Can You Put A Cargo Basket On The Travato Roof? You Bet! Here’s How

So you wonder if the awesome Winnebago Travato 59K camper van can be modified to allow for a cargo basket on the roof… in this short episode we will show you how we did just that… we added a huge basket to the roof of the Travato. To do so we had to move the 160-watt solar panel somewhere else. Where we moved it was pretty genius if we say so ourselves.

Why did we do it? Well actually did it for the fun of it. Fun, in the form of inflatable paddle boards. Before the roof rack we had no way to bring them with us. We contemplated adding a cargo box but thought making the van longer was not for us. We thought of pulling a small trailer but that would be even longer in length. In the end being a foot taller meant we could take out SUPs and not be any longer. A win/win.

So how do we like having it? Well, it was a challenge to get the boards up there. Maybe if we were younger and a lot stronger it would be a lot easier. But even though it was difficult we were able to get everything rig up there. Then we covered everything with a waterproof bag and straps. Then on that went a heavy duty bungee cargo net. After 400 miles of Travel we haven’t had a chance to use the boards yet but they are riding up there like champs and have even survived one brush with a low tree branch.

So if you need to take more with you this is definitely something that is doable and makes sense. It was hard to figure out how to make a mount to move the solar but after we figured that out the rest was a piece of cake.

Here’s the video: