Why don't i see any Thule or Yakima boxes on Overland rigs?

[fishEH]

Love my Yakima SkyBox. Whenever possible I try not to bring it but with a family of 5 in a Discovery 1 that's not always possible. Its great for sleeping bags, chairs, stove, lantern, anything light and bulky. Even when we're camping out of our van I'll being the box if rain is forcasted. Its super easy to just bunch up the wet and messy tent and toss it in the box.

 

[siebermd]

Too pedestrian for the brand-conscious fetishists. Stick an ARB / YETI sticker on it and double the price and it will sell.


But honestly, they seem like an excellent way to add ~15cu', but they're kind of spendy. And if you have a vehicle large enough to mount one properly, you probably have enough cubic storage already, if you use it efficiently.

LOL... So Funny what you said about the stickers.... and yet so true.

 

[patoz]

fishEH, that is a beautiful campsite, and you do it the same way I like to, nice and organized!

To me, having a cargo box on top is like having an attic in a house. You can store things up until they're needed, and they stay dry, clean, and secure. Just another form of organization for us OCD people.

 

[patsfan]

Does anyone have any leads on ongoing sales or coupon codes?

 

[Rando]

I use a Yakima box on my LC. As everyone else has said - great for storing light/bulky items, particularly if you don't need to use them everyday. We often store our backpacking gear up there when plan to do a little backpacking on a longer trip.

I always giggle a little bit when I see someone driving around with four 'expo-cool' pelican cases strapped to their roof rack, and wonder why the heck didn't they just get a roof box?

 

[Sacmaster]

I don't understand the desire to strap a bunch of individual cases and knick knacks to a basket on the roof. I did a 12k mile trip around the lower 48 and Canada in about 6 weeks and used a Yakima Skybox attached to Yakima crossbars on my LC 100. It worked flawlessly.

 

[landsharkman]

So far so good with my Yakima Skybox

 

[rayra]

How's the wind noise with these, particularly the difference in mounting positions, trailing the top of the windshield and forward of it. They look aerodynamic in their own right, but how well do they interact with the vehicles themselves?

 

[Ryanmb21]

No wind noise.

 

[OCD Overland]

We get a weird buzzing sound from ours every now and then at highway speed. I haven't been able to diagnose it yet since it's so intermittent. It could be the top vibrating on the base but I suspect that it's the base vibrating on one of the crossbars. I'm sure it's an easy fix but I never remember until we're on the highway.

 

[calicamper]

I found with all our cars 01 jetta, 01 Legacy, 93 J80, 2006 Sequoia and the typical long trip rig 2010 Outback that the box is quieter than nakid bars and or bike trays etc. The box smooths the air flow under the bars, less wind noise.

As a side note on my Legacy and on a friends Outback the box changing the air flow caused a loose rubber pad between the rack supporting foot and the roof sheet metal to vibrate. Just a small amount of wiggle on the rubber pad could have it vibrate/buzz like a bee.
I put a pea sized drop of Auto gasket sealer between the rubber pad and the rack foot/post this was enough to hold the pad and prevent the angry bee vibration.
Worth a look.

Also some boxes the metal slides on the adjustable mounts might vibrate, some blue painters tape on the slide inside the box might prevent any vibration from the slide in its track. Plus its easy to remove the tape..

 

[landsharkman]

my rack mods make more wind noise than adding the Yakima to the truck. It does effect mpg, but then again so would anything else on the rack would as well.

 

[HenryJ]

Lots of great comments and pics of cargo boxes on the top. Here are a couple pics of ours in use over the years:
2005-

2007-

2008-

I still have it and use it occasionally on the avalanche. Or on the Maxx for a trip. I have been using the basket up top so I can haul the canoe and it has the awning mounted to the side of it.
I don't think I have used it in the last year. If someone is interested in it drop me a PM

 

[Jelorian]

No wind noise.

Same here. If there is any, I don't notice it, but then again, I only have a Thule Summit which is one of their smaller boxes.

 

[patoz]

How's the wind noise with these, particularly the difference in mounting positions, trailing the top of the windshield and forward of it. They look aerodynamic in their own right, but how well do they interact with the vehicles themselves?

Mine is mounted pretty far back, but I do not get any noise from it nor has it affected the gas mileage that I can tell. I've had this box on four different trucks over the years, and never had a problem with it on any of them.