Thule Telescoping Ladder for Vans - 9 Steps - 8-1/2'

Video Transcript for Review of Thule Roof Rack Accessories - Telescoping Ladder - TH301404

Ellen : Hey everybody, I'm Ellen here at etrailer.com, and we're taking a quick look at the Tooley telescoping ladder. This makes it really easy to get on top of any kind of taller vehicles like your Class B RVs, your sprinter vans, anything that has that really tall roof, so you can expand how much stuff you can carry with you by being able to use that roof space. So if you're trying to get a bike rack or cargo carrier or anything up on top of there, you can use this guy to help you to do that.The nice thing about it is that it is made to European standards. They have a lot of different standards for ladders, the EN 131 standard is what this is tested to. So they put it through all kinds of rigors to make sure that it's nice and sturdy, so you shouldn't have to worry about any issues with that. It's also really easy to expand or telescope it in and out to get it to the height that you need it.

You've got nine rungs in total, so you can get pretty tall on there to extend it out. I only got so much room here in my studio, but I'll show you that in a minute.As far as the sturdiness just on its own like this, it's pretty nice. I kind of hate ladders overall, as a big person I never really trust them, but this one feels really sturdy as you're stepping up on. It has a 330 pound weight capacity, so should be good for a lot of folks out there to make sure that you're good. Even if you are trying to bring up something heavy, you shouldn't have to worry about that as well, like a suitcase or anything.

So as far as that goes, I think it's really nice.The way to Mount it to your vehicle a little bit more sturdily is this magnetic mount. So it's got straps that come out and come around and wrap around each of the sides of the ladder, so it just comes back into itself and locks in place, and then it does have this ratcheting feature so you can get that around each side pretty easily. Since I don't have a vehicle in my studio to show you that, I'm not going to really focus on that too much today, but it should be pretty easy to get that on your vehicle. You can also use this with some other Tooley accessories like the wind guard, which is just basically a big piece that comes out and allows you to have a bit of privacy or wind protection whenever you're outside, and then it also works with the organizers that use these kinds of tabs to come down. So works with a lot of different accessories.It's got its own little case.

Our ladder itself has its own case as well. We've got some little protectors for our paint. Now to expand and telescope this in and out, it's pretty simple to do that so I'm going to show you that real quick, to make sure that you get the idea or the hang of how that works. So these little tabs underneath each rung, as far as bringing it back down, you just press on those, and the ladder will come down. And you see how at that last two inches there it sort of slows down and comes out, there's a little hydraulic mechanism inside each rung.

So it's not going to slam down on your fingers if you happen to leave your hand in there, you shouldn't have to worry about it breaking your hand or anything like that. So that's a nice safety feature, and that's, again, going to be true of each of those rungs. So it drops, but then it comes to a nice, gentle stop.To bring it all the way down, there are a couple of clips on the very bottom step. So it's going to be a little harder for you guys to see that, but that will unlock all the rungs so it'll all come down at once. So to do that here, you just push these tabs in on either side, and that unlocks the whole thing. So you can hear that air coming out. Now on either side here, again, I know it's going to be hard to see, but there's a little red indicator to let you know that it's unlocked. So whenever it's all the way down it's just automatically going to be unlocked, so it's always ready to be expanded up.And then to keep it together, got that little strap, and then you can put that in your little handy, portable carrying case weighs about 30 pounds, about 27 pounds. It's made of aluminum, so it's going to be sturdy, but still be relatively lightweight. Whenever it's all the way compact like this it's about 28 inches long, about 19 inches wide, and about three and a half inches deep. So very compact for as tall a ladder as this can get up to, and pretty easy to transport around.So going the opposite, open this guy up, and you can bring it all the way up. I like to start from the bottom most rung to expand it up as far as you need, and it's easiest if you hold onto it with your foot, and you can hear each one will lock into place, there's that nice audible click that lets you know that it's locked in, and just keep going. Now the tallest one, if you know you're going to be expanding it all the way out, it might be better to do that sooner, just to expand it all the way so you could actually reach. And I don't have all that much room in my studio, it won't even let me go all the way up. But if you are going to expand it out, or if you know you're going to have a little bit of excess, it's best to leave that at the top.So I'd want to bring this all the way down, and then if I want another rung up, I'd bring it up that way. You don't want that excess to be in the middle here, you want it to be all the way at the top. But yeah, pretty easy to use, nice and sturdy. Only maintenance that you need to do is to put a little silicone spray on each of those rungs over time just to keep them nice and lubed up so they're moving easily, but should be a really long lasting product for you to help you get up to on top of that roof. So I hope this has been helpful in deciding if this is the right accessory for you. We do have a lot of options here at etrailer.com for all kinds of RV and overlanding use, so check them out. Thanks for watching.