Roof Racks and Cargo Boxes are Excellent for Baja Road Trips

Roof mounted racks and cargo boxes are a great way to carry along all of your gear without having it in your way.

During the planning session of my Baja road trip, it became evident that my gear was going to quickly fill up all of the space in my van. I was planning to sleep in my van, so I did not want have to rearrange all of my gear every night before making my bed in the van. SOLUTION: The Yakima roof rack and cargo systems.

After 18 days of driving and camping in Baja, I have become a believer in the Yakima roof rack cargo systems. It was such a relief to be able to stow all of my gear outside of the van and not have to worry about it. Even the stinky and messy stuff such as wetsuits, fishing tackle, barbeque grill and charcoal was easy to stash and not have to worry about until needed.

How to Choose Your Yakima Roof Rack System:

1: Find a sporting goods store that carries roof mounted racks and cargo boxes. I used the Yakima brand, and was very happy with the performance and ease of installation. The sporting goods store should have a full selection of parts and accessories. Try to find an employee who has some experience with the equipment so they can help you configure your system.

2: Purchase your rack system a few days prior to your Baja trip. This will give you time to install it and give it a test drive around your home town for a few days to ensure it is installed properly. You don't want to have it fly off on your way down to Baja!

3: Wider is better. There are few options for the crossbars (the bars that attach horizontally across your vehicle's roof racks). I recommend getting the widest size that fits your vehicle without hanging out too far to be a hazard. I chose the 58" cross bars which provided plenty of space for my cargo box, surfboard, and even a bike!

4: Cargo boxes - bigger is better. Select the largest size box that fits your vehicle and does not interfere with your other rack mounted gear. I chose the Rocket Box 16. There are wider boxes, but I would not have been able to fit my surfboard with a wider box.

5: Bikes, kayaks, surfboards, and more - Yakima has racks for just about all types of gear!

My Yakima Roof Rack System

I kept my roof rack system pretty simple.

Rail Grabs - I already had roof racks that came from the factory on my Honda Odyssey, but I needed the rail grabs to attach onto the roof racks $159

Rail Grab Locks: This locks the rack system onto your roof racks - optional, but highly recommended. $55 for 4 locks with matching keys.

58" Cross Bars - they protrude slightly beyond the sides of my van, but not enough for people to smack their heads on them. $70

Rocket Box 16 - 92"x 26" x 15" - 16 cubic feet. The Rocket Box is the simple model of the Yakima cargo boxes. The pricier Sky Boxes are more aerodynamic and have solar lights and other groovy features that I didn't think I needed to pay extra for. My Rocket Box cost $379

Strap Thang - This is the surfboard strap. It was easy to install, and was easy to use for strapping down my board. You can strap 2 boards on top of each other with the Strap Thang, but I only took one board on this trip. You can save yourself money by purchasing pipe insulation from the hardware store for about $5 to pad the crossbars as opposed to buying the Yakima pads which cost about $40. The Strap Thang cost $69. A bit expensive, but it was easy to use. You will need to tighten it every few hours when driving at highway speeds.

Entire cost of the my Yakima system: $732 Yes, this is expensive, but you will love having your messy and bulky gear out of your car. And the racks are supposed to last a long time.

My Experience with the Yakima Racks

I thought the racks performed very well on my Baja trip. They were easy to install (about 1 -2 hours total). Once installed, they are very simple to use. I never worried about them flying off the car even at speeds of over 80 mpg (while driving on the US highways). They are lightweight and do not affect the performance of your vehicle, but they are also very sturdy and able to take some abuse.

My cargo box protruded a bit too far in the back for my rear hatch to open all of the way, so I taped some padding on the back of the box to so it would not scratch my car paint when I opened the rear door.

Go ahead and treat yourself to a roof rack system. You will love using it in Baja, and it comes in handy back home too.