We have been camping quite a few times with our roof box but it was always when we had estate cars, so we just left the roof box on the car and could go anywhere. However, this year we have a space wagon and I'm worried about height restrictions with leaving the roof box on.
I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with the roof box whilst camping as we won't really be able to leave it on the car.
we used to take ours off and just leave it on our pitch by the side of the static ,used for storage beach items etc,or next to the tent when we camped.We did not consider it vulnerable to theft, maybe we should ,but have had no problems,(it was a bog standard Halfords one)
We also take our roof box off when we camp,just put it behind the tent not been pinched yet but they would need the keys to use it, it's no use to anyone with broken locks,
We take it off with the bars attached and leave it behind the tent. I don't like driving around with an empty roof box on.
If somebody was going to Nick it, they'd probably take a load of other stuff anyway.
We have a big tall 4x4 with large roofbox on and never encountered any height problems. I measure the total height of truck + roofbox/bars and stick it to the dash as a reference for any bridges or carparks ect.
Quote: Originally posted by Gareth29 on 08/8/2014
We have a big tall 4x4 with large roofbox on and never encountered any height problems. I measure the total height of truck + roofbox/bars and stick it to the dash as a reference for any bridges or carparks ect.
We do the same.
------------- It's better to ask a silly question than make a silly mistake.
+1. Ours came with a little sticker for just that purpose.
Even in large cities we've always been able to park at street level. Underground are usually a no-no. Unless we took the big step ladders, we wouldn't be able to take it off anyway. We just take one of those folding plastic steps to empty it/refill it, but can't reach the far side fasteners with it (ours just hinges one way).
During the holiday we store all the empty bags/boxes in it, out of the way.
------------- Mike
My advice is worth no more than the price paid for it
ok cool, will give it a measure when on and see how high it is, I didn't think about removing it actually and if I will need a ladder or not, I've not even fitted it on the car, I better do that tonight and find out, if I do need a ladder, hopefully I can get away with leaving the box on, if not it can go at the back of the tent
We left ours on our Laguna Estate all the time and used it for the buggies. When we first watched it I monitored the fuel consumption on the computer and by the trip counter and I think it worked out at like 0.2mpg difference around town and seeing as our car is only used around town, it made sense to leave it on for the extra space it offered. On the motorway it made a big difference though.
At home we store ours in the shed, with camping stuff in it. On motorway/autoroute runs we'd get high 30's from our 1.2 petrol TSI without it, but the bars on. We always leave the bars on. With the box on that drops to mid 20's on high speed runs.
Forgot to say before, with the box on our total height is 2.1m. Brittany Ferries booking system caused a bit of an issue on height at Portsmouth this year, but they sorted it out with a free amendment.
------------- Mike
My advice is worth no more than the price paid for it
We take it off, and have some of the dog tethers which screw into the ground.
We screw the dog tethers in the ground, feed the bar through the handle part, then lock the roof box on, as we ALSo tie the bikes to this at night, makes it harder to steal.
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Topic: Roofbox whilst camping
