Front Runner Ski and Snowboard Carrier - Locking - Slide Out - 6 Pairs of Skis or 4 Boards

Video Transcript for Front Runner Ski and Snowboard Carrier Comprehensive Review

Hi everyone, I'm Evangeline right here at etrailer. Today we're taking a look at the Front Runner Ski and Snowboard Carrier. This is gonna be a slide out carrier, which makes it a lot easier to load and unload your skis, plus this is gonna be one of the sleekest ski and snowboard carriers I've seen on the market. So we're gonna talk about some of its different features and then you can find out if this is the right fit for you and your ski and snowboarding adventures. So I actually just came back from a ski trip. I'm not very good, but my friends are.

So for our little road trip I offered to carry all the skis and the poles and we just focus on getting to the slopes. So with that, some things that I really thought about when carrying the skis was. Are they safe Are they sturdy Am I gonna lose them on the highway Because going down the slopes without any skis is not that fun. Now Front Runner is a brand that's super well known for their durable, versatile roof platforms. And they also have accessories that usually are mainly designed to be used with their platforms.

But this is actually gonna be an exception to that. In the case of I would use this ski and snowboard carrier with pretty much any platform or crossbar that has the right channels. The reason for that is because, even at its pretty well priced price point, it has some really good premium features that make it really helpful for your different trips. So I'm gonna go take this back inside because it is pretty cold and I wanna get a closer look at those different features. But before we do that, let's go for a quick ride so that you can see what I saw when I took this on my trip.

So for my trip, I carried around about four pairs of skis and four sets of poles. Here we have four skis and two sets of poles. And you can see how much space there is on that carrier. As I was going and hitting highway speeds, the pole straps we inchesre flying around, but everything was good. Now we did have to maneuver around some snowy terrain, which is what we have here behind etrailer.

And I was just very grateful that even though I hit a bunch of different bumps and some icy patches, it was solid up there. I knew that the skis and the poles we inchesre secure inside the carrier, but I also knew that the carrier itself was secure to my roof rack. So there's very little room for movement up there in the best way. I like that sleek look, but I also just love that peace of mind knowing that the skis are safe on top of the roof. So you can see how this can dependently carry your skis and boards for your trips, most important thing. But after that, you also have to consider is this the right fit for your skis or boards This can carry up to six skis or four boards or about four skis and four sets of poles. Now if you've ever looked at those larger ski carriers like this one, you'll know that the more skis it can carry, the more space it also takes up, and also the more difficult it may be to load and unload those skis and boards. The good news is that for your Front Runner carrier, this does slide out. If you pull up on the latches on your carrier, then you'll be able to slide the whole system out. Now this has a 92-pound weight capacity. So that experience will be a little different depending on the height of your vehicle and the amount of weight you have on your carrier. But this is gonna be so much easier than crawling up your car to load and unload your skis, especially when you have your large or bulky snow boots or ski boots. This is all going to make things a lot safer for you before and after your trip. With pretty much everything that slides out, I always look closely at the material just because that is going to be a wear and tear point. This, the way it slides out, is you have an aluminum shell and it slides along this aluminum track. And this is also coated, so it's gonna be a smooth movement and not really something that's gonna wear down over time, which is a really good thing. Now for other material, you have rubber up top. That's what's giving that grip onto those skis and boards, but also cushioning them and preventing scuffs and scratches. You do have plastic components throughout the carrier, but it's just gonna be the things like our slide out latch as well as the shell of the carrier. So all things that work together so that even in the cold weather conditions, you still have something that works well and looks good. That one click right there means that everything is secured, but it also means that it doesn't have extra space for thicker than usual skis. So if your poles or your skis are thicker than 1 1/2 inches, you may need to separate your skis to get them to fit inside the carrier. The button if you are just pressing on it with your hands, might feel like it's a little stuck, but that's because it's designed to be used with your gloves and your mittens. You give it a good push with your glove and mitten and it just pops right up. Now for securing it, you do have included locks and keys. It's just gonna be a standard metal lock core. It does have a little cap there just to prevent water from coming in and freezing on the inside. This is really helpful because when I went skiing with my friends, we stopped at a hotel and I just wanna make sure that my skis we inchesre safe if parked overnight. So this was really helpful for that peace of mind knowing that our equipment was gonna be secure. Now what I did for my trip was I actually had a really small roof box on the other end because I needed something to carry the larger jackets and the boots. So if that's gonna be the case for you, there's some things to keep in mind. You need to know how much space this is gonna take up on your roof, know your size of your crossbars or your platform and that will help you figure out if you have enough space. You also need to think about where your roof rack sits. Do you have enough height from your skis to the top of your roof for those larger bindings Do you need a roof rack that has channels If you don't yet have a channel roof rack, there are custom fit ones for your vehicle available here at etrailer. If you have any questions about everything that I just said, well, check out our page where we have all those dimensions specs written out, or feel free to give us a call just to guide you through that process of getting the right thing for you. Now to install this onto your roof rack, this does work with most T-tracks or channels. And that's because it has two square bolts underneath or T-bolts. So if you have them a little bit loose, you can then slide those into your channels and then secure them up top. There's gonna be two nuts to tighten down and you can either use the Allen key or the little wrench. Both are gonna be included with your carrier and that's gonna be used to just secure it in place. So that's for installations, probably the easiest of any Front Runner product that I've worked with. Front Runner usually has all kinds of different hardware and things to tighten down. This is very simple, very straightforward. The only thing I would say is just be mindful of where you position your carrier as you secure it so that it is level or even with each other, but also that you're still maximizing your crossbar space, especially if you have other things loaded up too. So if I we inchesre to go skiing again and I had to pick up a ski carrier real quick, I'm definitely grabbing the Front Runner again. I really enjoyed how sleek it is. It makes for less wind noise, it looks really good on top of the car, and you have a good amount of space, plus you have that slide out feature. All of these are just adding up to make for a really helpful carrier. Now, and if you look at the price point too, it is pretty reasonable. It is still in the more premium ski carrier range, but the only thing I would compare it to is the Yakima FatCat EVO, which was the other carrier that I would tend to grab. That one is low profile, sleek, and has locks. But the one thing that one has differently is it gives more height compared to the Front Runner carrier. So if you're in a situation where you have extra tall bindings and you find that you are potentially scratching up your roof or you just can't load your snowboard up and you need the extra height, check out the FatCat EVO. That one though doesn't have a slide out feature. So if you want something that's easier to use and you don't need the extra height, Front Runner ski carrier all the way. And hopefully this video just help to explain how I used it, how you might use it, how it would work with your skis and boards, and then help you get the best fit for your journeys. But today this right here was a look at the Front Runner Ski and Snowboard Carrier at etrailer.com. My name's Evangeline and I hope you enjoyed this journey.