etrailer | Feature Review Thule Caprock Platform Roof Rack for Crossbars

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Hello everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer. And today we have the Thule Caprock roof tray. This is going to be a tray that is available in different sizes and different shapes with different mounting methods for your different vehicles. We're gonna go through the different features and talk about what makes it good, what makes it preferable, what may or may not fit you and your adventures, in that way you can get the best fit for you. This is available in different trays sizes ranging from small to extra extra large. Now for small, that's gonna be 53 inches rounding up for width to 59 inches long.
Then this size medium, which is what I have here, which is 59 inches by 59 inches. And then the largest is going to be 65 inches to 83 inches long rounded up. So depending on your different vehicles, if you have an SUV or a car like what we have here then the small tray would work best. For your extra extra large trays, those are usually seen on trailers, little campers, vans, things like that. So for those larger vehicles, awesome, because then you can get that entire base area for all those accessories.
But for those smaller vehicles, in my experience, 53 inches which is the minimum width is gonna sit right here and that I think is still a bit too large. I have this on a Kia Seltos and it looks a little bulky on top of the vehicle. So if you we're looking at other brands they go as small as 38 inches for width, and that's something worth considering for those smaller cars. You do have different methods of mounting this tray too. I personally prefer the direct mount, so we have Thule Evo towers that go straight to the vehicle and connect straight to the tray.
This is gonna create a more low profile and honestly streamline the method of securing your Caprock tray. But if you do not have a Thule roof rack system or the Thule fit, you can also use these universal crossbar clamps. We actually put those on our Seltos. So if you could see here, this is mounted to the crossbars on the Seltos, definitely creating that nice sturdy fit but it does take a bit more space. Now a reason some people might still want to put it on crossbars even though it looks bulkier is because Thule increases their allowed weight capacity when it's on crossbars.
So for example, according to the Thule instructions, if you put them on the flush kit towers, you have a maximum weight capacity of 165 pounds. But if you put it on crossbars with a crossbar kit, you now have a maximum weight capacity of 220 pounds. And if you use the truck bed Caprock system, you can go as high as a 330 pound weight capacity with a Thule Xsporter ladder rack. You can check out the truck bed video demo right here at etrailer, if you're curious about that application. But going back to putting this on roofs, even if Thule says that, sure you have more weight capacity, it does depend on your vehicle's actual roof weight capacity. And when you are loading things up on your tray and you are thinking about weight capacity, you also have to think about where you're putting these items. The best thing to do is to evenly distribute your weight. So not everything on the passenger side. Try to space it around if you can. Also you have to consider dynamic versus static weight capacity. That 165 pounds that Thule set as the maximum, that's your dynamic capacity. So it's whatever you have loaded up on your roof as you drive, this bike, that kayak, whatever totes, that's dynamic. But the moment you park, let's say you have a rooftop tent, and you wanna get into your tent, that's now your static weight capacity, which is gonna be a lot more than your dynamic. The issue with most trays is when you do attach your accessories to them, the trays bars are really large. So the dimensions for ours is gonna be 2 3/4 inches wide and an inch and a quarter tall. So with this regular kayak here, it's nowhere close to being able to fit around those bars. So when you are carrying around any accessory with almost any tray, you do have to rely on T-track mounted or channel mounted accessories. That's the case of our bike rack, our kayak here, even our little eye bolts are T-track or channel mounted. There are channels running all over the tray. And these channels are designed for your T-track accessory to fit into. And then you slide through and then you tighten it down. So the things to look out for are where are your channe

[@lc9935]

Honestly the most informative review about these Thule caprocks. Great job

[@etrailer]

Thank you very much, we try to help! We put a lot of work into the videos, so positive feedback like yours really means a lot to us! www.etrailer.com/Roof-Rack/Thule/TH26XE.html

[@seanb1081]

Fantastic review. Thanks heaps!

[@etrailer]

Glad you enjoyed it! www.etrailer.com/Roof-Rack/Thule/TH26XE.html

[@roberthicks686]

Please do a Crosstrek (Wilderness) video with the Caprock. I'm trying to decide between the Caprock and LockNLoad but I already have the raised Thule Evo Wingbar. Also want to point out how excellent these videos with Evangeline are. Very informative!

[@etrailer]

We'll get with our video folks about that. We'll ask them to grab some footage next time a Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness model comes through our facility. www.etrailer.com/Roof-Rack/Thule/TH26XE.html

[@502kicker9]

Following this comment as I am also on the same boat!

[@joeramos8404]

Following up for this comment too ! :-) Good job reviewing this product.

[@Josbeatz]

What were the universal clamps you used in this video?

[@etrailer]

To attach the platform to the crossbars, we used part # TH53YE which are actually included with the # TH26XE kit shown in the video. www.etrailer.com/Roof-Rack/Thule/TH26XE.html www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Thule/TH53YE.html

[@TrailRiderTN]

How about a video with the Caprock on a 5th gen 4runner?

[@etrailer]

We've passed your request on to our video production folks. We'll grab some footage next time we get a 5th gen 4Runner through our facility. www.etrailer.com/Roof-Rack/Thule/TH26XE.html