Outdoor Adventure USA

The net this week will cover the many options for storing gear in your vehicle for camping, hunting, exploring, expedition and just weekend type trips. Rough roads, dusty conditions, wet weather, and rough camping conditions can all take their toll on your gear. Protecting it and keeping it as clean, organized, accessible, and safe as possible will be the main points of our discussion.

We know our views when it comes to storage ideas and we want to hear yours as well. So, post your thoughts and pictures here on how you store gear in your vehicle.

Got a new vehicle - or new to you? After you put the lift on, bigger tires and rock sliders, you still have a major task ahead of you. How do you get all that stuff you want to take in the vehicle? Sure you can just make a big pile. The trick is how to organize it so it can be retrieved quickly (read that – move as little other stuff out of the way to put your hands on the item you want). And how can you store it safely and securely. Hit a big rock or flop your vehicle on the side, you want most (actually all!) of you gear to stay put.

Here is a link to a more complete article I published with my thoughts on storage solutions. below are excerpts.
http://www.4x4training.com/Articles/Equ ... tions.html

Shelf
A shelf to divide the usable space in half is one of my first solutions. Want a simple, quick and temporary solution? Place two 2x10 (or 2x8, 2x12) boards the full length of the space (tail gate to the back of the seats) and cover it with a sheet of plywood. Find a way to attach the 2x10 to the floor and glue carpet on the plywood.

Be sure and tell yourself that this is only a temporary solution. But as a RULE: Temporary solutions tend to stick around for 5 years or more.

An unbelievable number of small bags containing heavy items can be stored under the height provided by a 2x10. This is the ideal place for tools, recovery gear, winch kit, spare parts, spare fluids, and 16 oz. propane bottles. Organize so you can retrieve your stuff easily and quickly. For example, pack the most commonly used items within reach. Lesser used items can be buried toward the back of the shelf.
Typically most of the gear you put here will always stay in the vehicle.
Tie down your camping gear and other boxes on top of the shelf and you are good to go.

With a bit of thought, your shelf might even work to sleep inside the truck. Provided you don’t mind leaving a pile of gear outside at night for the bears.

Longer term, there are many manufacturers that offer products for purchase that are an improvement over this basic concept. The shelf will fit better, be lighter, and have trap doors or other unique ways to make use of space. They might even have built in drawers and sections that fold up and out of the way. I will leave the details to others on the net tonight.

Camp Box
A fully functioning kitchen is a must. Without one, the trip could be a bust, regardless of the scenery and the climate.

The foundation of your kitchen is a camp box. Sometimes called a chuck box, the camp box contains many of the tools and non-perishable food items you’ll need. Compact and rugged, it fits neatly into your vehicle and withstands the rigors of off-road driving. When opened up, it offers just about everything you need to get started on your next meal. A camp box turns an ordinary vehicle in to a meals on wheels.

I purchased mine, but you can build your own. A quick internet search brings up links to numerous Web sites offering plans, including this one which offers a workbook for sale. http://www.blueskykitchen.com/Grubby_One.html

Many folks use Pelican™ cases for camp boxes. Check out their large selection at http://www.pelican.com. Someone else tonight will extoll their virtues more!

Regardless of whether you build or buy, make sure your box offers a sturdy flat work surface. On some models you can use the top. Others have a pull out shelf. Still others allow you to flip the box on its side and use the door as a work surface.

Keep in mind that your camp box isn’t just for camping. If you’re every forced to evacuate, your camp box will become a very important survival tool.

What’s in a camp box?

A camp box is as unique as its user. Still, certain essentials are found in nearly all. Those include pots and pans, plates and silverware, cups or glasses, large knives and spoons, matches or a lighter, and even a corkscrew. Add in some non-perishable food items such as coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cooking oil, flour, salt and pepper. Make sure they’re in small packages or containers. Use a separate box for larger quantities.
Over time, you will find the right combination for your needs.

