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So now that we have the Bronco, we decided to spice up our every-other-year-ish trip to OBX and take the party up to Carova. To do so, we needed to add some cargo capacity given two adults, two kids, and a dog that usually long-haul in a beloved minivan with car-top carrier.
DRAW-TITE 76605 CLASS 3 TRAILER HITCH (no pictures, sorry)
I feel the need to thank Ford first for pre-drilling and making this possible. Went with the 76605 for the flush-fit and the 675 LB tongue weight rating (note: I’ll never get anywhere near this). Installation was straightforward with one exception - clearance for the end bolts/nuts. Recommend a headlamp and a long tweezer/forceps if you have them. I didn’t, so I used a crescent wrench to get the bolt in position. It took a little while, but still way less time than taking it to Ford or U-Haul for an install. Highly recommend.
MOCKINS XL HEAVY DUTY TRAILER HITCH CARGO CARRIER
The biggest question was how to go from minivan to Bronco while also leaving enough space in the back seats for kids plus dogs to not go stir crazy on the 8ish-hour trek. After an extensive internet search and entirely too much hemming and hawing, I went with the XL Mockins. Part of this decision is that we will be using this infrequently and thus we’re not the use case for the higher-end hitch trays. Typical we pack house gear in storage containers and luggage in duffel bags. As a bonus, we also included a Coleman RoadTrip grill that we’ve had forever so that we could cook on the beach (I fully admit this was a typically off-the-wall plan from me…but it was GREAT).
Assembly was super easy; one slight misalignment that came back into true with some elbow grease. Anti-sway plate seemed to work as designed. The XL cargo bag was a game-changer. It’s MASSIVE. We considered the XXL and I’m glad we didn’t because the XL just bareeeely allows for some visibility of the tail lights; the XXL would obstruct them completely, be wider than the vehicle, and would likely obstruct the brake light above the tire.
Now, as far as durability and ride impact. I don’t think there was any noticeable MPG impact (25.1 MPG there, 24.1 MPG back). Ride quality was not impacted. Honestly it tucked so well, it was hard to see it in the mirrors (which was occasionally disconcerting).
Where I give the most credit is on durability. The trek to the house was 9 miles up the beach and the ride was…bumpy. Aggressive enough that numerous times we thought there was no way that the tray was still going to be there. But it took a licking and kept on carrying. Highly recommend.
CAROVA OBX
We’ve stayed all around OBX and this was the most unique and isolated (not necessarily in a bad way) location. We were really, really lucky with weather (six days of sun) and water conditions (calm and clear until the last day).
Use the Corolla Twiddy location for air ups if you don't have on-board compressors (I suppose you can do your downs here too but let’s be honest, you can do that anywhere). We used sand mode, why not, seemed to pair well with the 6MT. I will say that (TWICE!!!) we had SelecTrac failures during the trip, which was not cool, but that’s for another post I suppose.
We of course had to remove the doors upon arrival. First time doing it - man was that simple on and off. We stored all doors, tray, bags, etc, in a spare room - brought a storage blanket to cushion the doors that worked (chef’s kiss). Also recommend having something to cover the seats to protect form the direct sun, especially with the MGV.
Every night I hosed down the vehicle and undercarriage. I’m sure this was minimally impactful, but it made me feel better about the sand, water, and air.
Highlights:
Considerations:
A note for folks considering Carova - pay attention to the tides relative to your treks up and down the coast. It was waaaaaay more sketchy during high tide and we saw lots of vehicles in need of recovery. I mention this because as we were planning, we saw lots of “4x4 only and air down dummy” advice but no “aim for low tide” advice.
Highly recommend checking out Carova if you have the gear (which you do since you’re reading this on Bronco6G) and want to find the most isolated location you can find in the Outer Banks.
Washed the Bronco twice when getting home and spent more time than I could have ever imagined cleaning out sand. But man she looks good and is totally ready her normal life as school and sport transporter.
Thanks for reading, safe travels!!
