$475 Hooke Road Discovery Roof Rack -- Review

[jacobrdoty]

Got a Roofnest Condor XL! I love the way it fits on top and it folds out to a King size.

To be able to take the roof panels off with the roof top tent on I got 30mm M8 bolts - no problem after that just as before! Also, here are some pics with the front 3 roof panels off for proof.

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[jacobrdoty]

Also want to note that it feels extremely stable up there in the tent! Excited to go out on some adventures this summer!

 

[Newbrunny]

Looks good and very reasonable price. However does not seem to ship to Canada. Will reach out to them.

 

[thd]

What is the load capacity of the Hooke Road roof rack? I thought I read 800lbs static load but don't see any numbers on their website. Also, is there a warranty of any kind? I don't expect a lifetime warranty but 1-3 years would be sufficient for the price.

edit...found 800lb rating on the website.

 

[yogi_stvl]

Just ordered the rack. Thanks for the promo code Doty

 

[swooshdave]

Reviews on the Hooke site mention really bad wind noise. Has anyone experienced that and how did you mitigate it?

 

[DaveH]

Reviews on the Hooke site mention really bad wind noise. Has anyone experienced that and how did you mitigate it?

The addition of rubber weather stripping made a HUGE difference.

 

[swooshdave]

The addition of rubber weather stripping made a HUGE difference.

Which weatherstripping?

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

I did the Hooke Road half rack

... The way they pack it - there is not enough surrounding padding especially on the ends - makes it easy for the corners to poke through the box in shipping. This is what happened on mine, and fortunately only one small washer went missing. The was also some paint scuffed of the edge of the two frames that poked through the box - easily touched up with spray paint.

Overall the construction is really nice. Assembly was really easy. It helps to have two people to put it on top, and I put towels on the top for that process and then pulled them out to seat the rack.

I haven’t used it to haul yet. It makes no noticeable noise, even with the panels off the MIC. To remove the mid roof panel you have to release all the dogs holding the roof on, and then lift the panel enough to close the clamp on either side and then slide the panel forward about six inches to get it out from under the rack. Really no problem at all.

I will say I had the cage type rack on my Jeep and it was very utilitarian, but also noisy and cumbersome as far as removing roof panels. So the rack spent most of the time on my garage ceiling. Putting it on and taking it off was a production for say a plywood run or a weekend trip to the beach. Doing so put the most scratches on my JKUR.

As such I was looking for a half rack I could leave on full time that doesn’t make noise, and I could get the room panels off easily. It is steel, not aluminum, thus a little heavier. It also is not expandable to the full length rack at a later time. The side plates for the full and the half are different (unlike some other designs).

If your use case includes full length expandability for a future roof top tent, I would look for an aluminum variant that allows running half rack then bolting on the full rack when needed (aluminum keeping the rack weight down to be able to carry a heavier tent and also to make removing the rack easier).

If your use case is to carry a tent and some gear, maybe traction boards, a high lift jack, shovel, ax etc. and still take the roof panels off, then this one is a nicely built and looking affordable option.

 

[swooshdave]

Got a Roofnest Condor XL! I love the way it fits on top and it folds out to a King size.

To be able to take the roof panels off with the roof top tent on I got 30mm M8 bolts - no problem after that just as before! Also, here are some pics with the front 3 roof panels off for proof.

What size (WxL) is that tent?

It definitely overhands the rack. I assume something like this would also fit.

https://badasstents.com/product/packout-molle-tent-pmt-rooftop-tent-high-capacity/

 

[jacobrdoty]

What size (WxL) is that tent?

It definitely overhands the rack. I assume something like this would also fit.

https://badasstents.com/product/packout-molle-tent-pmt-rooftop-tent-high-capacity/

Yeah it's larger than a King-sized bed when it's open. According to their site, it's 74"x55"x13" closed.

93" x 74" when opened.

 

[jacobrdoty]

Just ordered the rack. Thanks for the promo code Doty

No problem!

 

[doyouglas]

Yeah it's larger than a King-sized bed when it's open. According to their site, it's 74"x55"x13" closed.

93" x 74" when opened.

How many people are you going to sleep on the tent? I believe that tent can sleep 4 full size adult. It's a pretty heavy tent at approxiately 160 lbs. Assuming all adults are 150lbs each. That's close to 800lb weight limit.

But I wonder if you fold out the tent with the ladder, does it off load some of the tent weight off the rack? This is the stuff I'm wondering about when running roof top tents. I want to run something similar.

Sick setup by the way.

 

[swooshdave]

How many people are you going to sleep on the tent? I believe that tent can sleep 4 full size adult. It's a pretty heavy tent at approxiately 160 lbs. Assuming all adults are 150lbs each. That's close to 800lb weight limit.

But I wonder if you fold out the tent with the ladder, does it off load some of the tent weight off the rack? This is the stuff I'm wondering about when running roof top tents. I want to run something similar.

Sick setup by the way.

I don’t think anyone actually crams 4 people in there. More like two with room to “wrestle”.

 

[swooshdave]

Just ordered the rack. $25 off was nice. Thanks!

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