When it’s time to head out for a weekend on the trails, there’s a lot of stuff required. Sleeping stuff, camping stuff, get you out of that rut in the middle of the trail stuff. So how can you possibly carry all of that stuff? It’s not that hard, but it does take some strategy and the right equipment. We’ll show you our favorites below!
Gear Pods
Leitner Designs offers Gear Pods, an innovative modular storage system designed for adding sealed storage to pick up trucks. The coolest part about them isn’t the way that they mount in your truck (although the bracket system offers endless options for storing anything you could want on the trail)– the pods also come off the mounts for super simple loading and packing.
The Gear Pods come in a range of sizes, so you can mix and match them to get exactly what you need for all your gear. The unique side mounting system leaves you with plenty of room in the bed of your truck for things you don’t need to be under lock and key while you’re out adventuring (or for that cooler of beer you’ll be craving by the time you hit camp after a long day of wheeling).
Roll Bar Bags
If you’re not traversing through the trails in a pickup, the Gear Pods might not be exactly what you’re looking for when it comes to gear storage. For those of you that are wheeling in Jeeps, the Rightline Gear team has a great way to add storage to your rig without using up the precious cargo and passenger space that you’ve got.
Check out the Rightline Gear Roll Bar Storage Bags. They fit perfectly into the otherwise wasted space around your roll bars, and designed to take whatever weather (or puddles…or rivers…) you might throw at them. These camping storage bags are made of durable PVC reinforced mesh, and thanks to the welded seams and waterproofed zippers, they’re nearly waterproof. For now, we’ll call them weatherproof, and leave the hardcore testing up to you on that one.
Fluids Storage (Recommendations for Off Road Adventure Safety)
When you’re spending a significant amount of time on the trail, things are bound to go wrong from time to time – it’s why you carry a toolbox everywhere you go.
But what about on a winter trip when you blow a radiator hose, and filling up with water just isn’t an option that can keep you on the trail? You probably do carry some extra fluids with you, like oil and antifreeze, but if you’re like most of us out there, it’s also probably bouncing around in a bedbox, or in a crate wedged in your backseat area (who needs friends in their truck anyway?).
If that sounds like you, let’s go ahead and stop doing that. Get yourself some dedicated fluid storage for things like oil, antifreeze, and (god forbid it ever spill in your truck) gear oil.
Artec Industries offers a solution that will keep everything you need secure, so you never have to worry about cracked lids and oily mess, or even worse, losing bottles as you’re going down the trails. The Artec Industries Racing Quart Crate will keep your bottles locked down and secure, without adding much weight at all to your setup. Invest now, make sure you’ve the back up you could need in a pinch, and save yourself a long potential tow truck ride home later.
ARB Roller Drawers
If you’ve got a Jeep JL, and Roll Bar Bags just aren’t enough storage for your weekend trip on the trails, consider the Outback Solution Modular Roller Drawer System from ARB. It offers all the storage your Jeep was missing, with the added benefit of keeping it under lock and key. If you’re not a Jeep guy, they’ve got plenty of roller drawer options.
Most are compatible with the popular fridge/freezers that we sell, too. Once you’ve got the roller drawers installed, you don’t have worry about removing them — they are quiet enough to drive around with every day, thanks to the anti-rattle system.
Side floor kits are available that allow the drawers to look built in, and offer extra storage, and between the roller floors and the roller drawer options, you’ll be able to get all the storage you need for whatever you hit the trails with.
Roof Top Cargo Bag
If you got an SUV, and more friends without their own rigs than you know what to do with, you’ll definitely be reaching for some extra storage. When all the newest most innovative storage options just won’t work, go for the old standby – rooftop storage. Like their roll bar bags, the Rightline Gear Sport 3 Rooftop cargo bags are weatherproof and durable enough for both on and off road use. For those of you who plan to roadtrip to your destination, they have been engineered for maximum aerodynamics. Unlike other roof top cargo bags, these are built tough. The Rightline Gear Sport 3 Car Top carrier is made of PVC coated mesh, and the whole thing is treated with Hydrotuff, making the cartop gear bag completely waterproof.
