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Full transcript: www.etrailer.com/tv-review-ya...
Hey, everyone it's Evangeline here at etrailer, and today we have the Yakima GrandTour 18 rooftop cargo box. This is gonna be a long and close cargo carrier, a great way to free up some cargo space and put all that gear on your roof. When choosing a rooftop cargo box, and you can check out my full explanation of how to choose a different box, the Yakima GrandTour definitely lies in the larger and longer and closed boxes. So this is ideal if you're carrying around skis, snowboards, fishing rods, and even small surfboards. If you need to carry around tall or bulky suitcases, not gonna be the box for you. This is definitely focusing on the low profile and sleek.
And if that's what you're looking for, let's take a look at all of its features. This is made of a durable ABS plastic which is similar to the material you'll find on your vehicle's spoilers and trim. With this material, you know that your cargo is safe from the elements, whether it rains, shines, hails, snows. You also have a lip on the side to help prevent water from splashing up. Snow and dust might still be able to blow in because the seal around the clamps is a track system.
The perks of this, though, is if you do a get a puddle of water inside the box, it can drain out over here. To access the box, you do get two keys, and they're keyed alike. So to open this up, you turn the key to the unlock position and then you pull on this lever. Once the lever is pulled, it's unlocked, giving you the space or ability to use both hands to lift up on the box, and it stays in the upright position because of the lid stiffeners on each end. For closing the box, there is a drawstring to the end which you could use if you can't reach the box lid.
And then once it gets closer, you toss that string in and pull the lid close. Now, when pulling it close, you might think it is close, but you may have to push around, around the box. Notice how it says UNLOCKED until the final latch secures. Once you no longer see the UNLOCKED and you can remove your keys, now it latches. So let's talk about height.
The height of the box is 17 inches, and that's a height added to the top of your roof rack. So if you're concerned about clearing your garage roof or the drive-through which is usually around nine feet tall, then that's something you should add on and see if you make it. The box length is 91 inches, so longer than most 18 cubic feet rooftop boxes. For the crossbar spread, that's a distance from one crossbar to another, and this can fit from 24 inches all the way up to 39 inches. I'm almost maxed out with this vehicle. So center of one crossbar to the other is already 37 inches which should not give me much wiggle room for hatch access, but it did work, and it's nice to see that's easy to set up. What type of roof rack do you have Because this can fit most of them, whether it's an aero bar, round bar, square bar, or even factory bar. Notice how low profile this clamp is as well as how this is indented to give you more space. So if you have limited clearance underneath your crossbars, you're gonna have created luck with this one. There are a lot of roof boxes on the market that have 18 cubic feet of overall space, but they all manage that space differently. Let's take a look at how the GrandTour carries cargo as well as how much space we have for certain things. So here we have all this stuff, and where do you put this stuff Usually, you put inside your vehicle, but then you lose out on space for your passengers, your family and friends, for your trip, and that's where the roof box can come in handy. The roof boxes are built differently with different dimensions, so what can the GrandTour carry The GrandTour is great if you have longer skis because the box is 91 inches long, and the maximum ski length it can carry is up to 215 centimeter-long skis. If I want six-piece, we have plenty of space. On top of your clamps is a slot for straps. So I'm using a pair of etrailer cam buckle straps to singe down my skis from rallying around or my cargo from taking up too much space. For your larger duffel bags and your small carry-on suitcases, this might not be the best fit for you because even though the box says 17 inches tall, that's the box dimensions. Your interior dimensions for most roof boxes is actually limited to the opening of your lid; in our case, 11 inches high. So on the scale of suitcases to skis, the Yakima GrandTour is definitely designed more for skis and longer items. This roof rack has everything