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I’ve had this vision for my Can-Am X3 Max since we bought it two years ago. It’s a dream of taking this machine on all the adventures that most people use full-size rigs for. But while overweight overland rigs have to plod along slowly and Ford Raptor-type vehicles can’t fit into tight spaces, my UTV would be able to run circles around everything. My latest upgrade got me a lot closer.
I want it to be the ultimate overlander, a go-fast, go-anywhere machine allowed on public roads and off-road trails. And the Can-Am almost is, as Utah is a lawless, extremely fun, cool place that allows such public road tom-foolery. Please, don’t come here.
But for a long time, I haven’t been able to turn that dream into a reality due to one simple reason: Can-Am’s accessory roof rack—while excellent at storing cargo and such—wasn’t built to handle a rooftop tent. Though I can safely say that it’ll hold myself without issue while looking for turkeys this spring, which is well beyond the quoted 75-pound capacity, I hesitate to put something as statically and dynamically heavy as a rooftop tent, along with my wife and kids atop it.
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But, dear readers, after months of searching, forum deep-dives, and reaching out to folks, I’ve finally found a rack that can help me make my dreams come true. Say “hello” to Prinsu’s X3 Max rack.
Prinsu’s roof rack is designed specifically for my Can-Am X3 Max and bolts directly up to the pre-existing roof rack holes, and is also compatible with my sport roof, so I don’t even have to remove any capability. There’s also a lightbar cutout available, which I got that’s designed to make wiring up accessory lighting a breeze. It’s designed for a lightbar, and the Lightforce LED pods didn’t come with a bracket, so I drilled two small holes in the plate they went in just as well.
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Yet, the party pieces are the high-strength aluminum cross-bars that allow up to 300 pounds of dynamic weight, and 600 pounds of static weight. More than enough for a rooftop tent. Weee!
Installation took a second, as though it’s literally designed to bolt up directly to the Can-Am’s pre-existing roof rack holes, the middle bolts gave me some stress. What happened was the rear passenger-side bolt hole in the roof wasn’t far enough forward, so the drill came out for some light fine-tuning of the molded plastic roof, which is what Prinsu tells you to do in the video directions if you encounter such issues. I should’ve just listened to them earlier.
That said, I swapped out the front and rear bolts that came with the Prinsu for Can-Am’s hardware. Though I’m sure they would’ve been fine, Can-Am’s bolts are of a better grade and I felt more comfortable using them. The middle bolts are from Prinsu, though, as Can-Am’s aren’t long enough.
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It should’ve been a two-person job, as lifting the rack onto the Can-Am was a dead-lift. But my wife had taken my daughter to dance, so I did it myself. (Insert Macho Man Randy Savage “Oh yeah” here). I’d suggest phoning a friend or, you know, just waiting.
I do also want to shout out that this rack feels like it can handle a rooftop tent. So many other racks I’ve touched or used on more normal cars or trucks feel flimsy. I’m always afraid I’m going to bend them if I get into the tent like I would my bed: aggressively. Not so here.
Now, here’s where I say as far as I know, I’m the first one to actually install a rooftop tent onto a Prinsu rack attached to a Can-Am X3 Max. Others have installed rooftop tents to their side-by-sides, including Polaris making a fully-fledged model not too long ago. But I’m in uncharted territory, though many have written in forums about it.
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And as you can see, the rooftop tent from Roofnest has arrived and it’s already installed! I’ll have my initial impressions of that in a bit, but I will note that I’ve come to find out there is Quick-Release hardware for rooftop tents and…they would’ve come in handy.
I am still planning on doing a host of adjustments to the Can-Am, including playing with the ride height, the spring rates, and generally seeing how the thing drives to ensure I don’t list like a battleship or immediately topple over. I did some prior testing with a very heavy Pelican case on top of the Prinsu rack and everything seemed solid, but I still have some work to do. Yet, the Prinsu rack helps me finally move forward with this overlanding side-by-side build.
From there, camping and it turning into a mobile hunting lodge are must-dos. I found a great camp spot overlooking a reservoir I can’t wait to take the kids to, and elk hunting in the backcountry is going to be awesome now that I don’t have to sleep on the ground and worry about bears.
Stay tuned.