Rooftop carrier...hard or soft?

21 years ago

Aside from the cost of soft vs hard, what are the differences, pros and cons of each? We need one for our Sable stationwagon, and I don't know what to get. It's just going to be used for our camping trips.

Thanks!

mozy

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Comments (5)

dalew
21 years ago
Mozy ... are you talking a cross bar type roof carrier that's attached or fixed vs the foam block carriers?
mozy1
Original Author
21 years ago
Hmmm...your question already exceeds my knowledge base!!! I am just looking for a way to get the camping gear out of the car and up on top of it. I don't know what the answer to your specific question is.

I see things that look like big duffle bags (soft ones) and the Thule carriers (hard shell ones). Those are the only two I've seen.

mozy
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dalew
21 years ago
Now I understand what you were asking ... thought maybe you were refering to a method of how something is carried on the roof of a vehicle.

To your specific question about the roof top cargo containers; I've never used one myself but a fishing buddy of mine uses one for all his camping gear. It's the hard shell variety where the top part clamps down onto the bottom part (which attaches to the roof top carriers). When he gets to where-ever he's going, he unloads the gear, then takes the container off the roof of the car and sets it right next to his tent on the ground. Now it does the job for his needs and he's happy with it - think he bought his from Sears and have no idea what brand name it may be.

It would seem to me the down-side of this hard shell would be if you ever forgot to clamp the top down securely it might fly off going down the highway. But on the other hand, I would think it more durable than the "canvas" type.

Dale
haroldpe
21 years ago
I have used the soft top one for a couple years that we were tenting. It was on a small Saturn. It looked like crap, but performed very well. Only complaint was it noticably increased the drag on the car, to the point of having to be carefull it didn't overheat the poor old Saturn at high speeds (70mph limit in Michiagn). Milage also suffered significantly. Propoer tire inflation also is much more important.

I suspect the hard carriers are aerodynamically superior.
kksmama
21 years ago
We love our Sears hard top carrier. Bugs wash off easily. We used a cheap soft carrier in the past, it didn't last long and did create more drag, but was much easier to store in the garage.

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Rooftop carrier...hard or soft?

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dalew

mozy1
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Rooftop carrier...hard or soft?

Comments (5)

dalew

mozy1Original Author

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kksmama

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mozy1
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