scuba gear and my trunk

[matva]

hey guys,

last weekend when i was on a dive i saw a guy had his stuff stored in a plastic storage container (the larger ones that you put in your garage). it fit perfectly under the bench and he had his stuff neatly organized within. the advantage of this is you don't get your trunk soaked on the way back. I like this idea but i want to make sure i get the right size container. What do you guys think the height of the bench is? Surely there is a more or less standard size.

another thing is tanks. how do you all keep your tanks from rolling around in the trunk? i was thinking of doing a towel arrangement or something. whatever it is, it needs to be DIY/cheap.. i dont want to have to buy something.

thanks!

 

[Lukiedukie]

I have a couple of rubbermaid bins that fit in my car for hauling my gear. One goes in the trunk the other goes on the back seat. These are the cheap one that are meant to store clothes in. They work gear to catch water but I would recomend carrying them loaded. The cheapest way I have found to secure tanks is put them in the footwell between the front and back seats. I can haul four tanks and not have to work about them moving around 2 on each side of my Taruas. Also you might want to look into some bungee cords if you want to hold the tanks still in the trunk. A soft rubber floor mat under the tanks will help keep the tanks tamed

 

[ZzzKing]

I block my tank against the wheel well with soft weights wedged under it. Works really well and I need the weights anyway so no extra purchase, no extra gear to carry.

 

[do it easy]

I made some tank cozies from 2' PVC pipe and some string to hold them all together. I cut the PVC pipe into 1' sections and drilled holes at both ends to feed the line through. I put a few knots in the line to set the distance between two pieces of PVC. The last step, is to glue some of that anti-skid drawer mat to the pipe to keep everything from sliding.

 

[boulderjohn]

I use the rubbermaid bins in the trunk of my car, but I do not carry them on the boat--it's a huge waste of space. Use a net bag to carry your equipment on the boat. When you get off the boat, toss the net bag full of wet gear in the rubbermaid containers in your trunk.

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

I use a hinged hard top bin. Throw it in the Zodiac and it even makes a good seat

 

[matva]

i have an akona wheel dive bag. now _that_ is a waste of space. lol, they make me store it down below sometimes because it is so dam big. actually, the bin used very little space. Its height allowed it to exploit the full usable area it takes up. i was hoping someone could give me an actual measurement or something so i know what to get.

 

[Matteo]

i do the same w/ the rubbermaid containers....use my regular gear bag on the boat and when I get ready to leave, chunk it in the bin and keep everything else dry.....as for tank storage, you can do the PVC thing as stated above, the soft weights trick...also, if you've got a couple of "pool noodles" layin around you can rig them similar to the PVC idea....check out the DIY forum on here; sure you can get some more ideas there

 

[Matteo]

i have an akona wheel dive bag. now _that_ is a waste of space. lol, they make me store it down below sometimes because it is so dam big. actually, the bin used very little space. Its height allowed it to exploit the full usable area it takes up. i was hoping someone could give me an actual measurement or something so i know what to get.

the next time you go out, just measure the space available on the boat and go shopping from there, but personally I think you'll get tired of the strain on your back from lugging that bin around when you can just sling a regular mesh bag or such over your shoulder

 

[Lukiedukie]

i have an akona wheel dive bag. now _that_ is a waste of space. lol, they make me store it down below sometimes because it is so dam big. actually, the bin used very little space. Its height allowed it to exploit the full usable area it takes up. i was hoping someone could give me an actual measurement or something so i know what to get.

Measure the size of you trunk and figure out from there what you can or can not fit. It will do you no good on the dive trip if it si to big to fit in your trunk and you have to leave it at home. I would go for the biggest size that will easily fit in you trunk. (with out having to take the trunk lid off)