I’ve got a roof box off free cycle. Husband has gone mad!

[VWCJW]

Every holiday, my husband prides himself on taking hardly anything to a self catering holiday, and gets really stressed by me and my daughter taking a normal amount of clothes. He moans that it all won’t fit in the car and our kids sit with loads of stuff by their feet and piled up between them. This year, we have a long journey through France and our kids are getting taller so I got a roof box and my husband has got really upset and stressed about it. He says he doesn’t want to drill holes in his car and it means we will just take more stuff we don’t need. He was literally shaking about it. I’ve told him we will get rid but I don’t really want to. We have a massive box of footballs in the garage and I am sure they could be stored in the roof box so it won’t take up more room but he just says he hopes we will have less footballs in the future. He’s clearly not thinking properly as our son is really sporty and will probably end up with rugby and basketballs too, once at secondary school. Am I right to think that a roof box is a good thing? I see loads of cars with them. Or is he right and they are just an excuse to take a load of extra crap you don’t need?

We’ve had our roof box for 10 years. On the car permanently. Parking is never a problem, have rarely given it a second’s thought. Live in a city as well so parking options are sometimes multi-storey.

Some cars have rails ready for a roof rack. Some cars have holes to attach the rails if required.

Some cars are not immediately compatible with roof racks. In this case you either need a "clip on" system (which occasionally do fail) or you will need to drill holes in the roof. Realistically you don't want to be doing this yourself, you'd be better off paying Halfords to do it. The whole thing will be more expensive than you're imagining- the cost of the box is just the tip of the iceberg (if your car is not already set up for easy installation)

Put the roof box on yourself. Then put him in it

I borrowed a roof box once but couldn’t find any bars to fit my car. My husband made some. I think he enjoyed the challenge.

No holes in the car were necessary.

YAB both U, him for his over-reaction and you for taking so much stuff away.

People who hate competitive under-packers should look away now.

I've at times had to shuttle between three different living places, particularly when I was sometimes staying overnight at a boyfriend's and was living in one city whilst working in another. I travelled by public transport for longer distances and biked or walked for shorter distances. When it's more effort to cart stuff around and you're carting stuff around all the time, you learn very quickly to make sure you only take what you will use.

I've found over the years that there's very little difference between what you'd take for a couple of weeks and what you'd take for a weekend. For me, there's a bigger difference between winter packing and summer packing. So you, pack less (but don't wash his stuff if his lightweight packing depends on this). And one or other of you get the roof box fitted. Try it out. If you don't like it, meh, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Sounds like he needs to go in that roof box....

Presumably you know the make and model of the roof box. Whether or not it will fit on your car is a few moments research, I'd have thought. Until then there's no point speculating about whether or not/how it will fit.

Shaking?
Drilling holes?

He sounds like a controlling gobshite.

You have bigger problems than a roof box OP.
🙄

God help you.

Easy enough to find installation videos etc on ytube. Here's a screenshot shot from one I just found. This installation could guarantee a quieter journey for you too.

Try YouTube for methods of fixing.
Halfords do many 'pattern' roof bars for half the price of the car manufacturers. I bought some last year for our Kia.
Go into shop and ask someone, mine were not listed on website. But young man found some and was in shop in 48 hrs for collection.

My son used to keep loads of footballs in his bed! He still has loads in his bedroom because he loves them.

Also in the OP they say kids are taking up more of the limited room. And you still haven't addressed your lack of knowledge of OP's car. We can get twice as much in our current one as the last one and it's not that much bigger, just better arranged.

The husbands reaction is extreme
But what’s a normal amount of clothes in everyone’s opinion for a week? especially the op.
Fuel economy is affected by roof boxes a quick google reveals easily up to 25% more but it is car, weather and driving style dependant.

Plus the moaning about space and kids being squashed implies they DID need one, they just didn't have one.

I guess you bought a roof box without consulting him and expect him to modify his car to attach it. So that was a bit controlling of you.
I guess if he bought a cabinet to store his shoes and wanted it to be kept in the kitchen or hall without asking you, you'd be a bit annoyed. That he didn't consult you over something that you have to accommodate in your life.
If he goes down to Halfords to buy the roof bars they will gladly show him how to attach it.

I'm kind of with your husband on the not wanting to drill holes in the car, and mainly on not wanting loads of extra crap permanently cluttering everywhere up. However, the shaking is a massive overreaction!

IDK about OP or anyone else, but if my DH came home with a free cabinet and said "hey, I thought you could put your shoes in this and keep it in the kitchen", I would ponder whether I thought it necessary and agreed with his suggestion, and if I didn't agree I would either discuss alternative options or, if I was really really opposed (and I can't think why I would be) I would just say no, get rid of it. There would certainly be no shaking with fury. The reaction of the DH here is not in any way proportionate to the issue.

You know what roof boxes always remind me of? Coffins…. You know what coffins are good for? Control-freak husbands. My advice is to stuff him in the bloody roof box and leave it in the garage. You will suddenly find that your car has a lot more room for kids and their stuff.

Put the roof box on yourself. Then put him in it

What, you mean.... become like a human tortoise?!

I can’t get past anyone actually thinking uou need to drill holes in uour car to attach a roof box, that’s as thick as. You get a roof box and bars which are suitable for the car and attach it via clamps etc. no one drills holes in their car

I agree that there are some people who have some kind of innate urge to go extremely minimalist - maybe a trait they picked up when young.

I've seen articles before where smug households have claimed to only fill one bin bag a year and have either recycled or refused everything else. I always think it's quite remarkable that they only ever fill one black bag and never, say, eight - which would still be amazingly impressive when compared to the stuffed-to-bulging massive wheelie bins that many households put out 26 times a year.

When you look into it further, though, some of them are only really kicking the can down the road - still buying stuff that is produced in bulky packaging but unpacking it and leaving it at the supermarket, burning potentially-toxic waste and similar.

With some people, I think it's almost the equivalent of mediaeval monks flagellating themselves in an attempt to prove themselves worthy.

There would certainly be no shaking with fury.

It's interesting that people think he's shaking with fury or, as a pp said, anger, when the OP doesn't really give an indication of him being angry. She says 'mad' in the title, but that could be screw loose rather than enraged. She does say he's stressed a couple of times and mentions that he moans and gets upset. There's no indication, that I can see, that he gets angry.

So why that assumption? I get that his reaction is odd. But to me it reads as anxiety and not thinking straight rather than anger - and control, which posters also seem to think.

I love this random comment 🤣

We have roof bars and a large storage box. No drilling holes. We holiday in France and go on ferry. We take loads of stuff, wet suits for 4 of us, beach games, body surf boards, even a camping stove so we can make tea on the beach. We would not be without it. Your DH is being ignorant and you are right to want a roof box.

But yeah his reaction is bizarre. We did a lot of driving holidays when we were young and originally had a roof rack and then a roof box. My dad was never shaking.