Kuat DEK Platform Rack - Fixed Mounting Points - 47" wide 95" long

Video Transcript for Kuat DEK Platform Rack Comprehensive Review

Hi everyone. I'm Evangeline right here at etrailer. Today we're talking about the Kuat DEK. This is the platform from Kuat that not only looks amazing, but performs amazingly well at almost every situation I've thrown at it. We're gonna take a look at the different sizes that Kuat has for you, as well as some of the different features that really stood out. When you put a platform on your roof, on your bars, on your ladder rack, you want it to be able to carry all of your gear for all of your adventures.

And that's what the Kuat DEK has done. The main things that stood out to me is its sleek, all metal design where you have aluminum and your stainless steel, creating that big base for all the things while still being very low profile. With this being universal, it's designed to attach to the crossbars on your vehicle. And this also works with your truck bed racks. Bonus points if you have the Kuat IBEX ladder rack.

With the clamps that go around the crossbars and tighten down, those clamps are metal too, so very sturdy. I've used it with round bars, square bars, arrow bars, and even our large IBEX bars. It fits all around. Now, I and my team have installed this platform on a bunch of different cars already with different types of cross bars, but that doesn't mean we've covered all of them. So it's really important to really take your measurements, not just of the platform, but also on your vehicle.

So the options we have here is we have 47-inch wide platforms and 54-inch wide platforms and a bunch of different lengths. So a way to help you out with that is if you use our fit guide here at etrailer, we give you a list of custom fit roof racks that are confirmed fit for your car. And then from there you can just delve into our pages for all those measurements to help you get sorted for your adventure. And you can also give us a call or send us a message and we'll guide you through that entire process. And knowing your vehicle also helps out with helping you figure out how much stuff can you carry with this platform.

All this extra space, and the all metal construction gives you a 300 pound weight capacity for all of the gear. But depending on your vehicle roof capacity, that can change things up a bit. So here on our SUV, doesn't have the same type of capacity as here on our ladder rack. So knowing your different capacities helps you figure out if you can carry all the kayaks or maybe just your lighter, bulkier stuff like all the crash pads. With that in mind too, double check your static and dynamic weight capacity. Static weight capacity is how much weight can you have on your roof while you're parked. This is often a question I get when people look at rooftop tents, 'cause they look at the weight of the tent and they start thinking about how much weight's gonna be up there once you and maybe two other people climb up onto the roof. That's usually fine because you have a lot more static weight capacity than dynamic weight capacity. Dynamic capacity is how much weight can you carry when you're driving down the highway, making quick turns, making quick stops, things are shifting back and forth. The fact that the Kuat DEK has a 300 pound dynamic capacity sounds even more impressive now. As you load cargo and accessories onto your platform, the cross beams on this platform are very similar to the crossbars that you may have on your roof rack. So all your different accessories, like your ski carriers that have clamps or your straps, those all clamp around the crossbar, creating that connection. You also might have channel-mounted accessories, and this still works with that. A channel-mount accessory usually has a square or rectangular nut or a bolt like this, and you'll still be able to utilize the top channels to mount your accessory down. So this is a good example of it underneath of how this would just slide on through. And Kuat also includes some extra mounting bolts for those accessories if you need a little bit of an adapter. Now another really impressive feature is the DEK light bar. That's an LED light bar add-on to the platform. And I might be a little biased, because Kuat and Diode Dynamics collaborated together to create this light bar. Now, I might be a little biased because etrailer is also in Missouri, just like Kuat and Diode is, so we have some really good relationships with them, but also seeing their high quality work in their own field and now seeing it all put together into this platform is impressive. And I don't know if you can tell from this video, but I'm a huge fan of the Kuat DEK platform and that's because this Outback is actually mine and I take it out for rock climbing road trips all the time with my friends. Have you ever tried to carry around or transport crash pads while you're trying to carry around all your gear and your friends It's really tricky, but having this platform instantly solved that problem, plus, I'm able to carry around recovery boards too, and I'll be able to, like, sneak some areas there for different types of gear if needed. So as someone that needs a platform for all the gear, this is super helpful and the fact that it mounted directly to the crossbars that I already had, very convenient. Then you also have the people that are really building out their rig and they wanna make sure they have the best of the best, from a snorkel to running boards to a ladder rack, and the platform needs to match that high standard too, that's where the Kuat DEK also fits in. So whether you're just a casual climber like me, or you're really into overlanding and rock crawling, the Kuat DEK combines sleekness, good looks and performance. Now, if you're curious about all the other maybe in depth installation tips, notes and features like that, well, check out our other videos here at etrailer. But hopefully this was a good look at the whole line of Kuat DEK universal platforms. Again, they're available in different shapes and sizes, so try to make sure you get the right one for your adventures, and we can always help you out with that, whether it's your base crossbar system or the platform or all the accessories that go on it, we got you covered. But today, my name is Evangeline here at etrailer, and you just saw the Kuat DEK universal crossbar mounted platforms.