Roof box

Dombo · Apr 12, 2015

Hi,

I have just ordered a roof box Thule Motion XXL, 630litres. It is meant to be delivered tomorrow. I might have made a mistake... I've just remembered now that Beach roof are meant to carry only 50kg.

I have a few questions:
- Am i risking to damage my roof by driving with more than 50kg on the roof? is the "50kg tolerance" for opening the roof or for driving too?
- I am reading that the roof might have difficulties to open up with more than 50kg on the roof. Is there a way to keep it open? did anyone use some wood piece or other trick to keep it open? I guess some are putting canoes that are more heavy than 50kg. any experience to share?

Any advise/experience to share welcome.
thanks in advance,
Dom

Waldo · Apr 14, 2015

I've swithed to a box behind the car when I discovered the roof doens't stay open with a 45 kg box. Should be possible though to make a stick but it was not worth the risk for me.

estresao · Apr 14, 2015

Hi Waldo, if you will use the OEM bikerack demember there is limit as well. Speaking from memory, I think it's 70kg.... have a look to the user guide to check that point.

Dombo · Apr 14, 2015

hi, the limit is 60kg on the bikerack. But with the bikerack don't you have the other problem that the backdoor is not staying open with such a weigth on it?
or are you using the trailer hitch (coupling) ? if yes, which version did you go for? are you happy with it? I have seen the Thule, but it looks pretty annoying to open the trunk.

Waldo · Apr 14, 2015

Happy with mft v-box - mft transport systems GmbH:

I also put a lot of stuff on the bikerack sometimes, we have to open the backdoor with 2 people and I put a broom under it to keep it open

Waldo · Apr 14, 2015

Dombo, I don't think there's any problem driving with 100 kilos on top of your VW, as long as the roof is closed.

Dombo · Apr 14, 2015

hi Waldo,
thanks for sharing this. I trust you that driving with 100kg should be fine, but this shouldn't that convenient to remove all the stuff from the roof box to be able to open the popup roof. Or do you have another solution?

with regards to the mfg v-box, can you share your experience? is it easy to open the tailgate? is it easy to move the box down even if full?

You mention that you put a lot of stuff on the bikerack, do you put this stuff into a box? if yes, what box? I am looking for an easy box that can be locked as i would like to store my kite surfing gears in it.

thanks for your advice,
Dom

Waldo · Apr 15, 2015

The box is fine, on the bikerack i have the Thule bag but I needed sth like you do. The only thing is it can be a bit hard to lock when it's really full.
I keep my board inside or on the roof, kites in the box when travelling with the family.

zeratul · Apr 16, 2015

I have a thule motion 900 which is also 630 litres.
Haven't used it on this car yet. But I plan to store all the large items in it. We'll have 5 sleeping bags, matrasses, pillows, plastic spades and toys for the kids, shoes, boots, ..
Many of those items will be used when the roof is up so they are not to be counted for the weight.

The box itself is already 27kg. The bars are 8kg. That means I could leave/store 15kg in at night.
Have to test how it works out.

dannosail · Apr 17, 2015

Is the beach held up by gas struts? If so then you could get it to stay up by fitting ones with a higher rating as with the California tailgate. I imagine there is a reaonsable safety factor in the design of the roof components, however by putting more weight on it whilst lifted it will of course be under more stress in higher winds etc. Whilst it is down I would think there is significantly less risk of damage.

cleve · Apr 18, 2015

We had a large thule roof box but even empty the roof didn't readily stay up! We could have tried moving the roof bars from the centre to the rear of the roof or a wedge to keep the roof up but weren't prepared to take the risk of our children sleeping up there after seeing it struggle with nothing in the box. I couldn't imagine emptying a roof box every time we needed to elevate the roof.

We too have the mft euro select box and its a fantastic bit of kit. It's easy to lower the box, even easier when full as there's a bit more momentum with the added weight. So much easier than a roof box to access and keeps muddy boots etc out away from the interior. Opening the tailgate is easy with the box on. Not quite so easy to open the tailgate when loaded with 4 bikes with the box on but still doable. My husband usually manages on his own whilst I risk my life getting something out of the boot whilst he takes the weight!

There's a thread on the forum somewhere where we posted a youtube clip.

Dombo · Apr 19, 2015

Thanks Cleve for your comment. I am still undecided if i go for the mft euro. I am slightly concern how to access the boot with it. We have 3 kids and thus need to stick the pushchair and other toys in the boot. I am worried to get get bored to lower the box every time we've forgotten something in the boot. Are you really convinced by your purchase?

I am thinking on 2 other possible options. But neither of them satisfy me so far:
1. Buy a bak-rak and add a box - a bit cheaper if i am not using that much, and seems easier to put it on and remove
2. Buy a box and attached it on the VW bike rack. We are not using much our bike rack as our kids are still very young.

Thanks all for sharing your experience,
Dom

Dombo · Apr 19, 2015

@cleve, I am looking at mft website, but it doesn't give ability to order it online. Where did you buy it?

thank,
Dom

holliers · Apr 19, 2015

Hi

We also have the MFT box, and as Cleve says, it is great for storing "outdoor" type items (awning, BBQ, etc) that we don't want in the van.

I thought we would take the box off the back of the van and store in the awning once on site, but in practice, it is reasonably easy to lower and too big to store in the awning. In the end, we left it in place. That being said, we did plan what we carried in the boot to minimise the number of times we needed to lower the box and access the boot.

I'm not sure if you are in the UK Dom, but I think Cleve bought theirs from Amazon if I remember correctly. When I went to get mine Amazon was out of stock. Spoke to MFT and they would not sell / ship direct to the UK, so in the end bought from an Audi dealer in Germany through eBay. Let's just say that the experience was not ideal and I doubt very much whether they would do it again, however there were other sellers that offered the service.

If you want more details drop me aline and I'd be happy to share the links for the suppliers I used / contacted.

Cheers
Mark

holliers · Apr 19, 2015

.. here are a couple of shots of ours loaded (to remind me how to pack it) to give you a sense of size etc..

cleve · Apr 19, 2015

Dombo said:
@cleve, I am looking at mft website, but it doesn't give ability to order it online. Where did you buy it?

thank,
Dom

Yes bought our box on amazon although think we bought the base on ebay with no problems as it was out of stock on amazon.

We also have 3 children and can't say our box was a neatly packed as Mark's! We ended up throwing things in like shoes, helmets, toys etc and found it was the odds and ends we needed regularly that went in the box, luggage bags under the multiflex so no need to open the tailgate too often. We seem to be a bit more organised this year with packing under the multiflex and now our youngest has turned 2 we plan to manage with a maclaren stroller this year which we hope will fit in the box with silver screens, picnic table and a bike accessories.

When fine weather camping we tend to tilt box, open tailgate then put box back in semi tilt mode so both box and tailgate can be accessed at the same time. Just close the tailgate if cold or raining. Hope this pic helps:

holliers · Apr 19, 2015

cleve said:
When fine weather camping we tend to tilt box, open tailgate then put box back in semi tilt mode so both box and tailgate can be accessed at the same time.

Exactly what we do.

cleve · Apr 19, 2015

I should add that we looked into fixing a thule backup box to our bike rack but we use our bike rack all the time, if only to take the children's bikes for tearing around the campsite.

This thread may interest you where someone has modified a bike rack to do the same thing
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=201474
We went for the easy option! Figured that once our children are older we also have the option of having the mft bike rack attachment so we can carry 5 bikes with smaller bikes on the mfg rack below the vw rack if we can manage without the extra load space the box gives us.