Airstream Interstate roof storage

[InterBlog]

There’s an additional hitch box / tray design consideration that hasn’t been mentioned here yet, that my husband has discussed with me and that was also raised independently by a 2016 GT EXT Twin owner who contacted me off-forum.

The current Twin Interstate is the closest design to our 2007 T1N Interstate twin jack-knife couch configuration. Owners of both designs use their back doors for ingress-egress. We would both use the back doors as the emergency exit in the event that we had to get out during the night. I myself am claustrophobic if anything interferes with those doors. I use them more than I use the sliding door. Plus, it’s the rear doors that provide our million-dollar views from the bed(s) – example attached (Palo Duro Canyon). Nothing can interfere with our ability to open the doors for that floor-to-ceiling view.

Therefore, in many circumstances, when we stop for the night, we are going to have the hitch box swung away on general principle. It’s going to stay that way all night and all the next day if we’re staying over.

For that reason, we need some kind of a support leg(s) that flips down to bear the weight while it is extended. Otherwise, the entire load is just hanging way out there on that moment arm, for a long time. What happens if some fellow camper comes along to socialize and makes the mistake of putting an elbow down to lean on it, or if we’re in a public campground and we’re off on an hours-long hike, and some little children see this fascinating apparatus and decide they want to climb on it when nobody is watching? Big problems.

Anyway, I wanted to mention that we had already thought of this. It’s a downstream, finishing consideration to the issue of what are we going to build or adapt to start with, so I hadn’t mentioned it yet, but there it is.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

For that reason, we need some kind of a support leg(s) that flips down to bear the weight while it is extended.

The quick and easy answer to your dilemma— if your box is made of sturdy metal— is to mount a trailer tongue jack to the end of the box farthest away from the pivot. A trailer tongue jack should have enough lift height to accommodate you, should already have plenty of load-bearing capacity without redesign, and could be either a hand-cranked or 12v electric model (for a semi-permanent box, you'd want to relocate your lighted license plate bracket anyway, so you'd have 12v power to the cargo box). You could either get a tongue jack with a foot on it or one with a caster wheel for when you park on pavement and want to put the jack down before swinging the box.

[K9CarCrate]

I appreciate the information provided by Markc12v30. I took delivery of the GearSpace34 yesterday and it is a beast. I found the two major issues between the decision of the 34 and the StowAway2...how much space do you need? and do you need the container to completely swing away? For me the first issue is paramount. It is huge and seems like the immediate step before you decide to haul a trailer. It holds 300lbs. and can contain large items. We have two uses for the container and one involves carrying some large and expensive bicycles. We bought the bike kit to secure the bikes in the container. I'm going to enjoy not having any road grime to deal with when we get to our destination. The second is I transport tools and awkwardly semi large items on our 1,200 mile commute to our ranch. The distance the container slides out to gain access to the rear doors is adequate. If you are not strong, I understand that sliding out 300lbs., is harder than swinging out 200lbs. Swing out arm designs are nice, and if it is a priority to have that area completely free then the choice of the StowAway2 makes sense. We have a bench configuration in our 2014 AI, so rear exiting doesn't happen. The structure of the hitch/slide out tubes ("moment arms") is very well built. They are made of 2" hitch tubing and double welded through two thick metal vertical spindle plates. I called the company and got the designer/owner? (Marty) and helped me with some adjustments so it fit better behind my HummerH2 better. He offered that the design of the hitch structure is for 750lb tongue weight and they tested tens of thousands of torsion loads on the whole system. He was enthusiastically helpful! It is very well built. They also have a longer hitch design and was nice enough to swap it out if I wanted more access. I was able to adjust it enough for connecting to the HummerH2. For use on my HummerH2, I won't have easy access through the rear of the H2, but there isn't a reasonable system out there for this vehicle--The tire is huge, and the swing out arm that holds the tire is very wide. A trade off with the 34, (which comes with the larger storage capability) is the handling of the system. It is large and in total, probably weighs 140lbs. Marty suggested that I slide the container off separately and connect/disconnect the hitch/slide out tubes structure. It is easier this way. They sell a "4 leg-Heavy Duty Landing Gear" which is a nice accessory to just wheel the container off the hitch structure. It is expensive and I was way past my budget already. I plan to slide some sawhorses under it or get the wife to help...For security there is a set of 2 hitch pin locks--to secure the container to the hitch, and the other to secure the hitch to the vehicle. There are two capsule pin locks to secure the cargo. It is adequate "on the road" security. For me, the 34 allows me to throw all the AI support equipment, dog pens, tools, etc., and free up rear area behind the bench with additional trip-focused items. I hope this information is helpful to others.

