Updating my gear storage for the Outback

[DaveM]

Here's a little sample of what it takes to pack an Outback for a weekend backcountry trip with a family of four, and a boat. This car has forced me to become much more efficient with storage options. I've switched out our normal Scpeter 10L water can for an 8L Hydrpak bladder. I've done away with my "bed box" and split my camp essentials between two container. The Wolfpack with high top holds the larger camp items including Cook Partner fuel hose, 2 1lbs propane tanks, GSI pot and frying pan set, larger cooking utensils, water filter, hammock, foil, sm kettle, coffee press, larger lantern... Then smaller items like plates & bowls, sm utensils, lighters, spare para cord, s clips, duct tape, knives sharpeners, collapsable lantern etc. are in the small Rigid box which I call my "picnic kit". It includes most of what I'd want on day trips or road trips without camping. The larger Rigid case is our bulky food items bin. The two yellow top Home Depot bins store extra food and bulky personal items like shoes and jackets. The orange Hardig container is my always on tool and recovery bin. It has an MV-50 air compressor w hose, small assortment of basic tools, a couple shackles, about 12' of poly winch line with eye loop ends, gloves, sm tarp, extra straps etc. Molle panels on seat backs for sm pouches to hold mostly kid crap. And a sm family first aid kit. And on the floor... our Tonka trucks of course! And finally the canoe, which is holding out Oz tent Rv3, side wall, sleeping bags, and bot gear. There's also a 30ish quart Doemtic fridge with the Yeti 400 plus a 100w solar panel, a cook partner 2 burner stove and two Front runner collapsible camp chairs crammed in there.

I'm honestly shocked I got all this to fit. The Subaru is way smaller than my Tacoma with shell, but it seems to work ok.

 

[DaveM]

Have returned from Juniper Lake, Lassen NP. I can say that my efforts to move from a larger vehicle into a smaller one have been mostly successful. For this trip, bringing the boat meant a little more gear plus the tent had to sit in the boat since the boat took up most of the rack. This is probably not going to work for anything but local trips in the future. The combined weight of the boat (80#) and the tent (60#) plus a few sleeping bags and other gear was probably more than the rack cant take long term. The rack itself is very strong, but the feet flexed too much for my liking.

 

[Bill_P]

Nice canoe Dave- did you build it yourself?. I use a Rhino T loader tow ball strut to help support the weight at the end of my boat. Makes it easier to get on and off too.

 

[DaveM]

Nice canoe Dave- did you build it yourself?. I use a Rhino T loader tow ball strut to help support the weight at the end of my boat. Makes it easier to get on and off too.

Thanks. Yeah, I built the canoe over 15 years ago maybe. Have built a few other wooden boats since and am building a 17' Simmons Sea Skiff now.

I used to have a home made T bar thing in the hitch of my Taco years ago for this boat. On the current Slimline rack I have a small roller just at the edge of the rack that helps get the boat or the Oz tent on or off. It's fine with just the canoe on the rack, but putting the Oz tent IN the canoe was the killer. What I really need is a small camp gear hauler for all of this stuff.