StowAway Max rear luggage carrier - my experience

[shrfu31]

Around 2018 Thanksgiving, I did SFO --> LAX --> DIA --> LAS --> SFO with 4 passengers and 2 dogs. Each of the passengers had one 30lb bag and a bunch of blankets, pillows and food items. The Stowaway gulped it all up and didn't need a mid-trip adjustment either.

I still have it on my car, no issues.

That's incredible. So your stowaway Max with the swing away frame (94 lbs total) was able to handle 120 lbs (30lbs *4) worth of luggage for at least a total combined weight of 214lbs?

I am trying to reconcile the high tongue weight of 500lbs and the towing ability of 5000lbs with this vertical load of 120lbs. People keep using examples that don't make sense in real life. Like, holding the 2 x 4 at one end with another person on the other. Yes it becomes hard once they are gone, but we aren't talking about doing Max load. Since the 2x 4 represents towing 1000+ lbs, it doesn't seem to be an accurate representation of the next part of the example. Like yes the other person walks away, but the load also decreases by 80%. If you were strong enough to hold up half of the 2 x 4 before when you had the partner, then why wouldn't you be able to hold up less than half of it on your own?

I'm trying to make a purchase soon on a carrier box but there are very few people who have posted their experiences. Everyone promised to come back to the threads but really didn't. Thanks for coming back. Did I describe your loadout correctly? Did you have roughly 214lbs? I am also confused by your route. I know LAX is an airport, and I think LAS is Las Vegas, and SFO I think is San Francisco, but I am not sure about how far you traveled with the weighed down carrier above 120lbs...

 

[HostileHarry]

Following as I need to get a cargo box as well... I like the idea of the swing feature to get the dogs out of the back, but I could probably let them out a FWD without much of a problem.

 

[puritan]

@shrfu31 You are correct, we weighed in at 194lbs to be exact.

I used the airport codes to signify cities. San Francisco -> Los Angeles -> Denver -> Vegas -> San Francisco.
A total of ~2800 miles in just over 10 days.

I knew I was taking a risk by going over the limit but the Supercharging breaks every 2-3 hours ensured I had the opportunity to check if things are okay. I was also careful not to be too aggressive with my driving while changing lanes and around sweeping turns.

 

[Daige]

I’m wondering... it looks like you have put more than the recommended 120 pounds on the hitch.
did you use the removable hitch that came with the model X?

I’m asking because you talk about the “full tow package”, and from my understanding there is only one removable hitch that come with the model X

I bought the StowAway MAX Cargo Carrier ($760) for my X to go on a road trip from the LA area to the Colorado river in Laughlin, recently. I was a little worried about how it would work out, so I thought I'd share my experience here (which was good).

View attachment 189916

It holds 16 cu. ft. andup to 200 lb of luggage inside. You can get the version of the carrier that swings away from the car (which I did). Makes it easier to load stuff into your trunk with the carrier attached. However, I was able to open and close the trunk, even without swinging the carrier out of the way.

View attachment 189917

You will likely need to have the full tow package installed, as the carrier itself weighs 94lb, and with it fully loaded, you're talking about holding up to 300lb of tongue weight. I believe that is over what the "accessory hitch" is able to handle?

The carrier comes with an electrical connection for brake, left/right blinkers, but is in a wiring configuration known as "4 flat." The Model X electronic connection is what's known as a "7 way round," so you'll need an adapter. I used this one for $8. The carrier comes with a standard bolt to hold the carrier safely on the X's tow hitch, however if you're planning to leave the carrier attached during your travels, you'll probably want to do what we did, and spend $20 to get a receiver lock.

My primary concern was whether I would have a hard time Supercharging, due to the increased depth. My route to Laughlin was set to take me to the Barstow and Needles SC. Barstow has 8 stations, 4 are pull-through, and 4 are back in. We arrived here, and were able to use one of the pull-through spots, so no worries there.

Needles SC was a bit scarier, because I couldn't really tell from the photos online whether or not the SC cable would reach, but we had no problems!

View attachment 189918

On the way back, the X took us on a different route, going through Primm, NV instead of Needles, and then back through Barstow. Primm, like Needles, only had back-in stations, and when we got to Barstow, all pull-throughs were taken, so we had to back in here as well. In all 3 locations, we had no problems backing in to charge! Forgot to snap one on our pass back through Barstow, this is Primm:

View attachment 189922

I can't guarantee it will work at all SC, I could see where it might be difficult if the Tesla parking sign was too far forward or something, but one other option you might have in that situation would be to have a passenger swing the carrier out completely, opening up more of the rear/center of the vehicle area to allow for backing in further. We didn't have to do it this trip, though.

Hope this helps.

 

[houstonian]

Bump - anyone have recent experiences with the Stowaway2 (or similar) to share?

 

[scottf200]

Bump - anyone have recent experiences with the Stowaway2 (or similar) to share?

What are you missing. There is 3 pages of it.

 

[houstonian]

Experiences over the last three years, Scott.

What are you missing. There is 3 pages of it.

 

[houstonian]

My point was that you're putting on a different kind of stress on the hitch if you're hanging something from it as opposed to pulling a trailer, and therefore reducing the tongue capacity. The weight on the hitch from a trailer is simply the portion of the weight that ends up being supported by the hitch. With a mounted rack, it's the weight of the rack multiplied by the distance behind the hitch that the load is placed. That 120 lbs from the rack creates a higher stress on the hitch because it's trying to rotate down because it's cantilevered out.

As much as I love my Stowaway, those folks are wrong to calculate the cargo weight for their product by subtracting the dead weight of the carrier from your tongue weight rating. It's disappointing that the folks that build the Tesla receiver hitch are reducing the tongue weight capacity by 75% if you're hanging the load of the hitch, but that has to do with how the receiver hitch is constructed and attached to the car.

That's incredible. So your stowaway Max with the swing away frame (94 lbs total) was able to handle 120 lbs (30lbs *4) worth of luggage for at least a total combined weight of 214lbs?

I am trying to reconcile the high tongue weight of 500lbs and the towing ability of 5000lbs with this vertical load of 120lbs.

I’m wondering... it looks like you have put more than the recommended 120 pounds on the hitch.
did you use the removable hitch that came with the model X?

I’m asking because you talk about the “full tow package”, and from my understanding there is only one removable hitch that come with the model X

@Jrogville @shrfu31 @Daige - did anyone ever figure out how to reconcile the difference between the 120lbs and 500lbs max weight question?

Manual seems (?) to contradict itself - see my post: Payload, Towing Capacity, and Hitch Weight

 

[houstonian]

@Jrogville @shrfu31 @Daige - did anyone ever figure out how to reconcile the difference between the 120lbs and 500lbs max weight question?

Manual seems (?) to contradict itself - see my post: Payload, Towing Capacity, and Hitch Weight

Yes - see: Chuck Rack 4 (or 6!) bike rack for Model X - best option to avoid hitch mount overload?

Recently purchased and installed the Stowaway2 Max White Carrier for an upcoming trip.

Rear view camera while driving with StowAway2 attached:

 

[houstonian]

Supercharging is a challenge as you'll need to back into the stalls but the ability of the hitch to swing out allows one to cautiously navigate in/out of a stall.

Rearview camera helps:

 

[BigMskiman]

Thks for sharing that work-around, literally. My spare tire supercharging experience one place is attached, from CA to AZ recently.

Other pics show how even a full rear spare can fit, but I don't do it that way, or with bike rack serially attached.