[markc12v30]

Hey K9CarCrate. Glad you took the plunge. You will love that cargo box, especially as you have two vehicles that can benefit from it. Yes, I had the 4 wheel landing gear which came in handy. That made removal possible for one person. Without it, you will need two. So, when I got the StowAway2 without any landing gear, I made a simple carriage out of 2x4s with four 3" casters for it to roll on. Works like a charm. Remove it after the trip and roll it into a corner of the garage. You could do the same with the GearSpace34 if need be. Good luck and comfortable travels now that you have all that extra space inside the RV.

[Mjgman]

Where did you get your box from? Did it take long to receive it after ordering? I'd maybe like to get one before our trip, I'm worried it might take too long to get here.. We leave in two weeks..

[K9CarCrate]

Markc12v30, thanks for the idea to make a rollaway. I'm looking forward to the extra space. MjMan: they are actually finished a build of a bunch of them this last week, so if you ordered right away, it should be no problem. I would recommend ordering the pin locks and the 4 to 7-pin adapter for tail lights if you don't have one.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[Mjgman]

Thank you, I ordered one yesterday. Hopefully it will ship in time.

[Mjgman]

Got the Gearspace in today and installed it.. Whew! It is a large container.. It should provide ample storage for the kids bikes, inflatable kayak and beach chairs etc.. Heading out this week for a trek westward so we will see how it holds up..

[ben322]

We've had the Gearspace 34 for a couple of years. Took it cross country with two bikes and a lot of gear. If you have one, the four leg landing gear makes sense as we have the three leg version and it's hard to roll over rough ground with anything in it. Makes it really easy to roll away into our garage when we're not using it. Loaded it's not too bad extending it as we use hard paraffin wax to lube the track and you can access some of the things in the back through either door but not both. Overall I like it a lot better than the enclosed 4x6 trailer we used to have.

[Mr. B]

This is my hitch box

[Mjgman]

Had a bit of a mishap.. The gearbox started to bend.. I tightened everything up and put some ratchet straps around it.. Not sure why this happened, there is no way I had more than 250 lbs and it's supposed to hold 300..

[Mr. B]

If the gearbox is new - return it to the seller.
If it is old, I would suggest to install some light-weighted aluminum bars under its flooring.

[BurntAsphalt]

Originally Posted by Mjgman

Had a bit of a mishap.. The gearbox started to bend.. I tightened everything up and put some ratchet straps around it.. Not sure why this happened, there is no way I had more than 250 lbs and it's supposed to hold 300.. Attachment 263824Attachment 263825

Mjgman,
We just got the Gearspace34 but have not travelled with a load in it. Can you tell me which parts bent? (Can't tell for sure from the pics on my small phone screen). Was it one of the galvanized crossmembers under the plastic box? The first thing I noticed on ours was the black metal straps don't completely fit around the main black square tubing so I'm not sure if I should tighten those bolts a little more. Thanks

[Mjgman]

It is the metal cross member that bent.. There are only four brackets that hold it to the frame, so I've got the straps to help hold it on in case the nuts and bolts fail.. I plan to contact the seller it just sucks that I'm 3000 miles from home.. 🙁

[BurntAsphalt]

Originally Posted by Mjgman

It is the metal cross member that bent.. There are only four brackets that hold it to the frame, so I've got the straps to help hold it on in case the nuts and bolts fail.. I plan to contact the seller it just sucks that I'm 3000 miles from home.. 🙁

Please let us know what they tell you. When I talked to a customer rep on the phone a couple of weeks ago it sounded like they had just built a number of them recently but had been backordered. Hopefully they didn't cut corners on material or workmanship to get caught up. I'm headed north in a few weeks and I'd like to ensure that it is roadworthy before we load it up. Good luck with your travels.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Mjgman

It is the metal cross member that bent.. There are only four brackets that hold it to the frame, so I've got the straps to help hold it on in case the nuts and bolts fail.. I plan to contact the seller it just sucks that I'm 3000 miles from home.. 🙁

Uh-oh. You just validated every engineering reservation my husband ever had on these products. The reservations that got us into "no" territory on any potential off-the-shelf purchase.

