I've planned to have this done for ages but only got around to it after finding a local business willing to offer a good deal with installation thrown in as well. Choosing the container wasn't difficult either as they only had one of an appropriate size for this car anyways.
Here's the roof rack before the container went on. It was $430 installed (and about that much for the case as well). It was going to cost me more than that just to buy the parts for a rack online, so I was impressed at how affordable it turned out to be. After I got over the shock of how unexpectedly expensive car roof racks generally are, I mean.
It has some sort of dual hinge setup where the hinges are also what secure it closed when you lock it. Consequently it can be opened from either side, a mechanism I found pretty clever. There are hard points inside on the bottom I can use bungee cords for securing heavy loads to, so they don't slide around while the car is moving.
The vertical clearance inside is about 14 inches, just barely more than needed to fit the hot water machine, by far the largest single piece of gear I mean to transport with this container. With it installed, the trunk is completely freed up to hold the stack of cushions I covered earlier.
But I have bigger plans. The surface area on top of this container is just about exactly right to support a set of solar panels sold by Jackery, the same company that makes my suitcase battery. It's designed to directly charge that suitcase battery with optimum efficiency.
I can leave it in the rooftop container charging from the solar panels I'll affix to the top of it, so that while camping in spots with no electrical hookups I can still store up the energy I need to do stuff like running the electric blankets at night.
Anyway this is a big exciting step, but one I always knew was coming. Whenever I've had good fortune, financially, I spent money on things that would make it easier to rebuild the next time I fell on hard times.
This STEEM Mobile guarantees that no matter what happens in my life I will always have a warm, dry, secure place to sleep with storage for all the stuff I need to live with a modicum of comfort.
And yeah, it would come in handy in the event of a zombie apocalypse. But that's secondary. :)
Stay Cozy!