(Hoarders) How do you store your kit!?

[Emdiesse]

In light of the kit hoarders not-quite-so-anonymous thread

I beg to ask the question that played on my mind a little while ago HOW DO YOU STORE YOUR KIT!!!?

In the beginning I started by chucking all of my kit into 1 'Truly Helpful Container', then 2...

Then I got fed up unpacking and repacking my bag all the time so I started to instead store my bag fully loaded and ready to go... and keeping the other non-essential bits of kit in a box that I can grab if I so wish (i.e. I don't carry a fire piston all the time... but I fancy a go now and then!)

However, then I always found myself taking bits out of the bag and seldom putting them back or wanting to add different bits and bobs depending on the activities I planned so I found I still had to unpack and repack to make sure anyway!!!

Now I have more kit and I practically bought double of everything because I like to drag my girlfriend along to trips and also then I fancied 'traditional' kit with no synthetics which I prefer around fire!

So now, because I prefer to pack for a trip rather than rely on everything being in it's place I am back to 'Truly Helpful Containers'.... but 5 and leaving a daypack packed for the spur of the moment trips where all I really feel I need is a knife, steel, waterbottle, mug and some dry tinder!

1. A box for clothing (wet, cold, warm, it's all in here)
2. A box for shelter and sleep kit (something to sleep on, in, under)
3. A box for kitchen & bathroom kit (water bottles, billy cans, kitchen sinks, wash kit, towel, etc)
4. A box for essentials (cutting tools, fire tools, cordage, compass, headtorch, whistle, etc)
5. A box for possibles (Thing I feel I don't NEED but make life comfortable!)

So for me it's all in boxes, but i'm keen on hearing other methods employed...

 

[John Fenna]

In boxes under my workroom surfaces, under the bed, in the wardrobe, in kitchen drawers, on display in the living room, in the garage, left in the woods ... everywhere is storage to the truly inventive!

 

[Shewie]

I have old wardrobe shelving and baskets up in the loft with all my kit in. I keep my sleeping bags and quilts in large storage bags under a spare bed. Clothes are in two double wardrobes in a spare bedroom

The bat cave is littered with half finished projects

 

[Clouston98]

1. A box for clothing (wet, cold, warm, it's all in here)
2. A box for shelter and sleep kit (something to sleep on, in, under)
3. A box for kitchen & bathroom kit (water bottles, billy cans, kitchen sinks, wash kit, towel, etc)
4. A box for essentials (cutting tools, fire tools, cordage, compass, headtorch, whistle, etc)
5. A box for possibles (Thing I feel I don't NEED but make life comfortable!)

So for me it's all in boxes, but i'm keen on hearing other methods employed...

I am going to have to do that! For me it's under the bed in 100 litre dry bags!

 

[bigbear]

We have a small bedroom, more of a box room, you can guess what's in there, walking, climbing, caving, surfing, bushcraft kit. It's full. And I keep getting more stuff, that's normal, right ?

 

[Emdiesse]

I have old wardrobe shelving and baskets up in the loft with all my kit in. I keep my sleeping bags and quilts in large storage bags under a spare bed. Clothes are in two double wardrobes in a spare bedroom

The bat cave is littered with half finished projects

In boxes under my workroom surfaces, under the bed, in the wardrobe, in kitchen drawers, on display in the living room, in the garage, left in the woods ... everywhere is storage to the truly inventive!

Haha, cracking!

I need a house, as much as I am trying to take over all the rooms in my parents house they fight back as does my sibling!

 

[Goatboy]

Because my good lady lives in Singapore and I'm sad and lonely I have a whole house to spread kit around But it is in drawers, boxes, bags. Even the car is always packed with what needs to be there. And a bag or two that can be picked up for adventures all the time ready to go.

 

[Teepee]

I use a few of those 3 drawer plastic storage towers for the smaller items. Organized into maps, stoves, smaller pots, sharps, hats, socks, gloves, bottles/bladders, micellaneous, firelighting, cordage, hammock suspension, guys and stakes, hammocks, tarps, bivi bags, food, specialist snow and ice bits and fuel.

My base layers are kept in the bigger plastic stacking boxes. Outerwear, mats and sleeping bags/quilts are hung in the wardrobes.


