Re:Gadget's 2019 hearing aid SZ5

Looks good quality and a handy bit of kit

Does look good and very adaptable.

Really good bit of kit that! Thanks for sharing

Summer holiday time and a 250 mile drive to North Wales. It would have made a lot of sense to take our Astra, it's faster, more economical and has more luggage space, but it's also really, really dull.

So I decided to stick on the roofbox and squeeze wife, son and luggage into the Jimny.

High winds meant the weather wasn't exactly ideal for a trip in a heavily loaded, narrow, slab sided vehicle with a roofbox on top, but it coped with it admirably.

The wind added some excitement to the drive, but never to the extent of being worried about being blown over or even veering out of lane, just wobbly and needing constant steering input to keep things going straight.

Was impressed by the amount of luggage the Jimny could swallow. One seat down and it took a 120l roller, 80l duffle, big bag of toys, coats, couple of rucksacks and we even managed to squeeze 3 bags of shopping in towards the end of the journey, still leaving space for my son.

The roofbox took the light & bulky stuff and didn't seem to add much wind noise, well, not that we could hear over the howl of the gusts anyway!

I stuck it in cruise at 60mph and it doddled along quite happily on the motorways, with the autobox only kicking down and getting shouty a couple of times despite the heavy load.

Economy wasn't great, averaging about 36mpg and you really notice the small fuel tank on longer journeys, needing tactical refuels at about 230 miles to avoid running out in the sticks.

Was really pleased I'd decided to take the Jimny when we reached our destination, lots of very narrow single track lanes and an unfinished track to reach the cottage, perfect Jimny country!

Racked up about 1300 miles in the last week, 500 getting to and from Wales and the rest driving into and around Snowdonia each day. Car didn't miss a beat, as expected. Really seemed to like the roads in Wales and despite it being very wet at times, zero problems with grip around corners/roundabouts with the Yokohamas.

Removed the roofbox at our holiday cottage, but found that the Thule squarebars seemed to howl at about 40mph without the box in place, so took the lot off while we were there. Fuel consumption improved to about 38mpg without anything on the roof, no luggage in the car and on the twisty roads.

When I got back I decided to swap my Thule bars for some Yakima Flushbars. Lower profile, lighter, easier to adjust, no noticeable noise at any speed and to my mind, they look nicer too. Really pleased with them, shame they're so expensive! 115cm Flushbars (YKS9B) and Smartfoot fitting kit (YKK324) bought from roofbox.co.uk

My old Grand Cherokee came with sliding roof rails from the factory. They used to howl and whistle terribly, too. However, they were silent if you slid them both all the way back. Don't know how much of a faff that would have been with yours, but it might be enough to keep them quiet without having to leave them behind or have them rattling about inside.

Moot now obviously you've changed to lower profile ones (they look quite neat), but might help somebody.

Hay Gadget, nice updates, thanks.

I was wondering if youve had any more thoughts on the CB install?

I fancy popping my midlands CB into the cabin and running it off a "magic pro" module. I was interested to find out what aerial ideas you might have, as in welding an attachement plate on or around the spare wheel plates, and having a decent aerial hooked up etc etc.

Cheers buddy!

Hi Andy, I've not made any progress on the CB front yet. Have been saving my pennies waiting for the Jimnybits rocksliders, so haven't bought a CB set, although it's the Midland M5 I plan to get, with all the controls and display on the mic.

I'm still thinking of a bracket using the spare wheel mount for the aerial, although that would mean me drilling a hole in the back door to run the coax through!

Gadget wrote:

Hi Andy, I've not made any progress on the CB front yet. Have been saving my pennies waiting for the Jimnybits rocksliders, so haven't bought a CB set, although it's the Midland M5 I plan to get, with all the controls and display on the mic.

I'm still thinking of a bracket using the spare wheel mount for the aerial, although that would mean me drilling a hole in the back door to run the coax through!

Hi mate,

Have to say you really do live up to your name gadget! That midland M5 is a wicked piece if kit. I had no idea these tiny little CB's were availavle. Gonna be much more easy to position in cabin and sooo much more discreet!

Yeah..... the hole in the rear door is rather terrifiying, but at least it'll be behind the spare wheel and truly hidden. Still a little unerving though hay!

Hope to get this project going soon. Cheers for the update.

I know someone mentioned removing a bolt from the spare wheel bracket, my idea would be to see if it is possible to drill out the centre of the bolt and feed the coax through then fit the connector. That way you would have the bolt heat to apply some heat shrink to and no fretting bracket to rub your paint away. Just a thought off top of my head.

Soeley wrote:

I know someone mentioned removing a bolt from the spare wheel bracket, my idea would be to see if it is possible to drill out the centre of the bolt and feed the coax through then fit the connector. That way you would have the bolt heat to apply some heat shrink to and no fretting bracket to rub your paint away. Just a thought off top of my head.

I think I saw the same comment on Facebook but hadn't considered it seriously before now, but that might be a really clever way to do it.

Looking at this photo from one of GeorgeC's posts (where did he go?) there are four 10mm bolts holding the spare wheel mount to the rear door. Not sure if the retaining holes open into the rear door space or are closed off? Will need to pull the door trim off again to check.



Co-ax is what 5-6mm? So in theory there would be enough room to run the cable through a center-drilled bolt to give a very neat and easily waterproofed entry point.

You could also squeeze some sealant into the bolt hole to seal the coax in as well.