mostly tour with 4 people, three of them are now adult-sized, myself included This is where lightweight clothing, kids stuff, and other randomness used to fit. Fast forward to today and I regularly employ the 3 rows of the vehicle to keep said 3 teenagers separated by seating row.

But now I'm thinking I'm more keen to have recovery equipment (tow/snatch straps, air jack, shackles) on the roof v. in inconvenient locations in the cab where they have life-critical securing requirements. Is anyone running waterproofed soft-sided storage bags atop v. roof boxen (e.g. alubox)? If so, what are your experiences and recommendations?

I should add: I'm interested in collapsible bags because in my experience, recovery gear in a fixed-size box once off-highway like to noisily move around inside.

 

[Herbie]

I like soft bags for the weight savings.

My "roof basket" is actually a Harbor Freight trailer-hitch cargo basket with all the hitch parts removed (I put my roof on a diet and a small basket forces me to keep the weight down.) The upside of using a hitch basket as a roof basket is that there are a TON of cheap, waterproof cargo bags for hitch baskets. In the rare instance when I have soft-ish goods on the roof, I use one of these to keep everything dry. Most of the time, though, my roof basket is only for "hard" items like a bundle of firewood or my firepit (things which I also specifically don't want inside the van) which don't get bagged.

 

[trae]

Man doesn't stuff on the roof just get covered in bug guts? I've had to hit pay-and-spray carwashes in the middle of road trips just to slop the carnage off from a single afternoon crossing North Dakota or Oregon when the bugs are dense. Can't imagine having fabric exposed to that stuff. Rain's one thing, bug guts plus a pressure washer to get the bugs off is another test entirely for waterproof stuff.

Gonna have a shield or something at least?

I should note, I don't have a ton of experience with roof carried stuff.. don't have the seats full of teenagers so I can usually get everything inside the vehicle and below the windows.

I have experience with such a bag — it’s made of heavy duty vinyl. Very tough so bugs are no issue. Convenient because you can roll it up for storage. Unfortunately while advertised as waterproof — it wasn’t. Also was really rigid and hard to deal with in sub zero weather. Overall the concept is sound though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Inyo_man]

Waterproof bags designed for river guides work great.
I have two "big" dry bags...one from each of the below manufacturers.
These bags "lived" on the roof rack for many family trips, in all four seasons. Often, I'll just hose the bags down at the end of the trip to get the trail dust off... they store easily, "crush down" when strapped to the rack, and are easy to get up and down off the rack.
Bag contents have always come through dry and dust free.

GUL Watersports

www.gul.com

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[jgaz]

I’ve had great service from a couple bags by this company.

Waterproof Bags & Packs - Watershed Drybags

www.drybags.com

I don’t have a roof rack but these have been used in the bed of a pickup and tied to the deck of a trailer in some really lousy weather.

As has been said I like the fact that they store flat. Since I no longer have a basement this is a much appreciated feature.

 

[Pskhaat]

I’ve had great service from a couple bags by this company.

These are really nice: