Up North Technologies Destination Series Cargo Rack Review

Up North Technologies rack 2
Up North Technologies makes a wide variety of quality, on-board snowmobile storage racks.

New Ski-Doos are pretty short on storage space, and the long-track MX Z Renegade X demo we ran last winter didn’t have any, so we installed an Up North Technologies (UNT) Destination Series Cargo Rack, hoping it would make it easy to strap on a pack or gas can.

These racks are designed exclusively for use on Ski-Doo REV-XP models. Materials, fasteners and construction of the $239 UNT rack (for 137-inch sleds) are top notch, but its usability – in stock form – proved to be less so. We found it difficult to strap a gas can to the UNT rack because there isn’t a good place to hook a tie-down other than the crossbars or the narrow channel along each side. The gap between the crossbars and the sled’s tunnel/heat exchanger is too small so you can’t pass the straps between there either.

The channel where we hooked our bungee straps is designed to hold aluminum anchor bolts that come standard with some Ski-Doo accessory bags and gas can caddies, but they aren’t included with UNT’s kit. Considering the rack’s premium retail price, it should include hooks that can be mounted and adjustable in these channels.

Installation of the rack is easy, as the thorough instructions take 37 steps to explain that, basically, all you have to do is carefully position the accessory, drill four holes in the tunnel and bolt the rack in place. Several steps featured details to install the anchor links that we didn’t have. All of the stainless steel hardware and aluminum mounting plates were individually labeled and packaged. That’s a nice touch but it likely adds a few bucks to the price (somebody has to pay for those zippered plastic bags!).

To take full advantage of the Destination Series rack, you can buy a gas can caddy kit from Ski-Doo (part no. 860 200 281; $94.99) and the Gas Caddy Accessory Hardware Kit from UNT ($79). This way you can attach a caddy while still having room to fasten luggage to the rack.

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