blazing928

our friends with a 07 find that the hatch is a tight fit for 4 skis and hard to repack the bag.

one thing we like about the newer model is the 40-20-40 seat split, so the centre section has more veetical space, however i prefer the top box, wet skis & boots go straight in, keeps car clean.

mtnrat

I will only be using this for one or two pairs, once or twice a week, and the trip to and from the mountain is 4 min. I don't transport my own stuff except at the start and end of the season and I am usually by myself unless I give a ski/board bum a ride into town (5 min). so I think this will work for me. If I go on a road trip with 3 or 4 I do have an old thule box.

I have the part coming and will report on the retrofit. Thanks for the lead Cole.

mtnrat

I received the seat back with the ski bag. Now to figure out how to take it apart. I could just switch seat backs, but mine is in perfect shape.

mtnrat

YES it can be done. I had the seat back sitting in my living room and just looking at it and prodding and prying. Turns out the ski bag is easy to remove. The plastic side piece between the two seats comes off, then in the armrest hole the trim around the ski bag comes off starting at the top. Then there is 4 tabs that need to be pushed on the sides of the bag housing itself and it pops right out. Now on the existing seat w/o the bag remove the same side piece and the plastic plate in the back of the armrest hole. Now comes the leap of faith. I saw the part that was in place in leu of the ski bag. Looks like it would pop out easily, but wow the carpet was glued on and I could not feel the seam as it was filled with glue. Out came the drill and I drilled a 1/2" hole in each corner and used a hack saw blade to cut out the plate.

mtnrat

Now for the fun part. I used a very sharp chisel to separate the carpet from the frame of the ski bag hole cover. Note that the chisel is oriented so that it will want to dig into the plastic. If you have it the other way you will put a hole in the carpet. Carefully chisel the carpet from the plastic. You can see the frame plastic that has been chiseled from the carpet in pic 2. Some of the plastic stayed stuck to the carpet and I used a very sharp knife to slowly separate the last bits of plastic. All the plastic needs to be removed so the ski bag clicks into place. Cut excess carpet back, & put it together.

mtnrat

Ski bag clicked in and trim installed. Now just need to clean everything up.