General Extending Panda carrier capacity (tow bar style)

[jaywalk]

I'm more and more frequently filling my Panda 4x4 to the limit and am starting to look at ways to extend its capacity. I found the Thule Easybase 949 and was intrigued, so I searched around a bit for similar tow bar/tow ball mounted carriers.

So far I've found two more options with similar concepts, first Heck-Pack (in Swedish) and now bak-rak.

Right now I'm especially compelled by bak-rak's G4 base-rak. Becomes similar to the Thule Easybase with some accessories but with the addition of being tiltable to access the boot, foldable for when it isn't loaded, and it seem to be an overall stronger construction than the Thule (stainless steel and rated at 130 kg vs 45). Downside being a smaller standard platform.

From the Panda manual the max load on the tow ball is 60 kg, so that's a bit limiting but still allows for a great amount of extra stuff. Especially bulkier things that won't fit in the Panda with rear seats up.

I'm not compelled by roof racks. The extra wind drag and inconvenient access makes it feel like a less than ideal solution.

Anyone have experience with this type of carrier? I don't even know what to call them!

Other imaginative engineering solutions welcome too!

 

[Sweetsixteen]

First time I've come across BakRak.
Great engineering, and I have already seen uses for their £39 kit.
Thanks for your research - it has certainly helped me.

 

[jaywalk]

Good to hear my evening surfing of the web comes to use! Yes, the uni-rak looks like a cheap and good way to do nifty things with the tow hook! Maybe I'll add one to my order for future escapades...

I'm also looking for good box options to put semi-permanently or temporairly on such a rack. One would be a common aluminium box like bak-rak sells (but sourced locally to avoid shipping it), about 1 meter wide and whatever other measurements that can fit alot while still being able to open the boot. Shouldn't be hard to mount burglary-proof enough to not worry.

The other is using Dewalt ToughSystem cases I already have. They do fit in the Panda, but a DS150 (small) + DS300 (large) practically fills the whole boot. Being able to bring them without losing the boot would be great, and 2 DS300 should carry more than the complete boot of my Panda. (Not to mention that I could add more than that...) They have quite strong mounting points so I wouldn't worry about them falling of when in transit.