Trxstle CRC Rooftop Fly Rod Carrier - Locking - 2 Fly Fishing Poles - Black

Video Transcript for Ultimate Overview of the Trxstle CRC Rooftop Fly Rod Carrier

Hi, everyone. Aiden here with etrailer. Today we're gonna be taking a look at this fly fishing rod carrier from Trxstle. Now that's gonna be a pretty unique way to carry your fly rods on your roof fully enclosed. And what makes it so unique is the fact that, one, it can store on the roof in a full long case, so you can store your fly rods in there fully assembled. You don't have to worry about breaking them down between uses.

But during the off season when you don't want the carrier up on the roof, you can collapse the carrier down to make a lot more space in your garage not having to store that long case. Let's check it out. Now this is the type of case you might be familiar with seeing with your fly rods already. Again, having to store it broken down and while it's nice, it offers protection for the fly rod, it does mean it's gonna be a little less convenient to get it assembled and ready to go. But I will say with the optional shoulder strap, that Trxstle case can be a replacement for this too.

If you don't mind breaking it down between uses and you just wanted to throw this whole assembly into the truck bed or something, it can at least hold two instead of just the one keeping it all together and with that optional shoulder strap, making it easy to carry to the water. Obviously the draw with this is the fact that the case can be expanded like this and store the fly rods whole so you don't have to worry about restringing it between uses can be especially useful if you're going on a long fishing trip and wanna fish all the way up until dusk, bring the rod back out a dawn the next day and not have to worry about restringing it and getting everything set up again. It's just gonna get you more time at the water and make the whole fishing process a bit simpler for you. Let's talk about the main feature here, which is expanding this or breaking it down. We'll start with expanding our silver one by going to both the top and bottom track where we're gonna have these little screws that we want to remove from the buttons.

They're gonna basically just act as safety stops and those buttons will be what we use to operate this. Now there'll be a third one at the very top where I guess more the tip of the carrier. This is the bottom edge, so we'll just undo that and set these to the side. Now you probably saw on the last clip it said start here button one. That's gonna be the first button we press and pull up on that nose until it locks out.

