Storage boxes on tow bars
Can anyone help? We want to increase our storage capacity. We have no garage. We have the fittings for a Thule bike rack and a tow bar to tow a car. Can anyone advise us the best way to fit a storage box. The max weight for bike rack is 35 kilo. Thanks x
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Hi Lisa. You're down as a caravanner but are you talking about a caravan or a motorhome?
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I'll assume we're talking about a MH towing a car.
A storage box can be fitted to the bike rack but not while carrying bikes. There are towbar mounted boxes but they can’t be used as far as I know when towing a car. Why not use the car to carry your gear?
Whatever you do, you’re going to need to be very careful about weights on the bike rack, the rear wall of the van or the towbar. Also check the weight you will be towing, the weight on the rear axle of the MH and the all up weight of the MH.
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Assuming you have a MH with a tow bar that can have a ball fitted if not already, then a Thule Back Up Box mounted on a Thule Easy Base will give you a storage option.
If the mountings for the Thule cycle rack are sufficiently high up, you could also carry bicycles with the appropriate cycle rack.
We did just that when we had a MH years ago.
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/cargo-carrier/towbar-cargo-carriers/thule-backup-_-900000
Look on the bay of dreams or Gumtree.
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Lisa, we have a Thule Backup Box mounted on an Easy Base which is itself mounted on a RoadPro supplied/fitted Van-swing.It will hold max 30kg - the box and carrier take up 30kg of the Vanswing's 60 kg rating.We put lighter ,bulkier items in the box:Silverscreen,folding chairs,alloy fold up table etcetera.This unit takes our 6m Autosleeper PVC to 6.8m loa.For transport we take our two Bromptons inside the PVC.We also have a Thule Velocompact which we swap for the former set up if we are going to do some "serious cycling" with our lightweight,road bikes. All of of the Thule kit came from The Journey Centre in Rotherham
The Vanswing enables us to open the rear doors on our PVC.Thule racks are 7 pin but theVanswing is 16 pin.If following our example I would advise the purchase of a 7/16 pin convertor on a cable rather than the compact type,to avoid fouling by the Easybase - as it fits significantly closer to the towball than the Thule VC does.
The whole set up was not cheap with a total cost around £1800 but when you have it,you have it.
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Bikes can be fitted to the EasyBase using standard channel type carriers. We used to use our Pro Ride on the EasyBase. Loads on the bay of dreams and Gumtree at reduced prices.
There is an adapter for electrics that often comes with the EasyBase.
The beauty of Thule is the kit is modular and can be applied in different ways.
Worth getting keyed alike if you buy multiple bits in one go, or a keyed alike set of locks.
As we are now tuggers, the bikes go on the roof bars with the Pro Ride carriers. For carrying bikes when not tugging we too have a VeloCompact, that collapses to go in the boot of the car if required.
Tredz online often do price match deals and 0% interest, well worth using. Halfrauds often do Bank Holiday deals on Thule that last all of May. We paid £240 for the VeloCompact on such a deal match / 0% at £20/month over a year. No point paying over the odds.
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