cargo carrier and bumper storage

[nativepups]

Hi all.  I are new to this forum (but my wife is Orangepridepopup) but have had our pup for 4 years.  Getting ready for a big trip with our 4 kids and 1 dog and are looking at doing a couple of large modifications.  I am trying to find information and recomendations on how to do 2 storage options.  I have been reading through all the great discussions on here but can't seem to understand them all.  Any advice and or pictures would be great!  Thanks in Advance.

I am thinking about mounting a cargo carrier to the top of our pup.  
We are also thinking about adding one of the hitch style cargo trays to the bumper area.  

TV is a 2006 GMC Yukon XL
Pup is a 1999 Jayco 12

Thanks for any advice and or tips (and pictures) you can share!!

[austinado16]

You've got plenty of TV there, so you can pretty much do what you want.

My suggestion would be to first figure out if you can fill the inside of the camper with more stuff, and maybe then only have to carry 1 cargo container.

If you do a box on the roof, make sure to mount it in a way that it's not going to compromise your nice roof, and then don't overload it.  You might look at solutions from Yakima and Tule, or maybe Jayco has something?

I'd almost say avoid doing the cargo tray out the back.
1) It'll be quite a bit of weight off the tongue, but you can probably balance out for that.
2) The rear bumper on the pup, even if you tie into the frame members on the left and right, may not be strong enough to support the amount of leveraged "twist" that the cargo tray can generate.
3) It's another 3' of length you can't see out the back and you might back it into something.

If you do go with the cargo tray. Harbor Freight sells an all aluminum one that has 4 sides about 6" tall for $89ish.  They don't weigh anything and I think they're rated for 400-500lbs.  I just bought one on the cheap at out local swap meet about a month ago to use behind the 'burb.

[wavery]

It's actually quite a difficult balancing trick to add a rear carrier on a PU.....:eyecrazy:

The critical part is that you must maintain a minimum of 10% of the total trailer weight on the tongue. If it drops below 10%, you are almost guaranteed to have dangerous swaying issues.

Here is how it gets tricky..... If you put 200# on the rear, a corresponding amount must be added to the front......but wait.....now your total weight has just increased by 400#.....that means, an additional 40# must be added to the tongue. Now, your trailer weight is an additional 440#. Check to see if your trailers GWR has been exceeded. Also, check your axle and tire weight ratings.

Remember, these trailers are built very light (that is the whole design concept of PUs). Once you exceed the weight limits on these trailers, all sorts of problems may start occurring.