Now your instructions are gonna have a set of orders basically for those buttons, both for expanding and retracting. So the next thing we'll do is go to the underside for button three, press it and pull it until it locks. And then button four last. You do skip button two for the expanding. That's okay. And something to just kind of talk about is as you're doing it, it does become a little bit awkward to handle because the weight spreads out more and it just becomes a bit larger and unruly. So if you've got a workbench or something in your garage to set this on, that could help, but it's just something that you're gonna be facing when expanding it or collapsing it. While it's open like this we can get a better look at those clamp tracks underneath. The larger cutouts is where you feed the clamps in and slide them into the track where it be held captive. Just be careful when you're setting it up on your roof that you don't slide the whole carrier forward or back too much to where those clamps then become aligned with that open slot again, because then they're just not gonna be held in place at all. Retract it. We'll start with button two, then do button three, then do button four. So the only thing is button two is pretty hard to reach, but once you get that started, it's not too bad. Button four last and then at the very bottom just basically have to double press it because button three and four are right next to each other like we saw earlier when we removed those screws. But you can just go around double check that all of the slots have a button in them and reinstall your security screws to keep them from accidentally getting pressed in storage. Both the black one you see here and the silver one that I had on my shoulder will function the same way. They gave you the cylinder lock cores with a push button to open it. And there you can see our two fly rods inside stored reel up and it's gonna keep them relatively protected. There's some padding and stuff around the edges here, and that divider will keep them separated from one another. When you're ready to go, you can just grab the rod that you're going with and pull that out from the case. Now each of those rods can be up to 10 feet long. Anything longer than that you will have to at least partially break down because the carrier can only expand so much. But the draw is having that fully enclosed that's gonna keep something that's a bit more thin sometimes pretty delicate and oftentimes really expensive protected. That's what a lot of people are looking for in a fly rod carrier, is to keep their gear protected because having this out exposed to the elements or just somewhere where a rock flying up off the road can hit, it's not gonna be great. So keeping it enclosed will be the best case scenario. When you're feeding the rod back in, one of the biggest concerns is the very tip of the rod keeping that protected. So get it started very carefully because you don't want to catch it on something, especially if it's dark out and as you're feeding it in the one thing I'll say I don't love about it is because it's collapsing and retracts into itself periodically you're going to reach a point where you can feel some bumps. Basically transitions between the collapsing sections that will nest within one another. And this rod in particular is at a perfect length that lines up with one of those transitions. So as I'm feeding it in and I get it almost all the way there, I can feel the tip of the rod want to catch on that small lip in there. For me, that's a huge downside. If you're looking for protection for your fly rods, and that's why you want to case like this, that kind of counteracts the point. So you do make a sacrifice in order to have something that breaks down and compacts for easier storage, you're not going to get the very best protection for your fly rods when you're feeding them in and out of the carrier. Can't show that inner tube very well. But you can see the exact same thing I'm talking about on the outer case as well. And that's gonna be those lips where the carrier nests within itself. And that's also one of my downsides for actually using it. When you have it mounted on the roof, that pivot point or that piece where it nests is now a weak point in the carrier. So as you hit bumps and the carrier starts to move, it's just got a bit of movement there. It's not a solid piece. So all those different joints are gonna be points where this carrier just doesn't look as solid. And I'd worry about the long term durability when you're driving, especially over rougher terrain. If that up and down movement is a concern for you and you just don't want that, one possible remedy would be to not have it fully extended. In theory, if you've got some shorter fly rods, you could only partially extend it and that would make certain parts of the carrier a bit more solid. But for me, that defeats the point of this. The point is you don't have to break down the rods, and let's face it, most fly rods are quite long. So if it's concern for you and you want a fix that's not gonna force you to break the rods down, I would look into something like the Thule RodVault. It's still gonna be limited to a certain length of fly rod, but the thing I like about it is that it's all one solid piece, so it's a lot more solid on the roof, a bit more sturdy, and you're not gonna have to worry about any of those extra points of movement like you see on a telescoping design like this. The thing to keep in mind there though is that however big or however long the RodVault gets, you have to find a place to store that. And while I might have room in my garage for something like that, depending on your situation, if you don't have a garage, maybe you're in an apartment, then yeah, you're gonna run into issues with storage with something like that, which is why the Trxstle carrier is such a strong draw. So you gotta make that decision of what features you're looking for. This is gonna install by clamping around your crossbars and those clamps will install to the underside of the carrier in some existing slots. So depending on your crossbar spread, you can probably match this up wherever works best for you. So good for roof compatibility. The hardware they use, they'll give you different lengths of bolts, so if you have thicker crossbar so you can accommodate them and security nuts, which will provide a bit more security, but require you to use this special tool with that star shape to tighten and loosen them. It makes the setup process a bit longer because you have to use this tool. You can't just grab a ratcheting wrench, but it will keep the rod carrier a bit safer if you leave it on your roof for a long time. You're gonna have an aluminum outer case. And on the real box that's gonna be an ABS plastic. Pretty standard construction, especially when comparing this to other rod cases of this style, it'll resist UV fading. And because it's aluminum, not steel, you'll be able to resist rust and corrosion if it gets any water on it too. But when it comes down to it, the thing that really sets the trestle carrier apart is that retracting an expansion feature. Makes it really convenient for storage in the off season. Or if you just wanted to strap the shoulder strap up, carry it around to your destination and be able to carry two rods together instead of just one. But aside from that, in my opinion, it doesn't really do anything unique, at least not anything unique that another carrier doesn't do. So if you have no need for the easier storage, then I'd go with a solid carrier because it's not gonna come with all the quirks that Trxstle has when mounted to your roof, where you get these weird pivot points and some potential snag points inside the tube when feeding your rods in and out of the carrier. That for me is just something that would be very hard to overlook because I'm thinking about protecting my fly rods and when it comes to protecting them, I want the carrier that is fully enclosing them and locking them up to be sturdy. I want it to be solid. I don't want it to move. So for me, it'd just be hard to look past because I know I have room in my garage to source something larger. Would I have to clear space for it Sure. But I can make it work and I'd be happy to make it work knowing that my fly rods and my investment is gonna be kept a bit safer. But if you absolutely need the storage space, then I do think Trxstle could be a good option for you and your roof and your fly rods. Thanks for watching.