Looking for something to stash bags of clothes and other bulky but
lightweight and non-precious stuff on the car roof when travelling with
family. (Big sheet of polythene and tie-downs works but always seems to
involve me struggling in wind and freezing rain putting it on!)

There seem to be decent-size (400l) boxes at around 100 notes, or bags
from about half that. I suspect that the bags are never going to
withstand driving rain, and wonder how long the zips last, but not sure
whether the boxes will just fall apart either.

What experience do folks here have of such things?




--
John Stumbles

Fundamentalist agnostic

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
Looking for something to stash bags of clothes and other bulky but
lightweight and non-precious stuff on the car roof when travelling with
family. (Big sheet of polythene and tie-downs works but always seems to
involve me struggling in wind and freezing rain putting it on!)

There seem to be decent-size (400l) boxes at around 100 notes, or bags
from about half that. I suspect that the bags are never going to
withstand driving rain, and wonder how long the zips last, but not sure
whether the boxes will just fall apart either.

What experience do folks here have of such things?


Got a rooftop box on my drive that I've used a couple of times on the car -
came with a 2nd hand car and outlived the car.
Seems to withstand the elements O.K. and be long lived.
Also looks streamlined.

I think the profile is probably the issue, and that the drag is less from a
pointy fibreglass thing than from a bag.

Whereabouts are you, John?

Could provide said box for a lot less than 100 notes :-)

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:44:41 +0100, David WE Roberts wrote:

I think the profile is probably the issue, and that the drag is less
from a pointy fibreglass thing than from a bag.

But I suspect you actually want the pointy end facing backwards, teardrop-
style, for less drag! (Who remembers the French and Saunders sketch of
the two middle-aged women cyclists wearing Olympic-style teardrop
helmets, one pointed-end forward, other backward?!)


Whereabouts are you, John?

Reading: email address works.

--
John Stumbles

Because it messes up the order in which people read text.
Why is top-posting a bad thing?

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:44:41 +0100, David WE Roberts wrote:

I think the profile is probably the issue, and that the drag is less
from a pointy fibreglass thing than from a bag.

But I suspect you actually want the pointy end facing backwards, teardrop-
style, for less drag! (Who remembers the French and Saunders sketch of
the two middle-aged women cyclists wearing Olympic-style teardrop
helmets, one pointed-end forward, other backward?!)


Whereabouts are you, John?

Reading: email address works.


Felixstowe, Suffolk, unfortunately.
And not likely to be over in your neck of the woods for some considerable
time.
My gmail address can be deduced from my posting name (two '.'s)

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

David WE Roberts wrote:

My gmail address can be deduced from my posting name (two '.'s)

Dots aren't significant in gmail addresses, you can remove them, or add
more of them at will, the message will still arrive.

Also if your address left of the @gmail.com is in the format first.last
you can also be reached as last.first, this work for first.middle.last
as last.middle.first though.

Looking for something to stash bags of clothes and other bulky but
lightweight and non-precious stuff on the car roof when travelling with
family. (Big sheet of polythene and tie-downs works but always seems to
involve me struggling in wind and freezing rain putting it on!)

There seem to be decent-size (400l) boxes at around 100 notes, or bags
from about half that. I suspect that the bags are never going to
withstand driving rain, and wonder how long the zips last, but not sure
whether the boxes will just fall apart either.

What experience do folks here have of such things?


Do you mean this sort of thing?
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49024805/images.jpg

Mike

John Stumbles wrote:

Looking for something to stash bags of clothes and other bulky but
lightweight and non-precious stuff on the car roof when travelling with
family. (Big sheet of polythene and tie-downs works but always seems to
involve me struggling in wind and freezing rain putting it on!)

There seem to be decent-size (400l) boxes at around 100 notes, or bags
from about half that. I suspect that the bags are never going to
withstand driving rain, and wonder how long the zips last, but not sure
whether the boxes will just fall apart either.

What experience do folks here have of such things?


I have a Thule bag and it works very well on the odd occasion I needed it
(holiday in Belgium for one).

Waterproof, spacious and rolls up (unlike abox).

Not quite as convenient and you really do have to unmount it when empty -
but unless you need a box all of the time or storage is no problem, I would
go with the bag.
--
Tim Watts

In message , John Stumbles
writes
Looking for something to stash bags of clothes and other bulky but
lightweight and non-precious stuff on the car roof when travelling with
family. (Big sheet of polythene and tie-downs works but always seems to
involve me struggling in wind and freezing rain putting it on!)

