Cargo carrier for compact cars

What's a person to do? As gas prices rise and environmental ethics kick in, many of us are moving into smaller, more efficient cars. But we still have tons of toys — great gobs of gear — to transport to our wilderness playgrounds.

Leave it to the originator of rooftop racks to offer the solution. Yakima's newest car-top cargo box fits smaller vehicles, while boasting a host of useful features. The Yakima SkyBox Pro 16 mounts onto any factory-installed car rack, as well as all after-market rack systems. And because it's just 81 inches long (a full foot shorter than a standard Yakima Rocket Box) the SkyBox Pro 16 fits smaller cars and sport-utility vehicles perfectly.

The SkyBox Pro series utilizes a stiffer plastic compound for the lid, making it easy to open and close with one hand. The lid also can be swung open from either side — a nice touch since the box is just wide enough that reaching across its interior is a stretch for people under 6 feet tall.

The box attaches quickly and easily to any rack. A set of four cam-locks inside the box activate clamps. Just open the cams to loosen the clamps, slide the clamps over the roof rack's cross bar, then lever the cam closed to tighten the clamp around the bar. This holds the box securely to the roof but also allows it to be removed in mere minutes.

I locked the SkyBox Pro 16 onto a Nissan Xterra for a long weekend trip to the Oregon coast and later transferred it to a friend's Prius outfitted with a Thule rack. It took about five minutes to make the transfer, and a good part of the time was spent centering the box on the Prius "so it looks right!" The SkyBox rode securely on both vehicles with no noticeable increase in highway noise.

The 16-square-foot SkyBox Pro 16 proved to be just big enough to take most of our car-camping equipment (tent, three camp chairs, sleeping bags and pads, large camp stove, lantern, roll-up table and rain tarp), leaving the interior open for passengers, our dog, and our hiking and paragliding gear.

On the down side, it's a bit of a stretch to access the box when mounted on a tall vehicle. Also, the box does create drag, potentially dropping the fuel efficiency of vehicles. I didn't notice any drop on the Xterra, but we did see an average decline of 2.5 miles per gallon on the Prius. Fortunately, the easy attach system means you can pop the box off when it's not needed.

The SkyBox Pro 16 retails for $499 and measures 81 by 36 by 15 inches. For more information: www.yakima.com.

— Dan A. Nelson,

special to The Seattle Times

Freelancer Dan A. Nelson of Puyallup, is a regular contributor to Backpacker magazine, and an author of outdoor guides with The Mountaineers Books. For the purpose of review, gear manufacturers lend products, which are returned after a typical use of four to six weeks. There is no payment from manufacturers and they have no control over the content of reviews. Contact Dan with gear-related questions at gearguy@adventuresnw.net.