I will be loading our rack with light stuff. Tent, clothing, ground cloth. the heavier stuff like cook ware, stove, fridge etc goes in the rear. Everything will be in seahorse waterproof cases so loading is easy.

 

Wow: DigitalByDoiron, where I keep my off-road adventure videos, hit a quarter million total views today.

 

Don't get too full of yourself. 249,000 of those views were from me obsessing over your awesome Jeep! Lol!

 

LOL. Then the other 1,000 were me watching my own adventures. Don't let anyone know that's why I really make them..

 

all those awesome adventures you go on need to be remembered that way mark.

 

For simplicity and easy regular tents on the ground is definitely the way to go. I have a nice four season tent that's not the issue and for just myself that's what i will do. The wife needs a thick mattress that needs to be a bit more substantial than one of those big inflatable ones. If I get the wife willing to go out and play then the sky's the limit. Going to places like BC and Alaska are on the table then. It's the classic dilemma. Cheers gents.

 

I have a few thousand hits on them too mark! ha ha. they are inspirational to get out on different trails. My wife, son and I are going to be visiting a few of the places you have been.

 

Thanks for the detailed response it helps put in perspective what I would really use it for and that's very little I think. I am going to focus on inside storage because yes there is a lot of room in a 4-door especially any trips I take with be 2-weeks or less.

 

I carry my ax and shovel at the front of the roof rack on my rig and if I ever need to pack extra fuel will pack it there as well. We often build a sagebrush fire for cooking and the rack is a good place to put the firewood you gather if you have to get it far from your camp or lunch area. While you are on the roof rack issue, I got an inexpensive one online and mounted it permanently to the roof. After a couple of years I had to repaint it and used bedliner that is holding up very well. If you go this route I would suggest just bedlining it before you even install. All together I have less than $200 invested in the rack.

I can post additional information about my rack install if anyone is interested.

 

With a four door there is a ton of room inside especially with the rear seat out! In the two door there is simply not one ounce of storage with that seat in. So I actually use the rack a lot for the insanely large stroller that my wife had to have! Haha. But for trips the rack is great for firewood and gas. I also put the tent up there. Just those items alone make it much easier to store things inside. I've started to also put my pack of clothes and such up there further freeing up space inside. Last trip all I had inside was the cooler and my camera gear.


This shot was taken by Mark Doiron. You can see the setup I had on the last trip.

Around town though I actually use it too but not as much of course. When shopping I've thrown many a flat of water up there because groceries have taken up all the space in the small cargo area. It's also like having a pickup bed in a way too. You can put quite a few things up there and I've hauled quite a bit with it. But. I'd say a solid 90% of my drives are done with it empty. Some days I wish I had gotten the four door!