asuman1179 Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 Hello, I have a99 OBW and was wondering what size Hard Top Shells people have put on their car and what they think about it. I was thinking about getting a Rocket Pack by Yamakia but the guy was telling me that you will not be able to open the trunk as much. To me I see tons of people with them on their cars so it must not be that big of deal. How much does it change your gas mileage? Thanks Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99obw Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 I have the 20 cubic foot sears model. It is a little hard to mount, but it works really well. The "kickstands" that hold it open kind of suck, but what do you want for $150. It mounts such that the rear door still fully opens. We averaged 27.7 MPG with that thing on the roof, the A/C on, and the car fully loaded on a trip to Vermont a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane b Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 I believe you mean "Yakima" racks. This is where the company originally came from and I used to live there. A lot depends on the configuration of your factory rail system on the top of your car. Our 96 Legacy has a pretty short (front to back) system and yes we can't open our lift gate all the way. I have seen longer factory rails that were longer than ours that would probably work fine. Or you can buy after market rails from Yakima or Thule. I wish they made a mid-length box that was short enough to work on our factory rails but long enough to hold skis and snowboards. I haven't found one yet. The great thing about the Yakima and Thule boxes is their aero-dynamics. We used one on a roadtrip this past summer and you could'nt even tell it was up there even at 70-80 mph. We were getting as optimum MPGs as we would've without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 The boxes are good for gas mileage.. much better than this.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meeky Moose Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 yeah i have one of those square sears jobbers.. mine hooks to the car by adjustable straps with clamps on the end.. it fit well.. we had it on the top of an xt6 and drove from oregon to virginia.. it stayed put held all kinds of stuff and we still got close to 30mpg .. best part was when i bought it i went to napa cause they had some on the wall.. i asked him and the guy said they had to order them.. i didn't wanna do that but another customer said hey i got one of those i need to sell.. so i said alright, we went to his house and he dug it out and said "we took this to alaska and back on our jeep once.. hows $30 sound?" i said heck yeah and whipped out the green.. best $30 i ever spent, lol... it does collect bugs real easy though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgwilli Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 I use Thule bars and cargo box on my 99 outback. I had to drill new holes in the floor of the box so I could mount it forward enough to open the hatch fully. It works great for skiis and light bulky camping gear like sleeping bags, pads, and tents. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkaru Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Chris: I had shopped around a while for my roof box, but already favored Yakima because of previous/current bike rack ownership. I also have bike racks off my old VW Jetta Trek (basically European Thule knock-offs). I ended up putting the dual Thule style racks on the factory bars, then picked up Yakima towers and 58" crossbars, fitting a Thule Evolution 1800 box in between my Yakima 'Steelhead' bike racks (front wheel removed and mounted alongside the handlebars. You do not have to go to 58" crossbars with just the box. I put a set of pulleys and some clothline from my garage ceiling with a rope cleat on the wall and some old carpeting on the ceiling joists. Now I pull in, lower the box, bars and towers just off the roof, then lock down the towers to the factory rails. With the front tower as far forward as possible, the rear hatch with factory spoiler clears the box by about 3/4". It is about 15-20 minutes by myself to get this maneuver done, on or off, but I have been getting practice:) I probably lose 3-5 mpg with the box on, and the cruise control struggles a bit with maintaining 75 MPH, where it struggles with ~85-90 when nothing is on the roof. I picked the Evolution box because it seemed a bit more aerodynamic, plus it opens from either side, making loading and unloading easier. I picked Yakima towers because I already had bike racks for it, but I definitely wanted locking towers just to secure stuff. Never heard of anyone stealing a roof box, but I would probably be the first:D This setup is costlier than the Sears units, but I like it. I am attaching the only photo showing any part of it, but you can see the forward tower location and one of the front bike rack mounts. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkaru Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Where's it go:( 46, 318 bytes on my puter, so it is under the maximum:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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