HANDIRACK

We all know the score. Land at the airport, pick up the rental car, drive around the corner, out of sight……and then strap several coffins of windsurfing kit to the roof, before driving off into the sunset with only a collapsed roof and a massive insurance excess to worry about!! Well no more, thanks to the HandiRack!!

This cool little number was sent to us last month for testing and we have to say, we are impressed, very impressed!!

When we heard ‘inflatable roof rack’, we though yeah, yeah, great for posing up and down the high street with your lilo on the roof, but put some windsurfers on top, you must be joking!! Well, we were wrong!!

This roof rack is built for the job and more. It fits snugly onto the roof of the car and is designed to carry loads of up to 80kg (that’s more than most standard solid bar racks). Fitting is extremely easy, dare we say easier than most ‘standard’ racks and the best news is that it fits almost any car without hassle. (Contd. below...)

1. Buy a HandiRack at www.handirackuk.com   2. Take it out of its travel pouch.

3. Lay the rack un-inflated onto the roof and pass the strap through the inside of the car.   4. Pass the loose end of the strap through the cam buckle and tighten.

5. Inflate with the supplied hand pump.   6. Push the air valves in.

7. Ready to go…   8. Strap the boards onto the securing buckles on the rack, and off you go!!

We were amazed at how firmly it fits onto the roof and wouldn’t feel at all concerned driving at motorway speeds with our kit on top.

So is it goodbye to the roof bars forever……? Well not quite. There are few drawbacks. The rack is secured to the roof by webbing straps that feed into the car through the tops of the door. This means it’s not entirely waterproof if it rains. We left ours outside overnight in the rain to check how bad it would be (even though the instructions do warn against doing this) and in the morning there were small drips coming into the car, but nothing too serious – it would certainly be fine whilst driving in the rain.

The only other drawback we could find, was if you have a very domed roof on your car e.g. like a Ford KA, you may find the front strap a little bit obtrusive on the inside of the car.

Overall, this rack does what it is designed to do and more. It isn’t designed to replace a solid bar rack, but it comes pretty close. If you use a variety of vehicles or want a roof rack for occasional use, this is the business!!