Thule Roof Box on Impreza Wagon

C

capicella

Thinking about getting an Impreza Wagon but only if I can make a Thule
or Yakima type box work on the roof to hold my windsurfing sails. I
ran into a buddy at the beach who owns the WRX and he said you can't
put a box on his car since the hatchback won't open. Seems that this
might be for the WRX only? Anyways, I recall seeing roof boxes on the
Impreza Wagon before. Is there any trick to doing this?
 
Thinking about getting an Impreza Wagon but only if I can make a Thule
or Yakima type box work on the roof to hold my windsurfing sails. I
ran into a buddy at the beach who owns the WRX and he said you can't
put a box on his car since the hatchback won't open. Seems that this
might be for the WRX only? Anyways, I recall seeing roof boxes on the
Impreza Wagon before. Is there any trick to doing this?

Might want to go through Thule's site and pick out what you think you'd
get. They're usually pretty good about noting any "fit tips" at the end:

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/default.asp

And it sounds like they have some boxes made with rear hatches in mind:

"The mid-sized Evolution 1600 clears most rear hatch doors while
providing valuable cargo capacity and dual-side access."

Steve
 
Thinking about getting an Impreza Wagon but only if I can make a Thule
or Yakima type box work on the roof to hold my windsurfing sails. I
ran into a buddy at the beach who owns the WRX and he said you can't
put a box on his car since the hatchback won't open. Seems that this
might be for the WRX only? Anyways, I recall seeing roof boxes on the
Impreza Wagon before. Is there any trick to doing this?

Can't you fold those sails and stick them in trunk like everyone else?
;-)

Seriously, the spoiler at the top of the rear hatch gets in the way a
lot because of the forward slant of the rear window. I couldn't open
the hatch of my GT wagon with my boards of the roof for the same
reason. Since a dealership broke off the spoiler in a botched attempt
at "customer service", I can now open it no problem.

You could either remove the spoiler and/or move the box forward (bad
for your fuel mileage) ebough so the hatch clears the box. Do you keep
your boards inside the car?


Florian
 
I wasn't investigating getting the WRX version so the spoiler issue is
somewhat moot. I want the option to either put the boards up top or
inside.
 
I wasn't investigating getting the WRX version so the spoiler issue is
somewhat moot. I want the option to either put the boards up top or
inside.

You're right, the problem isn't just the spoiler. While the issue will
be pretty much the same with every hatchback or wagon, the impreza
wagons have the tailgate hinged way forward which will interfere with
anything you put on the roof.

FWIW: my sails all fit into my Legacy Wagon behind the front seats with
the rear bench folded. The biggest, a 6.4m KA freestyle which rigs on a
189cm boom, needs to go in somewhat diagonal in order to fit.

I transport my two boards stacked, tail-first and deck up and in their
sidewall bags with separate straps for the front and back (one loop
over the top one over the bottom board). I then toss a quiver bag with
4 or 5 sails on top and secure it with another set of straps not very
tight to avoid crushing the sails. I sometimes throw a boom and some
mast halves between the straps and the sails to help distribute the
pressure.

A rooftop box sounds nice, but with more than one board on top of that,
it would become a pretty awkward stack, IMHO.

florian

f'up to rec.windsurfing
 
I wasn't investigating getting the WRX version so the spoiler issue is
somewhat moot. I want the option to either put the boards up top or
inside.

You could email yakima and thule for Impreza compatibilty - might just
be an issue of moving it forward some. Also,
check;https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/index.php?cPath=33_47

for OEM racks.

Also, try asking/searching at www.nasioc.com and www.usmb.net both those
sites have forums offering used equipment and or vendors specializing in
Subaru stuff. You might find a used one there or maybe even on ebay.

good luck

Carl
 
Thinking about getting an Impreza Wagon but only if I can make a Thule
or Yakima type box work on the roof to hold my windsurfing sails. I
ran into a buddy at the beach who owns the WRX and he said you can't
put a box on his car since the hatchback won't open. Seems that this
might be for the WRX only? Anyways, I recall seeing roof boxes on the
Impreza Wagon before. Is there any trick to doing this?

