ML Tested: Yakima SkyBox NX 16

Our new road-tripping best friend. On a nine-day camping road trip to Montana, Yakima’s roof cargo box turned a “we’ll have to leave something behind” trip into a “bring it all” trip.

Words and photos :: Todd Lawson

How on earth did we ever go camping without this thing? After too many years of stuffing the truck to the gills we decided enough was enough. Time to level up and save our sanity. This summer, we’d take the Yakima Skybox 16 on a road trip to Montana and back. Would it save the trip, or add another dust-collecting piece of gear to the garage/gear museum? 

The Problem

Anyone who’s packed a truck for a weeklong camping road trip knows there’s always way too much stuff. Tents, coolers, chairs, camp kitchen, and all of the little things that fill the nooks and crannies, they all need to fit in the truck. But when push comes to shove, it never does. When all our gear was laid out next to a truck bed that clearly wasn’t big enough for nine days of camp-filled travel, we knew we’d need some help. 

The Road

Without the SkyBox, this trip doesn’t happen the way it did. Not “it would’ve been tight” — there was simply no version of the packing list that fit without it. That extra volume up top is what let us bring everything: full camp setup, extra gear, the stuff that usually gets cut at the last minute. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the big win.

It’s light enough that one person can carry it to the truck and set it up alone. The latch system locks down solid and was genuinely easy to operate from either side, so loading and unloading didn’t mean walking around the truck every time someone needed something out of it.

Then there’s the part that matters most on a long highway haul: we never heard it. No wind roar, no rattle, no ‘singing’ at high speed. It just sat up there and did its job so quietly that we forgot it was even up there.  

The Word

Skybox saved the trip, and our sanity. The SkyBox 16 did exactly what we needed and got out of the way while doing it. Lightweight, easy to solo-mount, secure, quiet, and roomy enough to turn a “we’ll have to leave something behind” trip into a “bring it all” trip. It’s officially our new road-tripping best buddy.

The Specs

Check out yakima.com for more.