No need to get fancy with the dishes. In fact, many people use hand-me-downs or goodies they found at garage sales. You’re going off-road, for crying out loud. Do you really want to pack your best stuff?

How many pieces of each you need depends on the size of your family and amount of space. Many people pack for a group of four. Take a few moments to calculate your needs. You can always revise that later.

Food Box
Next is a box of dry goods, condiments and related staples. These include paper towels or napkins, tin foil, cereal, and bulk quantities of various items in your camp box. Toss in a can or two of soup, tuna fish, and beef broth (if you like making soup). You may also want to include a roll of toilet paper and some handy wipes.

Storage solutions will vary from vehicle to vehicle and camper to camper. The one thing that does not vary is the need to keep things organized and protected. I've used several storage methods over the years and have settled on a few. I divide gear into 5 basic categories:

1) kitchen,
2) roof top gear
3) Maxpedition bags
4) canvas/Cordura storage bags
5) food.

While these categories don’t cover everything, they go a very long way toward the goal of keeping things organized and protected. For those items not covered, there are other ways that we manage things, but that is a subject for another net.

1. Kitchen. My kitchen gear includes everything we need when camping, including a stove, stove fuel, pots, pans, utensils, seasonings, dishwashing stuff, coffee pot, cutting board and plates. Because I usually cook for 5 or more people, I need to include enough gear to accommodate the entire group. I have tried several solutions from plastic storage bins to wooden boxes. Each had serious flaws, from weight to poor protection. The solution was storage boxes made by the Zarges company. They have 25 different sizes to fit into almost any space that you may have in your vehicle. I selected two Zarges boxes into which I have fit every kitchen item that I need. In the pictures below, you can see the great fit I was able to manage and the slide out tray that I use to access the boxes. See: http://www.zarges.com/fileadmin/user_up ... _EN_02.pdf
2. Roof Top Gear. When you're camping, especially in remote areas, it's necessary to bring more gear, such as tables, chairs, extra gas and water, etc. With few exceptions, if any, there is not enough room inside a vehicle to store everything. Thus, the roof rack. One of the trends these days that still puzzles me is the roof top tent. When one opts for a RTT, one loses all of the space normally available for storing things that shouldn’t or can't be stored inside the vehicle, like gas. So, I reserve space on the roof rack for gas, water, a chair, firewood, and ammo cans into which I store various items like vehicle fluids, parts, etc. It’s a great place to put things that can withstand rain, dust or wind.

There is one other circumstance where the space on the roof is particularly valuable, and that is when you have more than one person in the vehicle. When you have a spouse or other family member or friend along for the trip, all that space in the vehicle that used to be for storage is now for passengers and their gear. Here is when the roof rack becomes indispensable.
3. Maxpedition Bags. These bags are a great way to protect and organize things that need a little more care, like cameras, binoculars, HTs, medications, various cables, spare batteries, etc. From the Maxpedition Website (http://www.maxpedition.com/store/pc/OPE ... 113p70.htm ).
4. Canvas or Cordura Storage Bags. I use these heavy duty bags to store tools, certain emergency gear, and personal items (soap, toilet paper, and paper towels). They are built to take hard use and are fairly inexpensive. Best of all, they are easy to fit into smaller spaces in the vehicle. Dead On Bags are worth considering, (http://www.deadonstore.com/workgear/do06007.htm ). From the Dead On Website:
5. Food. The need to protect and organize food is obvious. Over the years I have settled on plastic storage bins to manage this task. One of the benefits of these bins is the variety of different sizes that are available to accommodate almost any length trip. The only extra feature that I have found to be very useful is a latching lid. In the interest of full disclosure, however, I have to admit that I have been seriously considering replacing my favorite plastic bin with a Zarges box. This is an example of a storage bin with a latching lid, made by Sterilite:

This is my attempt to organize as much as I could into a Jeep JKUR after downsizing from a much larger vehicle.
The goal was to equip the vehicle for trips up to a week for two passengers and two dogs.
Longer or more demanding trips include a small tub trailer for additional storage.

