How Do You Secure Your Gear?

[ssc]

I have always secured the big stuff in the back with tiedowns, bungee cords or dividers. But I always have an important gear bag or two that I leave on the seat. I tried using bungee cords and the seatbelt etc. It never quite worked right. Once, while wheeling in Big Bear, my camera bag got loose and fell, opened and $4,000 worth of lenses hit the floor. This along with the wife complaining her purse would fall over when hitting the brakes and my son in law wanting something to keep his emergency bag secure in the police car gave rise to a product. I call it a deployment bag harness and have been using it in all my rigs. No more camera bags falling or emergency first aid bags hitting the deck. My boy runs code and his bag stays on the seat, no matter what. So, I am curious what everyone uses to secure important bags if anything and to get feedback on our bag harness. It can be seen on our website www.trolgar.com

Hence, we are doing some feasibility studies and feedback is appreciated.

Regards, Steve

[Chazz Layne]

With a 12-gauge.



Oh...

Ever since performing an unplanned highway-speed rollover crash test, and experiencing first hand just what can and will fly everywhere, I've been kind of a nut for keeping all unnecessary clutter to a minimum and all bags strapped securely in place. This usually means there is nothing but a beverage and a small camera on the loose in my truck.

I'm guessing the clasps actually latch into place so they can't come off on their own? Something like that would have been pretty handy to toss in a notebook bag when I was still traveling for business (and stuck with rental cars). The only thing I think I'd be concerned about is how far over the bag could reach in a rollover (could it strike me in the head from over there?). Another thought would be to do a strap and SRB-based attachment method for the seat/anchor end, which would allow it to secure in vehicles that don't have thin-bar-mounted head rests (such as a Discovery). That sort of mounting method would also be easy for the end user to modify post-purchase if they needed to increase the length for different applications like seats with no holes anywhere, or sideways on bench seats (hey, you could even sell extensions or different interchangeable mounts as an accessory).


My wife has the same complaints about her purse as well.

[OLLIE]

I've created something like that out of an old "Latch" system from an old car seat. Tying it into those systems in case you don't want to use the head rest is an option too.

[ssc]

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like we will call it the Bag Buddy. Chazz, if we ever travel together, I will drive. Sounds like you were a stuntman in your past life. How did you roll your rig?

Regards, Steve

[Chazz Layne]

I love the name.



No great wheeling story behind that roll, though it was pretty spectacular. I made the mistake of taking my eyes off the road just before exiting a freeway, and wound up taking the twisty off-ramp at highway speeds... part of it anyways. About half way down I couldn't quite make the turn and hit the 45-degree concrete embankment at 70mph. A 5-rotation barrel roll and a dead vehicle later I now know exactly what the body of a Discovery can handle (we hit ground again right above my head on the driver's side front roof corner). I went out and bought another one as soon as I was able.

Lessons learned:

- do NOT drink and drive (and don't trust the bartender, you never really know how strong that mixed drink is)

- do NOT allow distractions (kick friends out if they won't behave)

- Discoverys are NOT sports cars