Malone LiftLine Ski and Snowboard Carrier - Locking - 3 Pairs of Skis or 2 Boards

Video Transcript for Malone LiftLine Ski and Snowboard Carrier Review

Hi, everyone, it's Evangeline, and today we have the Malone LiftLine Compact Ski, and Snowboard, and Fishing Rod Kit. This is gonna be a compact and affordable way to get your skis, snowboards, and fishing rods from point A to point B. This has some different features to it and we're gonna get into those, as well as how to install it on your roof right here etrailer.com. I've worked with a good amount of ski and snowboard carriers, and the general concept of how they clamp down onto those skis, and snowboards, and fishing rods is pretty much the same. Now this does have some extra design features to it though, and things like how the universal clamps work, as well as how it has two different options for clamping included, and you don't need to get separate hardware. We'll talk about those features, especially with how you carry this rack, later on in this video.

The first thing we'll talk about though, is what can you carry with it Technically, you can carry up to three sets of skis, or two snowboards, or six fishing rods. Now that number will depend on the size of your skis, your snowboards, your fishing rods. So measuring for your usable space, which is gonna be where this rubber sits, that's gonna be 16 inches wide. Anything past that will get caught in the sides as this goes down and secures them. This still frees up a lot of space on the rest of your crossbar for other items, so maybe you wanna put another of these carriers on this side where it's easy to access, or if you wanna carry a basket, or a roof box, the carrier itself will sit 22 inches long, and that's how much space it will take up on your crossbars.

It'll help you figure out if you have space for other things. And if you do want to save on space and really maximize your area, you can adjust where the clamps go. But putting your carrier on your overhang or further out to the end of your crossbar, you're able to get this further out. And it's easier to access, but also gives you more crossbar space. Let's talk about these clamps super fast.

There's these universal clamps with the wing nuts creating a very strong and sturdy fit on your crossbars. This can fit on your square, your factory, your aero bars, as long as they are no wider than three inches and an eighth of an inch, like our wing bar is here. These universal clamps do not lock though. So while there is a lock core on your carrier, that's something to be mindful of when you're super concerned about security. Now, if you did mount this in a T-track configuration, then as you lock the carrier, you also lock the method of mounting it.

Here's our keys. When you turn the keys to the lock position, you are then unable to depress that button. Turning it back over to unlocked, press the button and it pops up. I'm not the biggest fan of that bright red button with the words open on it, but you have to admit that it works pretty well. It has a pretty good spring to it where it stays in the upright position, and that way it's easier for you to grab your skis and snowboards, put them away, secure it, and open it up again, even as you're carrying large, heavy gloves. So that is a feature that comes in handy. Here's what our rubber lining looks like without the skis and snowboards. So this is gonna be an ultra soft, but pretty strong rubber lining. You'll see it mimicked on the top part of the carrier too, and that way it creates that grip on your skis and snowboards, but also that protection. And listen closely, as we close our carrier, (carrier clicks) there is one click, (carrier clicks) and a second click, and that way, even if you have thicker skis, there's a bit more tolerance for them where you can still secure them. A lot of people like to drive around with this in a closed position even when they're not planning on carrying skis or snowboards anytime soon. So let's talk about its design. Notice the rounded corners to make for a more low-profile look. And for the measurements, I like to measure from the top of the crossbar to the top of the carrier. With the clamps on, we have it at 5 1/4 inches of height. If we had the T-track clamps, that makes it sit at 4 1/2 inches of height off the top of your crossbars. If you have extra-tall bindings, maybe you have your snowboard upside down, maybe you have a really low-profile roof rack, that's a measurement to help you figure out if you have enough clearance, because from our crossbar to where our skis are going to sit, that's only about 2 3/4 inches. So hopefully you do have enough clearance. If not, you may have to start looking at carriers that give you more space with risers. An option for you would be something like the Yakima FreshTrack, which has an integrated ski lift riser to give you that extra clearance. I would actually really recommend this one, and not just because it's an affordable, entry-level priced carrier, but even at that price point, it still has the features that I would expect from a premium carrier. Things like the lock cores and the included keys, how it has both types of mounting brackets, whether it's the universal clamps that you need or T-track mounts. If anything, I wouldn't recommend this as much for, let's say you need to carry more than two snowboards or three skis, well, you can get two of these and put one on the other side. If you did need that extra height though, I did mention something like the Yakima fat cap that gives you a higher spacer. But hopefully this video helped explain the different features of this carrier, helped show you has to install it, and helped you find the best fit for you. But right here, right now, this was a look at the Malone Compact Ski and Snowboard Carrier, also called the LiftLine, right here etrailer.com For installing your carrier, you do have two options. You have the universal clamps, and then you have the T-slot clamp. So, as you can see, if you use the T-track adapter, it's very simple, very easy, but our universal clamp adapter is really easy too, so let's start with that. Completely remove the wing nuts on your adapter, and then that way you can separate this into two pieces. You're then going to remove this top wing nut, and this is what it's going to look like before you put it on your crossbar. If you're able to use the overhang, awesome. If you don't have enough clearance for the overhang, you're gonna have to install this behind your tower. Now this bottom bracket's gonna fit underneath, top bracket goes over, and then you secure with the two wing nuts. What I like to do, especially if it's an aero bar like this, is that I will secure the wing nut on the tallest part of the bar. And then, that way as I tighten down on the shorter end of the bar, we have a more level fit, and it's not slanted to one way. We're gonna tighten it down just enough where we can still slide it but it's not going to fall off. We're gonna keep this loose for now so we can get our carrier on there. For the T-slot hardware, you just slide those on through. If anything, gonna make sure that if you can fit the wider side of the bolt through, awesome. If you have to fit the narrow side because of the shape of your T-channel, that will work too. That is gonna go on through wherever you wanna put it. Here we have our carrier, and this is gonna fit onto those bolts. So what we need to look out for are the holes in the carrier. There are holes along the bottom of the carrier, and on top of them you have these spacers. So make sure that they are in there properly and that they're flush. And now you can just drop your carrier onto those bolts, and then secure it with your wing nuts. So whether you are installing the universal clamps or the T-slot adapter, the install process from here on out is the exact same. Just double check that all your wing nuts, whether it's for your center clamp or your universal clamp, that they're all secure. Both methods are gonna create a very sturdy fit. The T-track method is gonna be a bit more low profile and closer to your roof, but it's also very fast and very easy as long you have a T-channel in your crossbar. The universal clamp method will work with pretty much any crossbar and it sits a bit higher, but if you have your wider bars, then it may not fit. So hopefully this video helped explain how to get those installed.