We are still committed to building our own, or hiring out for it if we can identify a source with skill, availability, and a price we can live with. I found another contender on Insta last night... a Sprinter off-road upfitter named Vancompass, which posted a vid loop of this tire mount that they designed (screengrab below). I sent a feeler email but it's the weekend so I have not heard back, and they may turn out to be like Aluminess (not taking new orders for X amount of time) or Back Country Box (not yet with a design on the table).

Meanwhile, as we follow potential new vendor leads, we continue to investigate local welding suppliers, and large custom-ordered components of heavy steel show up in the our mail clusterbox. By one pathway or the other, this will get completed eventually.

[BurntAsphalt]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Uh-oh. You just validated every engineering reservation my husband ever had on these products. The reservations that got us into "no" territory on any potential off-the-shelf purchase.

We are still committed to building our own, or hiring out for it if we can identify a source with skill, availability, and a price we can live with. I found another contender on Insta last night... a Sprinter off-road upfitter named Vancompass, which posted a vid loop of this tire mount that they designed (screengrab below). I sent a feeler email but it's the weekend so I have not heard back, and they may turn out to be like Aluminess (not taking new orders for X amount of time) or Back Country Box (not yet with a design on the table).

Meanwhile, as we follow potential new vendor leads, we continue to investigate local welding suppliers, and large custom-ordered components of heavy steel show up in the our mail clusterbox. By one pathway or the other, this will get completed eventually.

Interblog,
Tell LB3 to build one like the Johnny Cash song...one piece at a time. He can "borrow" some time on the CNC plasma cutter at work, take a piece out in his lunch box every day, and weld it together at home!

[Mjgman]

Originally Posted by BurntAsphalt

Please let us know what they tell you. When I talked to a customer rep on the phone a couple of weeks ago it sounded like they had just built a number of them recently but had been backordered. Hopefully they didn't cut corners on material or workmanship to get caught up. I'm headed north in a few weeks and I'd like to ensure that it is roadworthy before we load it up. Good luck with your travels.

I sure will, I have not had a moment to sit and call since I left Florida.. We are now in our vacation rental in San Clemente for 10 days.. Now I can sit for a few and make some calls and work on a solution as we still have a long trip ahead of us, and having a broken storage box is not going to cut it..

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Mjgman

Had a bit of a mishap.. The gearbox started to bend.. I tightened everything up and put some ratchet straps around it.. Not sure why this happened, there is no way I had more than 250 lbs and it's supposed to hold 300.. Attachment 263824Attachment 263825

This is the problem when you've got a heavy weight balanced at the center like a teeter-totter. Hit a bump or a pothole, and the box will rock side-to-side, applying bending moment to the crossbars, which may be either undersized or too few in number for the capacity of the box. The box may be capable of supporting a 300-pound static load, but that doesn't necessarily translate to a 300-pound dynamic load.

The important things about loading one of these boxes are: (1) center the weight of the load as much as possible, and (2) secure the load inside the box so it can't shift side-to-side. The same rules apply to any hitch-mounted carrier.

I know one guy who has a cargo box on the back of his SUV, who fills the void spaces in his box with inflatable kayak float bags to keep his load from shifting in transit. But that's probably an expensive option. Inflatable beach balls might do the same thing at a lower price.

Also, check the fit of the carrier in the hitch receiver. If it's not a snug fit, you might use some thin wooden wedges to shim the carrier into the receiver more securely so it fits tightly and there's less wobble-room. Shims on the bottom and one side should do it.

[LB_3]

Originally Posted by BurntAsphalt

Interblog,
Tell LB3 to build one like the Johnny Cash song...one piece at a time. He can "borrow" some time on the CNC plasma cutter at work, take a piece out in his lunch box every day, and weld it together at home!

I'm a country oldies fanatic so you really made me laugh.

I have this hinge in a box on the floor of my office:
My first choice is to buy a commercial box but I've been nonplussed by all of them.
My second choice is to commission one built but quality and availibility are elusive in the market right now.

If I have to build, I should have the major parts next week but I'm worried about the weight. A 6ft long 4x3 beam is about 100 pounds all by itself.