There seem to be decent-size (400l) boxes at around 100 notes, or bags
from about half that. I suspect that the bags are never going to
withstand driving rain, and wonder how long the zips last, but not sure
whether the boxes will just fall apart either.

What experience do folks here have of such things?


We've had a roofbox for a number of years and it must have done 1000's
of miles by now. Doesn't seem to produce any extra wind noise. Pretty
quick and easy to fit to the roof. Easy to load. Not always 100%
waterproof. In certain circumstances, in heavy rain, a little bit of
rain can work it's way in around the front. But assuming anything in
their is packed in some sort of bag this isn't a problem.

It's not showing any signs of falling apart, nor are any of the ones
friends have AFAIK, though mine was more like around 200 notes, but the
important bits seems fine on the cheaper ones I have seen.

We use ours quite a bit, and it often stays on the roof with stuff infor
soemtime, so bag wouldn't suit as so well. And we have space to store
it.

I can see a bag being useful for those with limited storage space.

--
Chris French

"chris French" wrote in message
...
In message , John Stumbles
writes
Looking for something to stash bags of clothes and other bulky but
lightweight and non-precious stuff on the car roof when travelling with
family. (Big sheet of polythene and tie-downs works but always seems to
involve me struggling in wind and freezing rain putting it on!)

There seem to be decent-size (400l) boxes at around 100 notes, or bags
from about half that. I suspect that the bags are never going to
withstand driving rain, and wonder how long the zips last, but not sure
whether the boxes will just fall apart either.

What experience do folks here have of such things?


We've had a roofbox for a number of years and it must have done 1000's of
miles by now. Doesn't seem to produce any extra wind noise. Pretty quick
and easy to fit to the roof. Easy to load. Not always 100% waterproof. In
certain circumstances, in heavy rain, a little bit of rain can work it's
way in around the front. But assuming anything in their is packed in some
sort of bag this isn't a problem.

It's not showing any signs of falling apart, nor are any of the ones
friends have AFAIK, though mine was more like around 200 notes, but the
important bits seems fine on the cheaper ones I have seen.

We use ours quite a bit, and it often stays on the roof with stuff infor
soemtime, so bag wouldn't suit as so well. And we have space to store it.

I can see a bag being useful for those with limited storage space.

The trouble with roof boxes is the weight limit on roof racks.
Typically a car is limited to 100kg.
Subtract the roof bars and the box and you are down to about 70kg of load.
There isn't much other than clothes, sleeping bags, etc. that will then fit
into that load space without overloading or leaving it empty.
Of course the clothes, etc. can be put into vacuum bags and compressed down
so they fit elsewhere.
I would try some vacuum bags and a 12v inflator/deflator before buying a box
as you probably don't need one, saving ~£200 and a lot of fuel.
The big drawback with vacuum bags is the weight of your suitcases can triple
or more with all the extra stuff you can put in.
Make sure you weigh them before getting to an airport.

In message , "dennis@home"
writes


"chris French" wrote in message
k...
In message , John Stumbles
writes
Looking for something to stash bags of clothes and other bulky but
lightweight and non-precious stuff on the car roof when travelling with
family. (Big sheet of polythene and tie-downs works but always seems to
involve me struggling in wind and freezing rain putting it on!)

There seem to be decent-size (400l) boxes at around 100 notes, or bags
from about half that. I suspect that the bags are never going to
withstand driving rain, and wonder how long the zips last, but not sure
whether the boxes will just fall apart either.

What experience do folks here have of such things?


We've had a roofbox for a number of years and it must have done
1000's of miles by now.

The trouble with roof boxes is the weight limit on roof racks.
Typically a car is limited to 100kg.

Depends on the fixing of the roofbars. On our Mondeo with roof rails
it's 100kg, on our old car with bars that clamped onto the car itself it
was IIRC 75kg. However doesn't really matter as....

Subtract the roof bars and the box and you are down to about 70kg of load.

Most boxes seem to have a load of 50kg anyway.


There isn't much other than clothes, sleeping bags, etc. that will then
fit into that load space without overloading or leaving it empty.
Of course the clothes, etc. can be put into vacuum bags and compressed
down so they fit elsewhere.

It's still extra space (in our case about 460L) whatever you put in it.
Even if you use vacuum bags, if your car is full then I doubt you are
going to get enough volume back not to need the box (does depend of
course) - not everything will compress.

Before we got a trailer we used the box when camping. We used to get the
tent (depending on which one it might have been upto about 30+kg)camping
chairs, and some light stuff like camping mats, water carrier etc.
--
Chris French