The Element's Attic

We see the finished Element here to the left.. not bad :) Flipping the cargo carrier around allows for the fan I installed to be open and not hit the cargo carrier. It also is really nice to open the cargo carrier from the driver seat side rather than have to go to the back of the car every time to open it.

Before the Build

Pretty stock Element, 2003 EX: came w/ no rack when I first got in 2017

Finding the Right Carrier

The Artic 900 is basically a packasport w/ different name and what I finally arrived at.

OEM Roof Rack

Purchased a factory rack/bars used on eBay for $140; Once I installed the fan (later photo) you'll see I added 2x4's to raise the Artic 900 higher up to accommodate the fan being in the moon roof

Heavy Duty

It was crucial to have a durable and lockable cargo carrier to avoid theft

Flex Solar Panel and Bike Carrier

Needed a Cargo carrier that could

hold a lot of stuff
flat on the top for a solar panel to fit on
picked this one up for $275 on Craigslist

The First Try at a Roof Setup

This was my first go at a Cargo carrier. Was real solid, but I wanted something with a flat surface for solar so I sold it and moved up.

The smaller setup had a benefit of open roof space, but I just didn't use it enough to not utilize it in a better way.

Spacers for the Cargo Rack

Drilling holes to connect 2x4s

Lifted the cargo carrier 3''

Angled the spacers to be discrete

Left: Had to use a lot of effort to drill through the factory rack to connect the spacers with a carriage bolt

Right: Painted up the 2x4's from Home Depot with a free paint sample of latex

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