Roofnest on Yakima rack?

My apologies if this has been discussed.

Recently got a 2017 SR5 Tacoma in quicksand! Love it so far.

I’m big into camping and really want to go Roofnest Eye at the moment. I’m hoping that I can attach it to a rack in the bed.

I really like the Yakima Overhaul HD for the adjustable height, low weight and seemingly simple set up and tare down.

Does anyone have any advice or experience with this style rack and if it’s really doable or not?

I don’t necessarily want to run with racks on the truck all the time and would rather run with a tonneau cover as this will also be my daily driver.

Thanks!

 

depends on what the weight limit of the rack is, and how much the tent weighs, and what kind of terrain you plan to drive on.

Lets say the tent weighs 150. The off-road weight limit of the HD is 300 lbs, on-road it's 500. So you're technically within the weight limits. However most people running a RTT for off-road use have something more like: That is made from (essentially) the same material as rock sliders and roll cages. This WILL hold up, probably even in a roll-over, lol...

 

I don’t think (yet) that I have any plans of climbing rocks, running through creek beds and whatnot just yet. I’m mainly looking to have my entire camping set up right in one place, no fuss, with the ability to get to some more secluded settings and do light to moderately off-road terrain.

How much of a pain is it to install and remove a rack like that? Looks nice btw.

 

I actually don't have this rack, so I can't say for *sure* how hard it is to set up. But I would imagine it depends on how you set it up and mount it.

It looks from this pic that it's just a series of bolts on the inside edge so pretty easy to take on/off. I don't think this is compatible with a tonneau cover though, that might take some fabrication. I believe there are some rack systems out there that are specifically designed to be used with tonneau covers, I'm just not familiar with them.


With the HD's "off road" weight limit of 300#, you should be fine with a 150# tent. presumably, you are stationary when sleeping in it (more applicable to the 500 pound limit).

 

The website says it would be fine. A RTT weighs roughly 150 pounds. Don't fall for the narrative of "needing" the beefiest overland stuff. That rack seems very practical for your purpose

Good luck

 

That’s kind of where my head is at, I’m not sure if climbing in and out, plus movement inside the RTT will cause issues. They make a bar that goes from the front to the back at an up charge, could add a little stability.

 

My "narrative" has nothing to do with needing the beefiest rack out there for broverlanding. Since the OP seemed to be on the fence if this one would be strong enough, I was simply offering one of many possible alternatives that were stronger.

An alternative, by the way, that costs ~$200 less. Is the adjustability worth the extra $200? Only the guy plunking down their credit card can know for sure.

It's just one of those things that if you have doubts, you gotta ask what would put those doubts at ease? Like when I was looking at winches, I was "pretty sure" a 8K winch would have been fine, but it kept bugging me so I went with a 10k instead. Now I can sleep at night, lol...

 

HA! Well, I certainly appreciate your input. I found a Thule TracRac SR Overhead that I may go with, which has a load capacity of 1250 lbs., same idea though.

 

holly crap! 1250 should be enough, lol. I haven't seen anyone publish a weight limit on that All-Pro rack, probably because it's more than the cargo capacity of the truck anyway.

And the way it mounts you might be able to have a tonneau cover on at the same time.

Only downside I could see to something like that is its height. At least in the pics on their website, it looks like they stick up pretty high even on a full size truck, which would exaggerate any issues you would have with the weight. Bad for offroading, but also just for highway driving since it's way up in the wind, and the high CG could make it unstable at highway speeds.

I wonder if they make different heights...

I would look to see if that rack is available for your model though. I quickly plugged in a '17 doublecab shortbed (also the long bed access cab) and Thule didn't have one available

https://www.thule.com/en-us/us/roof...ac-sr?car=toyota-tacoma-4dr-double+cab-_-qBRV

 

i have the yakima rack, at the lowest height it is about at roof height, so your tent will sit above the roof. this is good and bad, you can see out the rearview mirror, but it definitely hurts gas mileage and makes it a little more difficult to setup and take down the tent. the rack is extremely light, but it takes a couple minutes to take off (you have to buy special brackets to attach to your truck.

 

Nice, I love how minimal that set up is!!