DRAW-TITE 76605 CLASS 3 TRAILER HITCH (no pictures, sorry)
I feel the need to thank Ford first for pre-drilling and making this possible. Went with the 76605 for the flush-fit and the 675 LB tongue weight rating (note: I’ll never get anywhere near this). Installation was straightforward with one exception - clearance for the end bolts/nuts. Recommend a headlamp and a long tweezer/forceps if you have them. I didn’t, so I used a crescent wrench to get the bolt in position. It took a little while, but still way less time than taking it to Ford or U-Haul for an install. Highly recommend.
MOCKINS XL HEAVY DUTY TRAILER HITCH CARGO CARRIER
The biggest question was how to go from minivan to Bronco while also leaving enough space in the back seats for kids plus dogs to not go stir crazy on the 8ish-hour trek. After an extensive internet search and entirely too much hemming and hawing, I went with the XL Mockins. Part of this decision is that we will be using this infrequently and thus we’re not the use case for the higher-end hitch trays. Typical we pack house gear in storage containers and luggage in duffel bags. As a bonus, we also included a Coleman RoadTrip grill that we’ve had forever so that we could cook on the beach (I fully admit this was a typically off-the-wall plan from me…but it was GREAT).
Assembly was super easy; one slight misalignment that came back into true with some elbow grease. Anti-sway plate seemed to work as designed. The XL cargo bag was a game-changer. It’s MASSIVE. We considered the XXL and I’m glad we didn’t because the XL just bareeeely allows for some visibility of the tail lights; the XXL would obstruct them completely, be wider than the vehicle, and would likely obstruct the brake light above the tire.
Now, as far as durability and ride impact. I don’t think there was any noticeable MPG impact (25.1 MPG there, 24.1 MPG back). Ride quality was not impacted. Honestly it tucked so well, it was hard to see it in the mirrors (which was occasionally disconcerting).
Where I give the most credit is on durability. The trek to the house was 9 miles up the beach and the ride was…bumpy. Aggressive enough that numerous times we thought there was no way that the tray was still going to be there. But it took a licking and kept on carrying. Highly recommend.
CAROVA OBX
We’ve stayed all around OBX and this was the most unique and isolated (not necessarily in a bad way) location. We were really, really lucky with weather (six days of sun) and water conditions (calm and clear until the last day).
Use the Corolla Twiddy location for air ups if you don't have on-board compressors (I suppose you can do your downs here too but let’s be honest, you can do that anywhere). We used sand mode, why not, seemed to pair well with the 6MT. I will say that (TWICE!!!) we had SelecTrac failures during the trip, which was not cool, but that’s for another post I suppose.
We of course had to remove the doors upon arrival. First time doing it - man was that simple on and off. We stored all doors, tray, bags, etc, in a spare room - brought a storage blanket to cushion the doors that worked (chef’s kiss). Also recommend having something to cover the seats to protect form the direct sun, especially with the MGV.
Every night I hosed down the vehicle and undercarriage. I’m sure this was minimally impactful, but it made me feel better about the sand, water, and air.
Highlights:
- You’re on your own!
- Wild horses!
- Sunrises and sunsets galore with 360 views from most homes
- Bronco on the beach (the Ford kind)
- Less neighbors
- Reasonable trek from house over dune to beach
Considerations:
- You’re on your own!
- No lifeguards
- No stores
- Occasionally dippy floody roads
- Lots of house construction
A note for folks considering Carova - pay attention to the tides relative to your treks up and down the coast. It was waaaaaay more sketchy during high tide and we saw lots of vehicles in need of recovery. I mention this because as we were planning, we saw lots of “4x4 only and air down dummy” advice but no “aim for low tide” advice.
Highly recommend checking out Carova if you have the gear (which you do since you’re reading this on Bronco6G) and want to find the most isolated location you can find in the Outer Banks.
Washed the Bronco twice when getting home and spent more time than I could have ever imagined cleaning out sand. But man she looks good and is totally ready her normal life as school and sport transporter.
Thanks for reading, safe travels!!
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