Hitch-Mounted Cargo Carrier

[McGurk]

Looking for some advice as I ditched my truck for a smaller SUV after the upgrade to family status. I have seen hitch-mounted cargo carriers on vehicles, but have no 1st hand experience with them. I added a class III hitch and tranny cooler right away, so I'm not too worried about hauling. It would be nice to not have to use a trailer to carry my Otter Cabin fish house when going out, and for the other things that come along with long distance family trips. Any experiences or thoughts?

The one I have in mind is here, due to the extra width:

Gearcage Cargo Carrier

[Mr.Seaguar]

I have a friend who uses one and he loves it. I dont know anything about brand or what. He has one of the Kia dinky SUVs. He did say that 2 deer on the thing just about made the front wheels come off the ground.

[MuskieJunkie]

I've been looking at doing this too with my 4Runner (use to have a Tundra). I too do not want to deal with the trailer bit.

I can say it's no fun loading up in the dark after a long day of ice fishing, folding the seats down, put the auger here, the heater there, make sure the door closes, try not to scrach the interior......

My problem is I have Fish Trap Voyager so it's too long for any carriers I've seen. I'll probably get an Otter Medium sled house (can't remember the name) and a hitch carrier before next season. I'm even looking into having one custom built to fit the portable.

[McGurk]

Glad I'm not the only one in this boat. The one I'm looking is an assemble-yourself job, and I think you could leave the side cross-bars off to get a longer fishhouse onto it. Most of them have a 24" max width, and this one is 32" wide allowing for a wider sled.

A couple of drawbacks: opening of the hatch with it loaded, covering the taillights while loaded, and not having a rise up from the hitch makes me worry about bottoming out on launches and ice heaves with it sticking out so far.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Watch the weight you put in there. Don't exceed the weight limit of the rack.

[paceman]

I have had one for about 7 years. It has come in handy many, many times. In the winter I put my clam portable and then my auger on it. I have used it to haul coolers, lumber, deer.... Never had an issue with bottoming out. I think it it rated for 300 lbs. It sure beats pulling a trailor around.

[cm1977]

A couple of drawbacks: opening of the hatch with it loaded, covering the taillights while loaded, and not having a rise up from the hitch makes me worry about bottoming out on launches and ice heaves with it sticking out so far.

I have a Grand Cherokee and use it for everything from ice fishing, going to the cabin and hunting. Have had various models over the years and have found that I put it on and take it off a lot so weight is key along with ease of installation. I have a Reese Polypropylene Cargo Carrier and it can hold 400 pounds equally distributed and is not tough to put on because it is light. Stores easy and washes off even easier.

[GBPackerNut]

I have one for my '06 Jeep, works great. Worth every penny of $100 I paid for it.