# Ever strap a soft board bag to a roof rack?



## redlude97

what exactly do you need to protect your gear from that they won't be exposed to on the mtn?


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## Rider161

I seen a couple with their bags strapped on their roof rack seemed like a good idea so long as it doesn't rain..


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## TXBDan

Salt, chemicals, sand, and rocks. And bird poop.


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## zk0ot

unless your driving across the country with it on there your board can handle it.... if youve ever gotten a tune up your board has endured through all of those conditions (probabaly not the salt and bird poop.)
and on those long trips i usually just wrap the nose with some painteres tape.


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## Tarzanman

A soft bag on your roof rack is a bad idea unless you protect it with plastic or something to keep it from getting soaked, frozen, or caked with road grime (salt, dirt, etc).

Better to lash your boards to the rack by themselves.... you can always wipe them off after a trip. Not sure where to find a washing machine big enough to wash a soiled wheelie bag.

If you are driving from MA, then man up and buy a hard case with a lock on it.


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## ceridwen

Tarzanman said:


> A soft bag on your roof rack is a bad idea unless you protect it with plastic or something to keep it from getting soaked, frozen, or caked with road grime (salt, dirt, etc).


You would think this but it's honestly not an issue. Although the back and sides of our car get completely caked with road grime in winter driving conditions the stuff on top doesn't get much dirt on it at all.

OP, I've got a Subaru Outback that we have a cargo basket (Yakima LoadWarrior) for but no hard carrier or snowboard carrier. We regularly strap 4-5 boards/sets of skis onto the cargo basket for ski trips (2.5-3 hours each way depending on the mountain we go to) and they stay clean and have not shown any sign of wear. It's not even loud. I think we've done 3 trips with them on top of our car this way, and one trip with them on the same basket on a friends car (Jeep Grand Cherokee), so over 1000 miles driven with the bags on top of the car so far this season.

It even poured rain for the entirety of one return trip (3 hours) and very little got into the bags and they were none the worse for it. We've used several types of bags (REI ski bag, Dakine Tour, Dakine Low Roller, couple of generic bags owned by friends) and none seem to have any more issues than others.

We like this solution because it makes use of stuff we already owned and allows us to store more than just the boards/skis on the roof. The downside is that it's a bit harder to get stuff on and off the car than a cargo box would be, you can't lock it easily, and the gas mileage hit is relatively large (though probably not much worse than other car-top options).

Here's a pic of the car with four boards and a set of skis (in bags) on top of it:


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## TXBDan

Nice. Yeh, thats sort of what i'm thinking. Its a snowboard bag, its ok if it gets beat up, but if it doesn't, all the better. I can't imagine it getting so dirty that hosing it off or giving it a shower and drying it out won't clean it. Even the skateboard wheels/bearings on the bag can be replaced if it comes down to it. 

I'm going on a 2 hour each way trip on Sunday so i think i'm going to try it out. I'm just going to lash it down to my Thule roof bars using nylon webbed straps with the ratcheting mechanisms.

I'd probably keep all my other stuff like boots, helmet, goggles, etc in a separate bag in the hatch, though.

Thanks!


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## t-mac

I put my board in a soft Burton bag and throw it up top with my kids skis. No problem with the bag and it keeps the road grime off my board. I want to ride on clean wax and not Colorado's Mag Chloride!


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## nomembername

I drove from NYC to Killington with my soft board bag filled with my board, my boots, my whole outfit, my girls coat and jacket and some other cold weather gear inside. We tied it to the roof rack of my friends SUV and made it the whole 5 hours there and back no problems. It didnt rain but even if it did who cares. When you get to where youre going it will all dry


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