Prius + Saris racks + sea kayak

Thanks![/quote]

The difference is pretty subtle front to back. The airflow is all screwed up once you add the racks and goodies anyway - I can't see any real benefit to turning it backwards. But since that is an old box, it only opens one way. So when I want access from the driver's side, I *do* mount it backwards. It looks a bit silly, but works great.

I love this box and have tried two new ones and returned them. They have yet to make a modern box in these dimensions. I like the long-narrow boxes since I don't have to dig deep for anything, there is less frontal area, and I can fit other stuff on the bars. It is an original Rocket Box. The classic. They made that white lid for only a short time, and no longer do. The white makes so much more sense when you travel in the summer to avoid heat gain inside that oven.

Oh-oh. Was I supposed to do something else with my fogs? I've pretty much given up on them. I did the mod where I can turn them on independently, and I added expensive HIR bulbs. I honestly am not impressed. They're just toys.

The suggestion is from the rack makers, and it has to do with how the roof is constructed. The Prius roof tapers considerably. One of my problems with the clamp-on styles is that you are so limited on where the racks can go. With my way, I had the whole roof to work with, and could make the bar spread exactly how I wanted it. Using the suggested bar spread for the clamp units really didn't work for my gear.

There are many benefits to the Saris system. The part I didn't like is that the bars are NOT round, so things like boat holders could not be rotated to be in line with the boat. The bars curve around the roof, so if you put something straight across them, the tops of the oval Saris bars are NOT lined up with the straight thing (boat in this case) so the holders have to be tweaked a bit.

 

Ah! I never got around to it, and then forgot. Maybe one day! And when it happens, just do a search for "kayak" on the front page of my site.