know anything about roof boxes?

[Twiglett]

is it worth going for the Thule brand or should I buy a Halfords one

or is there a 'great' brand out there I'm missing

We've just bought a Mont Blanc one but haven't used it yet so I can't tell you if it's any good - but it does have two keys! Got ours at a ski place Ski Drive - it came super fast and was recommended by a few people on moneysavingexpert so you may as well have a look there too. We already had some Thule roof bars and some other bits but needed some other bits too - feet? and locks? I don't know - car stuff is a man job in our house. Box was £109 and is huge - it came in a cardboard box resembling a wardrobe (worth £109 for the fun the boys had playing in the box...)

I reallly only posted to say - Janh - big going off in my head on reading your posts. Friends have a Kar-rite, I saw ten zillion of them stuck in traffic on the way down to Cornwall at half term...and in my head it was ca-rit-ay...but no! It's that awful phonetic-y can't spell, skool-y Kar Rite. Really glad we didn't buy one now - I would have had to get busy with a marker pen...

that's a good site moo ... seems much cheaper

I am attracted by the Thule Atlantis 600 but it is described as a 'ski box' .. .. is it still suitable for just normal holidays?

Yes, Twig, I think all that means is it is guaranteed to be long enough to fit skis and poles in...
Can you tell I have been hanging around in Halfords TRYING to get dh to commit to buying one of these

they're £30 less on moo's site than Halfords .. and free delivery

does he like a bargain?

This is the man that auditions washing machines Twiglett. "I don't like to buy that sort of thing off the internet" FFS ROAR
We drove all the way down to Devon last year looking like the Clampitts with body parts, groceries, buckets and spades etc protruding from every window. Vile. You sound as though you are further along the road than I am.
The relief on the blighter's face when our local Halfords was out of stock of one tiny widget to complete the package

We have a Thule & it is fab - call it the concord. With a bit of jigging about we can also get 4 bikes on the rook as well (it is the long thin box but designed to go with 2 bikes!).

twig, ski boxes are long and narrow - half the width of a normal box I think.

Like this - leaves lots of space to fling a couple of bikes next to it but I don't think you wanna do that?

would like space for 1 bike .. we're going to get a back bike carrier for 3 bikes but when DD can ride too will need space for another one

d'ya think we should get a wider box then?

Depends how much you'll want to carry really - standard shape Karrite, 380L - standard Karrite, 470L - Thule ski box 340L - Thule ski 450 .

The big Thule one would be good if it still left space for a bike alongside (picture shows it centred, you'd need advice on that)

Also I think your roofbox shouldn't be longer than your car roof.

useful page about roofbars

One advantage of Thule over Halfords is that the Thule can open either side, so you don't need to worry about side access when you park.

what do you think of a bag style roof'box'

I'm sorry, I have to say it;

"What do you know abuot roof boxes?"
"They're boxes and they go on your roof".

It springs to mind everytime I see the thread title.

will it rip??

We've got a "Ski" style roof box, it has the same storage capacity as a wide one but long and thin instead....actually I think it might have slightly more litre-age storage (Why are they in litres for storage??)

Anyway when we have it on the roof dh has it over to one side(making sure the opening is nearest the side of the car....not in the middle IYKWIM?? common sense really) so theres a gap along the un-opening side of the box for other stuff to be strapped/tied on...leaving the inside of teh car even more empty.

Ours is a Halfords one.

Dh was very keen on that bag one, twig - mainly from a storage point of view: ours is now in our shed and taking up an awful lot of room (going to ask my parents if we can store it in their garage at some point). I guess it has the same guarantees as any other kind.

Sorry - not helpful really!

Alternative description here, soupy

The folding one looks really good, twig - if I'd known about those (if they existed when we got ours, it was 12 years ago) I'd have gone for one for storage reasons. The only thing that would worry me is that they could be slit open quite easily if someone wanted to, unlike the rigid ones.

LTH, what would you like them to be measured in for storage? Sippy cups? Shoe boxes? Buckets?

jan, but in my mind Litres mean liquid....and although it's water proof for water getting inside I'd be amazed if I could fill it with water and it all stay in.....

Anyway...like I say "in my mind" alot of things don't make sense

I think they should be measured by thier ability to store petit pois. you'd get billions in there and it would sound sooooo much bigger