You haven't met my boys then....... :-)

Happy Christmas from a very soggy Wiltshire having just come back from
taking my boys and a girl for a run in the local country park.

Cheers

Peter

People Hi,

roofracks are always damaging to the handling of a vehicle.
Only the very light aluminium made ones tend to have smaller negative
effects.
The heavy steel (galvanised, rislan coated  etc) ones are heavy enough to
alter the center of gravity significantly even when empty.

As an example I guess it is enough to say that it takes two strong men to
handle the roofrack of a Camel Trophy specifications Discovery or Defender.
The significant limiting factors of what can be loaded onto a roofrack are
the contact points of the roofrack to the bodyshell, the amount of load that
the axles of the vehicle can tolerate and the space/volume of the roofrack.

The contact points of the roofrack are usually the ones that give up first.
On serious roofracks which are expected to carry heavy loads over very rough
terrain and for long distances the best way to secure them are to fit them
directly on a rollcage and then mount the rollcage either on extended areas
of the bodyshell (as in the case of CT specs Discos) or on the chassis
outriggers (as in the case of CT specs Defenders)
Most people though follow the route of fitting them on the rain gutters of
the roof.  On some occasions the contact points ("legs") are sturdy and
numerous enough to distribute even heavy loads onto this area.
But on certain occasions of overloaded roofracks and usually while traveling
over rough terrain at speed it happens to see the roofrack get detached from
the vehicle. (BTDT back in the early '80's while traveling with my LADA
COSACK (Niva in Greece) with about 8 windsurf boards, masts etc loaded on a
flimsy roofrack with only four legs attached to the gutters.)

The amount of load that the axles can take can be easily checked since all
Landies have the GVW quoted by the factory.

As for the volume since the upper side has only the sky as the limit it is
up to common sense to decide what is enough.

Loading a heavy item (such as a spare wheel or a full jerry can) way behind
the rear bumper always alters the "feeling" of the steering wheel and front
tyres.
Remember that the weight is actually multiplies because it is applied way
behind from the actual point of contact to the ground so the rules of
leverage apply.

As a rule of thumb it is always advisable to load heavy items with small
volume (such as water and fuel cans and reservoirs) as low and as close to
the center of gravity of the vehicle as possible.
This is where five door vehicles are useful even when only two persons
travels.  The additional two rear passengers doors provide easy access to
the fuel and water which are ideally located in the footwell area of the
rear passengers and then a flat wooden or aluminium board can make the whole
loadspace area lever from the 5th door up to the backs of the driver's and
co-driver's seats.(preferably with a mesh or bars type "dog"guard separating
the area so as to ensure that nothing will find its way to the back of their
necks when braking hard)

Spare tyres unfortunately are too bulky to be easily located inside the car
without stealing valuable space and volume.

As for the trailer I guess this is what I would choose if I were to travel
far, relatively fast and on a windy road.  Of course it is always a hassle
trying to reverse with a trailer but then again one an always detach it,
reverse and re-attach it.

Take care and happy holidays season to everybody
Pantelis