Cargo boxes

[flwildcat]

Do any of you have experience with cargo boxes?

I'm planning to take a few roadtrips with my family in the coming year and as we all know, the Tahoe doesn't have an abundance of storage space when all 3 rows of seating are in place. After doing some reasearch, I've concluded the roof mounted boxes are a bit too inconvenient for regular access so I'm looking at the hitch-mounted alternatives and I think I like the swing-away feature to facilitate easy access to the tailgate.

I've found three that look interesting - any insight you can provide on these or other alternatives would be appreciated:

Rola 59109 Adventure System

Thule 684 Terrapin

Stowaway2 Max Swingaway

 

[Daryl]

I bought a Valley 20"x60" from etrailer back in May for my then Safari van. I went with the raised shank, since teh Safari always rode low in the rear. Used it this past Sept on the Yukon, and it worked perfect on it as well. Even with the raised shank, the tailgate still cleared. This one has teh raised 6" sides to better secure your cargo. Cost with shipping was somethng like $150. If I remember, they were offering free shipping on orders over $150, so i ordered something small to get me to that mark, since it was going to cost less than the shipping charge on the rack itself.

http://www.etrailer.com/p-v90590.htm

 

[Gambler]

I have a swing away Thule bike rack and couldn't be more pleased with it. I also have a soft roof carrier from them, haven't had a chance to use it yet though.

 

[metro273]

Interesting topic. I'll be keeping my eye on this one...:yesnod:

 

[Stargazer]

I have a Thule roof-top box and was shopping for a hitch-mounted one, too. The only thing that's holding me back is that having one would block the rear-view camera and I'm very reluctant to do that.

 

[Gambler]

Also, the rear-parking assist will beep like mad if you have a hitch mounted box back there. If you don't have that then it won't bother you. It complains when I have the bike rack on.

 

[Daryl]

I just turn it off when I have the bike rack, hitch haul or the boat back there. That is if my kids don't beat me to it. The first few times I thought it must have had an automatic kill switch in the hitch somewhere because it was always off whenever we towed or attached something. Then the kids told me they were turning it off before I got to it.

 

[bad63lac]

I have the Thule 6100 for my 'Burban which is the largest one they make. Got a smoking deal on it on eBay for $425 (had to pick up in PA).

I dont have it on the truck right now but the size is great and it's a breeze to use.

I'm going to be putting it on in a few weeks as six of us are going up to Vermont for a week. We rented a private house directly on the slopes of Killington. Since there will be six of us in the truck for almost 6 hours, we'll be keeping the 3rd row in, so I needed more space and sprung for the box. It'll also come in handy when we go camping.

Was planning to take some good pictures and do a write-up/review of it. I'll post it up in a few weeks and drop a line in here w/ a link...