Beware putting thule or yakima racks on your car! I wanted to transport
bikes on the roof of my impreza wagon, so I bought what yakima recommended -
the Q towers, crossbars, etc. It was essentially a replacement roof rack.
What they failed to tell me was that the only way you could actually use
their rack system was to REMOVE the factory rack. How ridiculous! Even if
you are so inclined to remove the factory rack, it leaves holes in you roof
where the rack was seated, and rain can get in there.

I did finally manage to get a rack system that worked for the car, though!
http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.asp?dept_id=8&sku=532
This attaches two thule crossbars to the factory crossbars using vice grip
mounts. I have two viper bike ports (made by Yakima, but the ones I have can
fit on thule racks) installed on the rack. I can still access the hatch with
no obstructions, even with bikes on the roof. I can't say anything about
whether a box carrier would fit unobstructed, but you can probably lookup
the dimensions of the bike ports and box carrier and see if it'd work.

You can also check here: http://www.allsubaru.com/html/h_catalog.html for a
box that can mount directly to subaru factory racks. I believe subaru
"factory" rack accessories are actually made by Yakima. Ironic since I
eventually had to go with a Thule solution...

josh
 
Josh said:
Beware putting thule or yakima racks on your car! I wanted to transport
bikes on the roof of my impreza wagon, so I bought what yakima recommended -
the Q towers, crossbars, etc. It was essentially a replacement roof rack.
What they failed to tell me was that the only way you could actually use
their rack system was to REMOVE the factory rack. How ridiculous! Even if
you are so inclined to remove the factory rack, it leaves holes in you roof
where the rack was seated, and rain can get in there.

I did finally manage to get a rack system that worked for the car, though!
http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.asp?dept_id=8&sku=532
This attaches two thule crossbars to the factory crossbars using vice grip
mounts. I have two viper bike ports (made by Yakima, but the ones I have can
fit on thule racks) installed on the rack. I can still access the hatch with
no obstructions, even with bikes on the roof. I can't say anything about
whether a box carrier would fit unobstructed, but you can probably lookup
the dimensions of the bike ports and box carrier and see if it'd work.

You can also check here: http://www.allsubaru.com/html/h_catalog.html for a
box that can mount directly to subaru factory racks. I believe subaru
"factory" rack accessories are actually made by Yakima. Ironic since I
eventually had to go with a Thule solution...

josh

Yeah, I THINK there are 'towers' that you use to , basically, adapt
aftermarket crossbars to the sube roof.

Carl
 
Josh said:
Beware putting thule or yakima racks on your car! I wanted to transport
bikes on the roof of my impreza wagon, so I bought what yakima recommended -
the Q towers, crossbars, etc. It was essentially a replacement roof rack.
What they failed to tell me was that the only way you could actually use
their rack system was to REMOVE the factory rack. How ridiculous! Even if
you are so inclined to remove the factory rack, it leaves holes in you roof
where the rack was seated, and rain can get in there.

The recommended Yakima solution for Impreza wagons is the Lowrider
towers. They
attach to the lengthwise bars and you use Yak's crossbars instead of
the Subaru
ones. The only problem you might have with the fork mount bike mounts
is if you have
a rear spoiler, in which case you might not be able to open the hatch
all the way without
the spoiler hitting the ends of the trays. If you don't have a spoiler
then the bike mounts
like the Vipers work fine.
 
Foobaz said:
The recommended Yakima solution for Impreza wagons is the Lowrider
towers. They
attach to the lengthwise bars and you use Yak's crossbars instead of
the Subaru
ones.

My impreza wagon has factory crossbars, not lengthwise bars. Part of the
difficulty, I find anyways, when looking up parts is subaru's confusing
naming scheme. My car's y/m/m is the 2001 subaru impreza outback sport.
Looking this up at yakima's website give the following (semi-valid) choices
for my model:
Impreza/WRX wagon
Outback wagon
Outback sport

Which one do I choose? Beats the hell outta me. Well, only the outback wagon
option lists the lowrider as a rack solution. The other two list the Q-tower
option.

And to answer the spoiler question: my car has a top and bottom rear spoiler
and the bike racks fit fine with the solution I explained above. YMMV.
j
 

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