How to fill a Yeti - luggage!

[Llanigraham]

Having seen the actual Yeti with the 'copter on top I can tell you that the suspension on the car had been modified with solid links to stop it dropping on the springs. There was no roll cage inside. 

[Paul52]

At the risk of drifting back to the OP several times my wife and I have taken the in-laws on holiday with us and this has included a Golden Retriever and two small dogs (small enough to sit on laps). This was in the UK travelling from the Portsmouth area down to Dartmoor/Exmoor. With some careful organisation we were able to stack and restrain some stuff taking up part of the boot leaving enough space for the GR to lay down when she wanted to. (With the height of the Yeti your shelf idea could work without squeezing your dog too much). A surprising amount was accommodated on the tunnel between the rear seats and on the middle seat (I didn't think to take it out!). I also had one of the smaller Halfords roof boxes. I fixed this at one side of the rails and fixed a stiff board with an end stop on the other side. The roof box took stuff in soft bags and a couple of suitcases were securely strapped on the board. If the weather had looked unsettled I'd have wrapped them in thick plastic but the weather gods smiled on me and this wasn't necessary. This all proved sufficient for four adults and three dogs and, surprisingly, the Yeti still managed to keep up a good pace on the drive down and back albeit with a few more gear changes than might otherwise have been necessary. Obviously if you went down a similar line you'd need to think about security for anything outside the car and not locked in the top box.

 

Depending on how big your top box is have you looked into hiring a bigger one and whether the extra space makes the cost worthwhile? Might be a cheaper option than hiring a bigger car.

 

Finally do you have a spare wheel. Consider leaving it at home, remove the various boxes and it's another good sized space you could fill; you could always take a tin of the sealant "just in case" and make sure you have roadside rescue if that didn't work.

 

Perhaps if you can get it all sorted you can publish a "how to" guide for the benefit of others - with photos of course.😊