[whiteEXL]

Compared Thule and Yakima adapters for the factory rails. The Railing Foot Pack #415 renewed my long standing faith in the Thule line. The Thule adapter has a much cleaner fit than the Yakima LowRider, almost factory fitted. The Yakima seems too universal. Look for yourselves. You'll need a minimum of a 50" load bar, 58" might be optimal, or a 66". Since the Pilot is 77" wide you can even go up to 78"ers.

As always, IMHO.

 

[BC-Pilot]

PHOTOS?

DAVEMAC posted some great pictures of his Yakima Low Riders.
I'd love to take your word that the Thule fits better, but getting a visual would really drive the point home!

 

[whiteEXL]

http://akamai.thuleracks.com/thule/images/products/roofrack/415.jpg

Hopefully I entered the link correctly. I don't have a digital camera yet. Sorry

 

[mcannon]

Thule website recommendation

The Thule website is also reccomending something called the 754 Rapid Railing Rack package for $199 US which includes the rails, locks and the mounts themsevles (although different from the 415 mentioned before.) I am not sure if this is correct or not, but the 754 package looks very similar to the Yakima Low Rider set-up.

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.asp?dept_id=2&sku=754

 

[wassallj]

Thule

I had a Thule 751 rack on my Odyssey that I traded in on my Pilot. It worked great and only took a minute to put on or off the factory rack. I kept it when I traded it in on the Pilot. The Pilot uses the 754 rack which is the same as the 751 except the crossbars are longer (Pilot has a wider roof than the Odyssey). Thule sells the crossbars separately so I will order a set and use this on the Pilot. Thule also makes a 756 rack which has even longer crossbars. I am thinking of getting the crossbars for the 756 to use on the Pilot so I can put as many things on the roof as I can. Does anyone have a 756 rack kit that can measure the crossbars?

 

[vellinga]

Things on the roof

Yesssss.....many, many things on the roof.

Bikes,
Roof carrier,
Tents,
BBQ,
dresser,
lots of wood (any excuse to go to Home Depot or Menards),
skis,
etc., etc., etc.

Couldn't imagine life without a functional roof rack.

 

[kmody]

How do you protect the roof? Are there any roof protectors available that will prevent scratches/abuse while loading/unloading items on the roof?

 

[vellinga]

Roof protection

You can try blankets, towels, sheets, etc. to protect the roof while loading and unloading, but the best way is just to be verrry careful.

I've been loading things up there for years without incident.

I would avoid placing things directly on the roof, like on the small middle rails/tracks that run the length of the roof rack area on most of the older wagons, vans and SUVs.

The newer systems with permanent side rails and removable cossbars (like on the Pilot) are the way to go. However whatever you load up there needs to be long enough to touch both bars. Alternately both Yakima and Thule sell baskets if you haul a lot of little miscellaneous things up there.

 

[Spartanman]

Thule Roof Box

I mounted my Thule "Frontier" roof box to the factory crossbars, full forward...which fit/held great...only problem is that I cannot open the tailgate all the way (2/3 max) without scraping the rear, high mounted brake lens/spolier.

 

[vellinga]

Loading a Roof top box on the Pilot

Curious, how far from the front of the side rails can the factory crossbars mount?

Let me phrase it another way....when the crossbars are full forward, how much siderail is in front of the bar still?

I wonder if the Yakima or Thule crossbars can go further forward.

 

[davemac]

as both have very similar design/concept, my educated guess would be that any difference would be ever so slight or negligable. Just put my Yakima on for vacation. I mounted them at extreme forward and rear- where factory rail starts running parallel to roof line, just after factory "bracket/ foot".
Thule and Yakima both make a great product. Just a question of preference (i.e. round vs square bars), cost, attachments.

 

[vellinga]

Fitting a Rooftop box on the Pilot

Yes, both the Yakima and Thule are great products. I'm just curious if these aftermarket brands can be mounted further forward on the rails than the Honda branded crossbars. It sounds like the answer is no.

I have a Thule Mountaineer box. This is the reason that we're looking at the Pilot. Even with three rows in use, there's a ton of room (well 14 cubic ft. anyways) in the box on top.

For the long boxes to fit on top (i.e. Frontier, Mountaineer and Yakima's equivalent, it sounds like we're either going to have to live with opening the hatch 3/4 of the way, or find some other retrofitted solution.

