Introduction and snowboard questions

[vanstifer]

Greetings! I've been lurking on this forum for a long time now but finally decided to register. I've always loved Toyota and the 4Runner, way before I ever got into cars or learned to drive. It is somewhat my dream vehicle, the others being the Tacoma and IS300. Earlier this year, I got tired of driving my girlfriend everywhere for years. She lives out here by herself (family in Texas) without a car, so I suggested she get one. I began helping her do some research since she knows nothing of the topic. Naturally, I was inclined to find her a 4Runner, since it was so versatile. Of course, once we found a good price on Craigslist and she bought it, I was thrilled. She has had it for about 8 months now.

Some cousins and I have planned a snow trip up to Tahoe/Reno this winter. Some of the cars that we have aren't really best suited to take up the mountains. My girlfriend actually let me borrow her 4Runner. Since this is probably a one time thing, I'm not really interested in investing in a ski/snowboard roof rack.

So just a few questions:
Has anyone had any experience tying down snowboards to the factory cross bars without the snowboard racks? I couldn't find anything on this on my searches. Is there a reason people bypass this step and just buy the roof racks?

Are there roof racks that can fit up to 6 snowboards? The biggest I've seen holds just 6 skis/4 snowboards. We have 5 snowboards so getting a rack would still have 1 board left out. Not really looking to at those angled carriers and folding down the backseats is not an option since we have 5 people.

Sorry for such a long first post. Any responses are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Hepar]

In my 2nd gen 4Runner, I would sometimes tie down my boards straight to the rack when I was too lazy to dig my ski attachments out of storage. I think the ski racks are quicker to load and unload and give more piece of mind that they're not going to go anywhere, but I didn't have any issues with tying them straight up there.

As far as putting more than 4 boards up there, I'm pretty sure that the only way to do that is to get some of the vertical racks. I could be wrong.

 

[theizzardking]

use tie down for the factory roof rack get 4 boards up there and chuck the shortest shortest in the back, someone has to ride with a board in the back of their head but it's the price they pay for a ride to the mountain, that's the cheapest easiest way to go bout this if you don't want to buy anything aftermarket and making what you got right now work for you.

other wise there are hitch mounted options and carriers for the top and your standard snow board racks made by Yakima and the rest.

seriously i just make my friends deal with it other wise they can drive their own cars, lol or make the guy who didn't throw down on gas ride with the board in the back of the dome, lol, there's always that guy.....:boxer:

 

[98_4runnerSR5]

I'm sure you can just use tie downs and strap 'em up there good. Don't see why you couldn't. I personally wouldn't want to strap them to factory roof rack- especially 4. I'd just get on craigslist and find a set of racks- I got my Yakima Powerhound SE racks for $40 and they were a season old (regularly over $100). We always squeez 6 boards into my rack set up by placing 2 boards, without bindings on them, in between the other 2, with binding on them. It may sounds confusing but you have 4 boards ready to go, and 2 that need bindings mounted on them when you get there. That way there are none in the car and you just throw the bindings in the back.

 

[RDS3030]

I personally wouldnt tie anything down on the roof, depending on what size snowboard you have you should be able to fit them in the back. My friends an i all ride around 152's for the park and that size boards fit across the back on the the ledges by windows just fine, and all our gear under it. To be safe id put a towl or a t-**** under them and by the window so you dont scratch anything.

 

[criera]

why dont you get like a yakima cargo box for the top. you can throw all your boards in there as well as all your wet gearyou can use if for other things too so more versatile vs single purpose. where i live there are places that rent them too if you dont want to invest but check craigs, i bet you find a bunch