The exterior view
Storage includes:
A built in tent - sleeping platform for two.
Spare fuel (10 gallons)
Mount for high-lift and pull pal
5 gallons of water in bumper (works great for camp washing) The interior rear view that includes:
refrigerator, stove, pantry, additional storage locker (since removed), upper storage rack and fold-down countertop. Rear quarter showing propane tank

Since many of my excursions involve ham radio gear, as well as an extensive collection of tools for field repairs, I've used several Pelican cases to make sure my equipment stays safe, secure, and dry, as well as using different color cases to help keep things organized.

Here's the link: PELICAN CASES

Please check me in to tonight's net. Thanks.

Load Plans: Something near and dear to my heart because comfort is only as far away as what you had to leave at home because you did not have room for it or you forgot it!

Load plans in a military scenario can make the difference between life and death. Example, one of my platoon's HMMWV was passing some other vehicles on a road trip through Bosnia where another civilian vehicle was doing the same only on coming. My guys were forced to turn back into their direction of travel lane quickly but the handling of a vehicle like this (heavy not sports-car like) + ramming-passing speed + 3 seats loaded with passengers and a gunner on the machinegun in the turret + road block signage = exit stage right...right off the right shoulder of the road a half spiral roll in the air coming to rest upside down like a turtle with its belly up. We should have at least killed the gunner and chopped off the heads of either the driver or the front seat passenger with the 50 pound sandwich board road block signs but we got a pass. The reason: We had all our crap tied down, much like many of your photos and we practiced roll over drills. As soon as they left the pavement they shouted "ROLL OVER, ROLL OVER, ROLL OVER" and pulled the gunner back into the HMMWV. Oh sure, there were some "beat the hell up Troopers" but they all lived to see the vehicle pulled out of the mud bog they landed in and life went on.

So folks...work out your load plans for the unexpected.

Moral of the story, "Don't try to summersault a turtle back HMMWV!" Or, tie your stuff down and at the very least, talk about contingencies and specific tasks of each individual in the vehicle. There was plenty of driver and truck commander error here but there was enough of the right stuff for everyone to walk away and live to tell about it. Lesson learned!

BATFE and Executive Branch attempt to ban M855 5.56mm ball ammunition. They tried to link it to the Law Enforcement Officer's Protection Act of 1986 where "armor piercing handgun ammunition" was clearly defined as the targeted ammunition for the ban. Moving the target to 5.56mm, rifle ammunition, was well outside the "framework" of the initial legislation and Congress asked why.

NRA article: https://www.nraila.org/articles/2015022 ... e-ammo-ban

A great example of a Congressional inquiry direct at the BATFE (read this if you fail to read everything else): https://dcpr00gbauvhc.cloudfront.net/sh ... -jones.pdf

Round one and the BATF reply: http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2015- ... ework.html

Note: The Executive Branch has shown a consistent propensity to move in the direct of least resistance. Executive Orders bypass the 2nd Amendment Right and due process for "health and welfare" issues; this continues to be a reoccurring theme. Take a walk down memory lane for just a second. 2013, after the Sandy Hook shooting the E-Branch commissioned the Center for Disease Control to research and publish a report concerning the "health aspects" of private firearm ownership. Fortunately for us the CDC did their research and leaned more in favor of private ownership and use citing the positive effects of firearm ownership as reducing the number of violent crimes against individuals. This dealt a big blow to what later became a failed attempt of the E-Branch to effectively move forward on what could have been an opportune time to level a "health and welfare" anti-gun legislation sweep. Other independent researchers found even stronger evidence that an armed citizenry can and do effectively deter violence. By the way there is a reason they chose the CDC instead of the FBI, the guardians and spinners of statistics. Why? If it is a health issue, they can and will act with Executive Order and influence. This BATFE stunt was a prime example of another shot across the bow.

RotoPAX modular gas and liquid sorage:
http://rotopax.com/

on EBay (factory seconds etc):
http://www.ebay.com/sch/rotopax/m.html? ... pg=&_from=