Plano box kitchen and inventory

[slomatt]

For the past 15 years or so I've used an Akro-Mils box with a split folding top to hold my cooking gear. It nests into the back of my 4Runner perfectly and has held up to hundreds of miles of dirt roads and dozens of trips, but I've never been completely happy with it since the lid does not seal well (lets in moisture and dust) and I have to unload everything to get my stove out.

Over the years I've replaced various pieces of kitchen gear as they wore out, but never got around to updating the box since this one worked well enough. While sheltering at home I decided it was time to come up with a new storage solution. Initially I was going to build a custom chuck box, but given that I'm "in between" trucks I don't know what final dimensions I would need. Instead I decided upon the following requirements.

• Needs to be portable (aka lightweight). Drawer kitchens are great if you want fast deployment, but for multiple reasons I don't like cooking out of the back of the truck.
• Should be reasonably weather proof. It's not going on the roof, but I want to be able to leave it out in the rain or in dusty environments.
• Inexpensive and easy to replace. Zarges boxes are awesome, but they are overkill for my use and I want something that I don't need to worry about if it gets dinged.
• Easy access to all items. Not necessary "first order retrievable", but getting to specific items should be easy and not require unpacking everything else.

Ultimately I decided to try out a Plano 1719 storage trunk since it meets the portability and cost criteria, and they can be made reasonably weatherproof by adding a bulb seal. One downside is that there is no internal organization to make it easy to get to your gear. I solved this by building a wooden tray (similar to a toolbox) for smaller items and by moving my stove out to a separate storage bag.

Pictures of the box are below.

 

[slomatt]

Inventory

Saving this space for future use.

 

[slomatt]

Here's the Akro-Mils box I started with. As you can see it was very densely packed, which meant that I had to unload a lot of loose items to get the stove out. This is a pain when camping, especially if you don't have a clean surface to set everything on.

The Plano 1719 is about the same height, a few inches longer, and a few inches narrower.

These wooden brackets support the tray.

The tray is made out of 3/8" Russian birch and held together using dado joints, glue, and pin nails. I was going to use finger joints, but they are a pain to cut in plywood and I didn't need the extra strength. In retrospect I could probably have used 1/4" Russian birch and saved a little weight, but the tray is pretty light as it is.

After assembly I finished the tray with pure shellac which is a common food-safe film finish and is water resistant.

The two handles are made of climbing webbing and the bottom is covered with food-safe shelf liner.

The center divider is held in place with screws and no glue in case I want to reposition it. And the entire bottom is covered with shelf liner to protect from damage from items rubbing against it.

The tray holds smaller items such as cutlery, measuring cups, tin foil, and cooking implements. I later added a divider on the bottom section to separate the eating utensils from the cooking utensils.

With the tray lifted out you can access the nesting pots and a wash tub which hold plates and cutting boards.

The stove is now in a Bass Pro Shops bag. The overall setup is less space efficient than the Akro-Mils box, but it is much easier to get to individual pieces of gear.

 

[UltraFlyGuy]

Dig the tray system!

 

[510Steve]

This is a great little upgrade that you can appreciate every time you cook!

 

[slomatt]

I used this new kitchen setup on a trip to the Mendocino National Forest two weeks ago and it worked great. It is much easier to access items than in my previous setup. One upgrade I want to make is to add a separator between the cutlery and the cooking utensils, I had a temporary one in place but it didn't hold up well. I've ordered a 2nd Plano Box to hold other camping gear and plan to customize it as well.

 

[slomatt]

 

[Ty Harman]

That is a really good idea and a great use of all the extra time!

 

[NathanPAnderson]

Great idea! I have two of these boxes, and two of the smaller ones. On solo trips I usually just take two of the big ones and one small one. Kitchen box, tools/gear box, and wood box. They work very well and the latches hold pretty well too.

 

[Outdoordog]

I throw my gas stove, cutting board, kitchen knife and utensils, gallon bag of cleaning stuff, another gallon bag of napkins forks spoons etc, and other cooking gear into my plano.

 

[pheenx9]

Nice, very organized!

 

[genocache]

Kool! Are those sturdy enough to sit on? I have some Rubbermaid Action Packers for a Pantry and firewood. I use smaller Plano boxes for stuff, 1 has my 3/8 socket set, others for my taps and dies, Smallest ones in my door card for my registration and insurance card. For my kitchen I have a Pelican 1600 and another for spare parts. Always hesitant of drilling holes in them to make shelves or tie down points.

 

[NathanPAnderson]

I’m 190 lbs and I sit on mine all the time. Sometime use them as a stepping stool.

 

[slomatt]

A while ago I picked up a collapsible crate that I leave in the truck. It works great for holding dry food goods when camping, but I wanted a solid surface on top to keep the food from getting crushed and to provide a flat surface to put things on, so I made a quick lid out of 3/8" baltic birch plywood leftover from the kitchen box.

 

[TrailHawkGuy]

Added a 12.5x20 Starboard HDPE to the top of my Planos - now it’s super functional- storage, cutting-board, side-table and rock solid seat.

 

[slomatt]

I've modified another Plano box to store my general camping gear. The idea is that the kitchen box is the "clean" gear and this other box is the "dirty" gear. This time I used 1/4" baltic birch, 1/16" aluminum, and 1/8" aluminum rivets. My main goal was to ditch my lantern case and have a padded section to carry it in.

For the last 10+ years I've camped with this tub. It is deep enough that I never see the items at the bottom, and it's a pain to get things out.

This tub contains a random assortment of items such as lanterns, lantern hanger, bug spray, inverter, spare batteries, candles, tarp, solar shower, super siphon, garbage bags, and our toilet kit. We never use a few of these things so they are being retired.

I've been wanting to try making joints out of aluminum and pop rivets, and it worked out great.

The rivet heads are partially sunk into the plywood and seem to be holding well. I sealed the wood with 2 coats of Shellac.

The divider is riveted to the Plano box and I used some leftover closed cell foam as padding.

 

[wahoowad]

I also have a 'kitchen' box and larger 'gear' box. So tired of lifting stuff out to get to whatever I actually need. I have maximized space but also aggravation. I might need to make a top tray myself. Keep the ideas coming!

 

[genocache]

With your wood working skills I would think you would make a Chuck Box. Just one sample, Not affiliated;

 

[Speric]

SOLD! I'll take one of each. lol Everything is just in a bin for me too.

 

[pcstockton]

Drawers people. Drawers!