lester123

When I travel north for the summer, we take lots of stuff, more than will fit in the SUV. Therefore, I will need to purchase a cargo bag that will fit on the top of the vehicle between the cross bars and side bars.

Any suggestions? Need about 10-15 cubic feet.

RX330inFL

If you are not equipped to tow a small UHaul trailer, then a Thule is rarely a bad way to go. Get the kit to protect your roof.

2010morx

I would seriously consider the "Hard" shell type of carrier. The guys went on a fishing trip to Canada and drove straight thru. Had tons of bugs on the carrier, that would be really tough to get off of a fabric.

lester123

Thanks, but I would like a cargo BAG since space is limited to store and for the few times I would use it, I do not want to spend the extra $$ for the hard case

busurfer

I'd install a hitch and get a hitch mounted cargo box like this:

http://www.prolineracks.com/thule-66...o-carrier.html

It's the Thule 665C and would have less impact on your gas mpg than a roof mounted rack or bag and the savings after a few trips may offset the difference in price. .

jfelbab

Assuming you have the roof rails and crossbars you can get a Thule bag that stores up to 13 cu ft for around $110.

When we travel south for the winter we ship our excess stuff via UPS or FedEX rather than dealing with a roof carrier.

Every year we notice that we didn't need but a quarter of the junk we shipped but darn if we don't replay that same tune every year. If I wanted to put my foot down and limit what we ship to what we actually used the prior season, I'd likely not need to ship anything extra. I'm just not ready to have that "discussion" with my wife.

RX330inFL

Jim, I think you are where I got the idea for my posting above. Was trying to remember who it was who had one of these.

lester123

Apparently Thule is a "leader" in cargo bags, but they are more expensive than the competition. Amazon has about the best prices for the bags. I notice that there are 2 different 13 cu ft bags; the more expensive one is supposedly better material. They also have a bag that is larger - 15 to 17 cu ft., but this is significantly more than the other 2.

lester123

Do you or anyone else have an estimate of the loss in MPG when using a cargo bag on top vs this alternative? (I make one 1100 mile trip each way per year)