Cargo Carrier

[Kurt Franz]

FWIW - Going on a camping trip this weekend and decided that I do not want to put firewood, charcoal, and my Smokey Joe inside the van in bins. In my attempt to make things simpler I purchased this:

with the plan being to tie down two plastic bins containing the above mentioned items. When I get to my site, park the van, and that's that. This rack is rated at 500 LBs using a 2" receiver, but I am not buying that. I figure it is probably good for a couple hundred pounds tops - which will suffice for my purposes. The one thing that appealed to me was the distance between the rack and receiver end is short if not using the receiver adapter. Also, I do not have the spare tire carrier.

If this proves to be a no go - the rack will get returned....

Please by all means fire away and let me know where my flaws are in my thinking.

[N147JK]

Those items are messy and storing them outside sounds like a good idea. But will this block the use of your rear doors?

[Kurt Franz]

The bins would block the rear doors, but the rack will not, so yes I would have to move the bins to get in the rear door if needed..... However, maybe I just plan on keeping the firewood in the left bin as that is the only door that I would open - as the tire is stored inside on the right. I just carry the bin with my firewood over to the fire area...

[Doneworking]

It will work just fine. Years ago I bought a very similar cargo container from Walmart and modified it by offsetting the square tube to the left a bit which allowed for our continental spare. I then added another square tube to the right and built a slightly larger square tube (bolted to the chassis) to give me two tubes instead of one and correct for the offset. It worked great. I haven't used it in years because we just learned to travel with less over the years. Our RT 210 P has more useable storage than the three small Class Cs we have owned over four decades of rving.

Even with the twin supports, I never put more than 150 pounds of load on the carrier.

If you have a continental spare like on our RT, some use a hitch extender and mount a carrier behind the continental tire. Not me. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. Some report OK results doing that but it seems to me I would never be comfortable with a fulcrum like that in place.

Your mount should be fine.

[mkguitar]

I have a harbor freight carrier ( used) with a large home depot tub attached to it. it works great to haul extra stuff.
I'm under a hundred bucks.
I would guess that the max weight I've had w/ rack is maybe 250. not noticable.
On a previous trip I used a large cooler ( small than the bin) which allowed me to fully open the right side door.
I am considering a swingaway hitch mount- $200 though

[dicktill]

Originally Posted by Kurt Franz

The bins would block the rear doors, but the rack will not, so yes I would have to move the bins to get in the rear door if needed..... However, maybe I just plan on keeping the firewood in the left bin as that is the only door that I would open - as the tire is stored inside on the right. I just carry the bin with my firewood over to the fire area...

I don't have any advice for you on the carrier. However, unless your firewood is kiln dried scraps such as 2x4's, it is a real bad idea to transport firewood any distance as it can spread invasive forest pests. See: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idk...looking%20wood.

[rvsprinterguy]

We use a similar carrier, except that it swings out to allow the doors to open when it's loaded. It's a nice addition that frees up space in the van.

[Kurt Franz]

actually on this trip we are using fire starter logs and my left over scrap lumber from my Florida home projects. We buy firewood from the locals when traveling and if we are staying near home in Ohio I utilize my local inventory which is substantial.

But yes - the issue with insect infestation is very real - we have seen evidence of that in Allegheny National Forest over the years - it was the Emerald Ash Borer IIRC.

[dicktill]

Originally Posted by Kurt Franz

actually on this trip we are using fire starter logs and my left over scrap lumber from my Florida home projects. We buy firewood from the locals when traveling and if we are staying near home in Ohio I utilize my local inventory which is substantial.

But yes - the issue with insect infestation is very real - we have seen evidence of that in Allegheny National Forest over the years - it was the Emerald Ash Borer IIRC.

Thank you!!!!! Hope everyone follows this pattern.

BTW, I am north of the Allegheny National Forest, just across the NY state border.

[InterBlog]

Hi, Kurt. My advice - choose or create your hitch carrier based on your own personal cost-benefit analysis of how you wish to use your van.

My husband and I could not find a hitch carrier to meet our needs, and so we designed and fabricated our own (my husband is an engineer and a hobby welder). We have a GVWR challenge with our Class B model, which is built on a 2006 T1N Sprinter 2500. As a result of that, a swing-away or more elaborate hitch carrier model was going to add too much weight, given what we wanted to carry on it. So we developed this svelte minimalist approach.

We got around the rear barn door blockage issue by having the street side dedicated to the main cargo haulage, and the curb side platform more dynamically use-able. In other words, we can lash additional cargo to that side if we need to, but we typically use it as a big wide step for ingress-egress.

In our case, our priority was not hauling firewood but rather a Yeti cooler in which we carry food frozen into two 35-pound ice blocks, because we do almost all of our travel off-grid, and the freezing method meets our longer-term travel needs for food preservation. Plus we needed to externalize the gas can for our chain saw. We later modified this carrier design to accept other cargoes as well.

[THEBRAIN]

Originally Posted by Doneworking

It will work just fine. Years ago I bought a very similar cargo container from Walmart and modified it by offsetting the square tube to the left a bit which allowed for our continental spare. I then added another square tube to the right and built a slightly larger square tube (bolted to the chassis) to give me two tubes instead of one and correct for the offset. It worked great. I haven't used it in years because we just learned to travel with less over the years. Our RT 210 P has more useable storage than the three small Class Cs we have owned over four decades of rving.

Even with the twin supports, I never put more than 150 pounds of load on the carrier.

If you have a continental spare like on our RT, some use a hitch extender and mount a carrier behind the continental tire. Not me. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. Some report OK results doing that but it seems to me I would never be comfortable with a fulcrum like that in place.

Your mount should be fine.

excellent adding the 2nd surport.

