Faced with the challenge of moving my daughter's beloved sandbox to our new backyard (without having our long-term Silverado available), I was pleased to find the Kia Sedona open for the weekend. What you see here are the dozen bags of semi-wet sand and a trash can with more wet sand becuause my eyeball estimate was about three bags shy.
With the sand taken care of, there was the not-so-small matter of the sandbox itself.
Had the Silverado been available, moving the now-empty yet fully-entact sandbox four blocks would've been easy-peasy. I didn't have time to disassemble the 30-piece puzzle, so the only solution was to go up. Looking something like a Lincoln Log pop-up camper top, the sandbox fit neatly on the Sedona's roof rack (rated to 165-pounds).
A few canvas straps were all that was needed to putt-putt around the corner and down the block safely. I'm sure that if the Boys in Blue had spotted this too-tall contraption they would've asked to see some identification and checked my rigging. Luckily, the majority of law enforcement was on Shorline Boulevard, keeping an eye on the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, and we made the five-minute drive without incident.
When the Sedona arrived in the new driveway, my three-year old thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. "Daddy, that's my sandbox on your car!"
Chris Walton, Chief Road Test Editor @ 21,970 miles
mrnewsguy says:
09:50 AM, 04/16/07
Looking at that first photo reminds me of when I have to haul Windsor wall stones from Home Depot in my 98 Venture. Umm... how much more compression can my rear shocks take? Do you know if you exceeded the vehicle's load limit?
automaton says:
10:46 AM, 04/16/07
At risk of hijacking the thread - nice sandbox - where did you get it?
cwalton1 says:
11:00 AM, 04/16/07
I don't recall where we got it, but it was about $150 online. The retractable cover/sun shade is a great innovation to maintain the sand at that optimal, sand-castle building dampness, keep the sun from cooking your kid, and most importantly, to keep the neighborhood cats from (mis)using it.
I just did a quick search of "covered sandbox" and got a gazillion results. Don't forget to spend the extra $2.00 a bag on triple-washed "sandbox sand" which is available at any home improvement center. Reportedly, building-grade sand has a whole host of ingredients you would want your child playing in, some of which are reportedly carcinogenic.
--CW
jerrywimer says:
06:35 PM, 04/16/07
mrnewsguy- there's pretty much no question that this load was way above the rated capacity for this van, or pretty much any other minivan. But it was for a fairly short distance, and appears to have been loaded up in a way that distributed the load fairly evenly (uh, if a bit unorthodoxly, with the sandbox on top!). Sometimes need compels you to make the most of what you have available. Lord knows I've done far worse when we had the 92 Toyota Corolla. My wife used to call that our "truck". :P
I'm just wondering how you managed to get that sandbox up on the rack without damaging either it or the Sedona, Chris. I'm pretty certain that that much wood is heavy enough that one person isn't going to muscle it up there, and even with two or three it probably was a serious chore to do it without scratching up the van, the rack, or breaking something (like part of the sandbox frame).
cwalton1 says:
07:39 AM, 04/17/07
I just did a little research on the max cargo weight allowed, and discovered I was about 50 pounds shy of meeting/exceeding it exactly.
Here's my math:
GVWR = 5838 pounds minus as-tested weight (4729 lbs), minus 15 bags of sand at 50 pounds each (750 lbs), minus two reasonably fit guys (300 lbs), minus pine-constructed sand box (about 15 lbs -- it looks heavier than it is) equals... 44 pounds to spare.
I was a little surprised (and pleased), as well, but if you look at the rear 3/4 photo you can see the rear wheels aren't jammed up in the fenders and the Sedona isn't dragging its bumper on the ground.
Mission complete and the Sedona didn't even break a sweat.
--CW
jerrywimer says:
10:43 AM, 04/17/07
I'm surprised by the weight of both the sand and the sandbox. I'd have guessed that much wet sand to be probably double the 50 pounds you weighed each it, and probably around 150 pounds for the sandbox (100 minimum). Guess my weight guestimation tables need updated. :D