 

[davemac]

I'm not sure as to where the factory crossbars mount, but I did post pix of Yakima on thread under accessories (Yakima...), which gives a good idea of where they mount. In the photo, the "feet" are not as far forward as they can go. Probably can get a couple more inches forward if needed. Based on the Thule link provided above, the photo seems to show similar positioning would apply.

 

[vellinga]

Pics of the Yakima crossbars on the Pilot

Just checked out the pictures Davemac, of the Yakima crossbars on your EX-L. Looks good and now I can better understand the range in which the crossbars can be mounted.
Thanks.

Curious, does the windjammer/deflector you bought 'hang' on the front crossbar? Does the bottom of the windjammer then rest on the roof? I've never looked at a set-up like that up close.

 

[davemac]

this link should show a shot of the windjammer.
http://www.yakima.com/products/dynamic/8001115_7.html Its not the traditional fairing that they offer. Thought the traditional one would look lousy being so far back on the roof (and the chines in the roof would allow air to whistle under it). I do own the larger, traditional fairing (from past car). Didn't consider trying it .

 

[pilotdude]

Thule: Evolution 1800, #415 Bars, V2 590 Rack

Thanks to the tips here (thanks whiteexl, davemac, etc) and my friendly neighborhood sportsrack.com-- picked up a few accessories for my Pilot. Take look:

http://www.fototime.com/inv/6774135B00B9D19

Total cost $756. Only driven home from the shop so far, but first impression is that you start to notice wind noise at 60MPH. Had it up to 80MPH and it wasn't too bad. Definitely knew it was there. You can almost tell the difference from the wind noise on the side of the car and that from the box, and I'd say the box is producing about twice as much noise (as heard inside the cabin). Not bad. I went with the higher profile (18") Evolution over the newer, slimmer (11"- but same volume) North Cape because I wanted to fit taller items in it. Also, the 50" bars looked nice, but would be pushing it for two bikes and the box. I might hack off the bars in the future to maybe 54".

Thule Evolution 1800 ($418.50)
Thule 58" bars ($38.70)
Thule Foot Pack #415 ($101.70)
Thule V2 590 bike rack ($112.50)
Locks ($32.40)

Got the box for a few reasons. First, I do a lot of backpacking in the Sierras and usualy spend the night before at the trailhead to get an early start. Now I can just sleep in the Pilot and put the gear up top. Also, needed a ski and bike rack anyway, so box is only an additional couple hundred bucks. Finally, figured there is comfortable room for 5 adult passengers so for backpacking or skiing will need the extra cargo room.

One question-- how well do these boxes do in the rain/snow? How wet (if at all) will things inside get?

-Pilotdude

 

[vellinga]

Keeping gear dry in the box

We've had a rooftop box (Thule Mountaineer) for about 18 months and several trips in all kinds of weather.

We've only had minor leakage (no pooling) at the leading edge of the box, once. Some strategically placed weather stripping would completely eliminate the risk of leakage.

 

[welbourn]

Thule 754 Rapid Rack + Mountaineer box

I spent a couple of hours installing these today. The 754 rack system went on easily enough, but installing the Mountaineer box required drilling extra holes in the base of the box to avoid the tailgate hitting the box when fully raised.

With the front bar fully forward and the rear bar fully back, I was able to use the front set of pre-drilled holes at the front and only had to add holes for the rear fasteners. The Mountaineer is pretty much the length of the Pilot's roof.

The rack and box cost $508 (including 5% Mass sales tax) at Harris Cyclery in West Newton.

Rob

 

[Spartanman]

Welbourn

So the 754 didn't give the box the necessary added height to avoid the tailgate?...How's the weight distribution?; Does the Mountaineer sit too far forward without crossbar support?.

 

[Tom]

Can roof rails be moved forward?

I am in the process of putting a Thule Evolution 1200 box on top of my factory cross bars. With the position of the roof rails being mounted all the way to the rear and not wanting to have the tail gate hit the box when the tail gate is fully open, I am forced to use the cross bars at the minimum recommented distance of 23" for this box (based on where the holes are pre-drilled in the box).

I would have a much more stable box if I could separate the cross bars further and this would only be possible if the rails could be moved farther forward.

Is this possible or are the rails bolted into the only place possible on top of the roof?