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Hi, Kurt. My advice - choose or create your hitch carrier based on your own personal cost-benefit analysis of how you wish to use your van.

My husband and I could not find a hitch carrier to meet our needs, and so we designed and fabricated our own (my husband is an engineer and a hobby welder). We have a GVWR challenge with our Class B model, which is built on a 2006 T1N Sprinter 2500. As a result of that, a swing-away or more elaborate hitch carrier model was going to add too much weight, given what we wanted to carry on it. So we developed this svelte minimalist approach.

We got around the rear barn door blockage issue by having the street side dedicated to the main cargo haulage, and the curb side platform more dynamically use-able. In other words, we can lash additional cargo to that side if we need to, but we typically use it as a big wide step for ingress-egress.

In our case, our priority was not hauling firewood but rather a Yeti cooler in which we carry food frozen into two 35-pound ice blocks, because we do almost all of our travel off-grid, and the freezing method meets our longer-term travel needs for food preservation. Plus we needed to externalize the gas can for our chain saw. We later modified this carrier design to accept other cargoes as well.

the $400 yetie wouldn't be on the carrier for long in my new improved hood some low life would run off w/ it proballey 1st day.good Idea to cover it.the contents are proballey worth twice the price of the yeti.(lacing the contents mite reduce the #s of low lifes just JK) I still use the 5 day coleman, can't deal w/ yeties rubber latches.
I'm considering a cargo carrier (on trips w/out boat) w/ a aluiminum locking box simiairl to truck tool boxs on truck beds sides.
of course theres not much cargo room behind sleeper sofa but still want to access it.
what do you think about using strong drawer slides to slide box backward from doors?
edit: what is in the green canister? if gasoline lace it w/ sugar it would be the last time the lowlife ran off w/ someones gas.

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by Doneworking

If you have a continental spare like on our RT, ...

on my PW with a "hard cover" for the spare I may have had to use an extender.


instead using a $20 adco soft cover allows a couple more inches forward and no extender is needed for carrier and stuff on it.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by THEBRAIN

….

the $400 yetie wouldn't be on the carrier for long in my new improved hood some low life would run off w/ it proballey 1st day…...

You didn’t read my content before commenting, and that’s OK - but let me fill in that blanks for anyone else who might have security questions about this type of approach.

We designed our hitch carrier to accept two thick steel bars that run down through the interior security holes in the Yeti (my finger points to them, and you can see rust stains where the top of the bars sit). Both bars are secured underneath the carrier in a recessed manner that prevents anyone from getting bolt cutters up in there to cut the locks.

Furthermore, we secured the carrier itself to the vehicle frame using a length of heavy Pewag chain, also with recessed locks that cannot be cut by bolt cutters due to a lack of clearance that we designed into it.

The gas can is similarly locked on and would require metal cutting to remove it.

No security measure on a van is foolproof, but our set-up is stronger than 99% of what is out there. Removing our cooler would require HOURS of metal-cutting effort, and any thief who encounters it would simply move on to easier theft targets. We’ve been using this set-up for years without incident.

[jrobe]

One of the very best decisions we made with our van was spending the money for high quality Aluminess rear swing away storage boxes. Class B RV's are expensive and, at first glance, rear storage boxes seem like a waste of money compared to all the other things needed in an RV but they have been invaluable to us for storing our lawn chairs, grill, tools, firewood, water cans, inflatable kayaks, dirty shoes, etc. etc. etc.. If we didn't have our storage boxes, we would also be jerry-rigging cargo carriers, bike racks, locks, coolers, etc..

I realize that rear storage isn't the place for many people to spend money but this would have been a mistake for us. I would give up many features in our van long before I would give up our high quality rear storage boxes.

[GeorgeRa]

A while back I bought a Stowaway II hitch large storage box mounted on a swing arm. Had it for one year and decide to change to a ladder. I am very happy with my current setup. Aluminum ladder stays on, and box, or chair rack, or BBQ can be mounted practically in second. BBQ mounted in a way that it can be used mounted on the ladder.

[peteco]

Originally Posted by jrobe

One of the very best decisions we made with our van was spending the money for high quality Aluminess rear swing away storage boxes. Class B RV's are expensive and, at first glance, rear storage boxes seem like a waste of money compared to all the other things needed in an RV but they have been invaluable to us for storing our lawn chairs, grill, tools, firewood, water cans, inflatable kayaks, dirty shoes, etc. etc. etc.. If we didn't have our storage boxes, we would also be jerry-rigging cargo carriers, bike racks, locks, coolers, etc..

I realize that rear storage isn't the place for many people to spend money but this would have been a mistake for us. I would give up many features in our van long before I would give up our high quality rear storage boxes.

Please provide some pictures of your storage boxes.

[PackerRat]

Kurt, Be careful with how much weight you place on the carrier. Most Class B RV's are pretty close to their GVW when full (water, gas, gear, and passengers). The wheelbase is another critical factor. Not sure of your Roadtrek chassis, but the Chevy models of your vintage are more tolerant than the Dodge models due to the Chevy's longer wheelbase. The Dodge chassis has a shorter wheelbase, with more rear overhang. Adding a rear carrier and load to the Dodge chassis has a greater effect on their load distribution, and will add to their notorious handling issues (light steering).

[Kurt Franz]

Took a trip up to Apalachicola National Forest this past weekend and the cargo rack worked just fine. I strapped two totes that I bought from Walmart. I had about 100 LBS loaded. The rack is stated to be good for 500 LBS, but like I said previously, I am not buying that. I would have no problem recommending my setup to anyone who has a Chevy based van like I do and wants to load a few hundred pounds though. It was nice having the inside of my van uncluttered