[Miata] Luggage racks, storage space, and cross-country roadtrips

[Dillon]

Hello list,

I just wanted to follow up with y'all now that I have completed the road
trip.

First, I ended up getting the "vintage" style luggage rack through Raven
Wing:
http://www.ravenwingperformance.net/Exterior/Luggage-Rack_Removable.html

Pros:
It works.
You can strap stuff to it (which you can't do with the bags).

Cons:
It's ugly
It causes the trunk to rattle and squeak
The spacing is too wide on the lateral bars

First of all, this thing is ugly on my car.  I'm usually the last person in
the world to care about aesthetics -  function over form for me.  But damn.
It looks weird on the car.  That said, it performed without major issues for
the trip.

Second, about halfway through the trip I developed a rattle that I thought
for sure was caused by something I'd hit in the road.  It turns out it was
my trunk lid.  The weight of my duffels (maybe 50-60 pounds total) and the
stress of curvy mountain roads caused my trunk lid to start rattling and
squeaking.  That noise was really annoying.  No permanent damage seems to
have occurred, however, and the car is quiet when the luggage rack is
unloaded.

Lastly, the spacing of the lateral bars allows a soft duffel to drop down
and contact the trunk lid.  I solved this by using a set of 4 6' compression
straps with S hooks that I bought at Wal-Mart.  By running the straps under
the duffels, I was able to keep them from "falling through" the luggage
rack.

On the plus side, I was able to use the luggage rack once I got to Seattle
and started buying furniture off Craigslist.  The luggage rack came in very
handy as I was able to strap a couple of 50" tall book and CD shelving units
onto my trunk to bring them home.

In other news, I posted to miata.net with a summary of my favorite drives.
You can find them (with pictures) listed here, along with a zip file that
contains my route in MS Mappoint.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t$0155

Regards,
Dillon



On 5/14/07, Dillon <dillon.boyer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi guys,
>
> It looks like the job in Australia has fallen through, so I'm back to my
> original plan to move to Seattle.
>
> This means I will be undertaking a 2000 mile road trip in the Miata in
> about 3-4 weeks.  I haven't decided how I'm going to move my meager
> belongings.  I'd considered a trailer (which I would like to have regardless
> of the move), but I will probably try to avoid that for the trip just to
> avoid the hassles.
>
> This means I need to get all my essential belongings for the roadtrip and
> for my first few days in Seattle packed into my '99 (now at 60k miles).
>
> 1) Does anyone have any experience with the removable luggage rack sold by
> mmmiata, gomiata, or sport imports ltd?  They appear to all be the same item
> from the photo:
> http://store.miataparts.org/gorelura.html
> http://sports-imports.stores.yahoo.net/mamiredera.html
> http://www.mmmiata.com/catalogsite/luggage01.php
>
> 2) Any tips for making maximum use of space in the vehicle?  I will
> probably be driving solo.
>
> 3) Besides the normal road trip stuff, is there anything I should check
> out that I may have overlooked in my normal maintenance?  Timing belt,
> hoses, belts, plugs, have been inspected/changed.  Summer tires have about
> 10k miles.  Clutch / brake fluid has been flushed.
>
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