I can't see the sense in keeping a bag packed where I live either, I always take different stuff and my sleeping bags and quilts get packed at the bottom of the pack at the last minute to keep them from losing loft.

 

[Hypnagog]

For a while mine lived in a cluttered mess on the shelves of my utility room, needless to say whenever I wanted something it was at the bottom of the pile and everything fell off!

Now, like you, mine lives in plastic storage boxes with split lids:

• Fire - tinders, lighters, strikers, gas for the Jetboil and some ethanol gel that I was experimenting with etc...
• Shelter - Bivy bag, tarps, basha, pegs etc
• Water - filter, puritabs, milbank bag etc
• Cookware and bottles
• Sharps
• Hygiene / First Aid
• Stoves

I like packing and re-packing and thinking about what I'll need for my next trip, so my bag is pretty much packed ready, although today the tent and the tarp were going in and out like they were doing the Hokey Kokey together.

 

[sandbender]

Mostly in 120 litre North Face Base Camp duffles. There was a colour coding system once but there is now too much gear and not enough colours available from North Face.

 

[widu13]

Mine's in the loft stored in a PLCE Bergan with pockets, an Engineers handbag with pockets, a Sabre 75 + pockets, a Sabre 45, with tents and sleeping mats loose, sleeping bags are packed in the bags uncompressed. Stoves (30+ now ) are in the shed. Finding ANYTHING is a real PITA. But, no spare room in the shed and no spare rooms in the house. Meh.

 

[rik_uk3]

My kit/stoves/lanterns are in a lock up garage a few miles away. My basic kit is at home and the family glamping kit is in the loft at my daughters house.

 

[santaman2000]

My guns are fairly well organized; two hanging on the living room wall, two more hanging over the inside closet door, one under the truck seat, one in the drawer of the bedside stand, three on a gunrack in the master bedroom, and the rest in the master closet) Pretty much everything else is scattered willy-nilly.

 

[rik_uk3]

You don't see the need to keep your firearms secure then? You'd not retain ownership of them in the UK for long if you didn't.

 

[mountainm]

You don't see the need to keep your firearms secure then? You'd not retain ownership of them in the UK for long if you didn't.

I thought the same too.

 

[santaman2000]

They are secure. The house is locked unless I or a family member is in it and so is the truck. They'd not be much use if I had to unlock a safe while an intruder bursts in now would they? On my recent flight to St. Louis one pistol and spare magazine was locked in my checked luggage; in that instance it was a hard sided suitcase.

And as I understand it, you're not allowed to carry over there either.

 

[rik_uk3]

Thats not secure at all, in fact IMHO its negligent but we know Americans hold different views. Thankfully you'd not get away with it in the UK where regulations are tighter.

 

[andybysea]

Mine is kept in a brick outbuilding, heavy paddlocked and all kit inside is stored from floor to ceiling in plastic storage boxes.

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Well i guess that the right to bear arms sort of negates the need to lock them up like we do here. I take Santamans point that if an intruder who is very likely armed comes into the house then having a gun to hand would be beneficial.

I would hope they are locked up where minors are present though

oh yea the topic

my gear is everywhere. garage, wardrobes, under bed hold the big bulky stuff and smaller things are in two dressers in the lounge to keep it out of sight

 

[tombear]

Clothing is hung in a wardrobe since its the same stuff I wear everyday ditto boots. Hats, gloves, gaiters and sharps all have drawers in my bedroom, tents and unrolled sleeping mats live on top of wardrobes, rucksacks on a special large shelf in the wardrobe in the hall and the rest in AR neatly labelled drawers in the weaving shed/ workshop. I picked up a bunch of brass card holders at a carboot and have screwed them in place and herself printed off the labels. Unfortunately I use the drawers as back drops for the photos I post so folk get to see the looney contents listings...

Sleeping bags, of which there are legion, are loosely folded in giant dry bags I picked up, currently hidden behind the kids wargames table in the shed. When I'm solvent I want a big wardrobe up there to take them along with some 1950s uniforms I collect.

Oh large stuff like the Aussie bush ovens, giant thermettle, comedy frying pan etc are cased and stacked next to the kitchen area in the shed with the smaller pans on a shelf to one side where they can dry after scrubbing.

ATB

Tom