Roofracks for Model X

[LMNZ]

Hi happy to be here. Our family has grown in size and we require a 6 seater. However snowboarding is our thing and we ride at least weekly all year round and the roofbox stays on the vehicle permanently. I have seen various official systems for carrying snowboards etc however the semi mud and gravel roads that we frequent here in NZ mean the boards will become unacceptably dirty hanging off the back of our new X. Therefore my plan is as follows;

Purchase a new narrow say 410 litre Thule roofbox.
Mount it on the roof offset to the drivers side of the vehicle allowing one back door to open but permanently preventing the drivers side back door from opening upwards.
The boys can all exit through the rear seats and out the passenger side (forever) with the added benefit of drivers sode/traffic side children egress is prevented. It's safer to get out of the car on the footpath side etc.
I presume I would need to mount the box to some 'suckered type roofrack attachment points as there is no track or rail for traditional roofrack mounting.
Provided the box is sufficiently far forward to allow the rear hatch to open this just might work?
Could anyone please comment if they have ever themselves tried this heard of anyone try this or indeed if they can see flaws in my plan?

Questions, queries, comments or theory welcomed.

Kind regards
Leon

 

[Bigriver]

flaws in my plan?

What if someone inadvertently tries to open the falcon wing door on the drivers side? What damage will be done to the door and/or the rack?

 

[scottf200]

What if someone inadvertently tries to open the falcon wing door on the drivers side? What damage will be done to the door and/or the rack?

Aren't there overhead sensors that would keep the FWDoor from opening just like in a garage?
I would think it would work.
Just an annoying noise and warning when attempting the opening?

 

[pereiks]

I wouldn't trust sensor too much. And by the way it's just one sensor in the middle between two falcon doors. I'm riding once/twice a week during winter in WA and usually just throw skis between seats from the back and it works fine unless you need third row.

I'm planning to get rear vertical rack for mtb and was going to use it for ski/snowboard during winter but looks like it may be a bad idea - are they getting too dirty?

 

[aesculus]

Aren't there overhead sensors that would keep the FWDoor from opening just like in a garage?

There is only one sensor right in the middle between both doors. So you would have to block that sensor and both doors would be blocked out. Not sure how you would block that sensor though and it still might open part way which could be a real problem. There are sensors in the door sides too but how you would block them is unclear.

I have not tried this yet and it still could be overridden by the control panel but what happens if you turn the child proof locks on?

BTW way back in late 2015 there was a rumor that Tesla was going to create a roof rack for one side of the car but that never came to pass and maybe was just that, a rumor.

 

[Josephponline]

@LMNZ … I had a similar use case to you. Ski weekly during the winter season, but in addition I MTB bike weekly in Summer. I tried the tree frogs/sea suckers and they really worked well, but I couldn’t get past my OCD regarding glass stress and the off chance that one of my kids would open the FWD and the need to (even occasionally) pump out the air to make sure the vacuum seal was tight.

I opted for this Rack that can accommodate bikes and skis/snowboards? which after helping me build it, my local rack-attack store now offers as a solution. So I can go from winter ski to summer bike configuration In snout 10 minutes. The local store even does a double stack configuration now, that is a rack on a rack to double ski capacity.

You are 100% correct - in winter the skis get dirty if you don’t cover them. My solution has been to buy a durable waterproof ski bag and I slide the skis in and out of the bag each ski trip, and basically I leave the
bag in the rack. The rack clamps around the skis really easily. I’d wager you could do the same. I wash the bag with a pressure washer a few times during the season as it gets pretty dirty.

Here‘s a concept for you - if you could find a smaller (snowboard size) version of a Thule or Yakima roof box and essentially convert it to a hitch mount on the rack concept I worked up that’d solve your use case. My skis are 190cm and I couldn’t find a box that’d do it, but you may have better luck. In my research Europe had more hitch mount options than I saw anywhere else. My rack solution essentially creates the crossbars on your roof just in a horizontal confirmation, so what you can mount in your roof, you can mount on your hitch.