Storage – Modern Anachronist

It’s Grillin’ Time

Just a couple quick thoughts that jumped into my head while grilling up some steaks tonight.

Some of you have outdoor kitchens with countertops & covered storage. Not me. I’m old school – charcoal and a Weber kettle is perfect for me.

When I bought the bandsaw a few years ago, it was on this angle iron base. Perfectly functional, and purely functional. It works, but it looks like a bunch of angle iron off cuts (which is what it is).

Once I built the base for the drill press, I decided that the band saw needed a matching base.

Let’s take a little tour of my mental processes when designing a project like this.

First trip with the tonneau.

We decided to take advantage of the President’s Day weekend, and the generosity of some family friends and head to Cape May for a two night getaway.

Pouring rain for the two hour drive, but thanks to the tonneau cover, all our luggage stayed dry*.

Finally installed the Fas-Top

Between work & weather the Fas-Top has been in boxes in my garage for almost a month. The weather was almost acceptable today & I need the space in the garage for some other projects so I installed the top system today.

Utility hooks from Amazon.

Given the flat floor in the back of the Ridgeline and some spirited driving, the shopping can come a bit unsettled. I need a way to keep the bags from sliding about.

Honda has a $46 solution, where Amazon has a $15 solution.

Folding hooks attached to the under side of the back seats.

Always watch the classifieds.

You never know when a deal is going to appear.

This is going to be a teaser because it’s too cold to work outside right now.

Be prepared

As an Eagle Scout, I still try to prepare for any contingency. One of the common roadside emergencies is a flat tire.

For the past 35 years of driving, I’ve carried a traditional four way tire wrench to remove & install tires – but the Ridgeline doesn’t have a good place to store it!🤬

The good folks at The Ridgeline Owners Club have given me some sound advice.

Ridgeline storage

One of my favorite features of the Ridgeline is amount of storage that was designed into it.

You can store a body in the trunk. Shovels and lime won’t raise any suspicions in the bed of a pickup.

A day with the drill press

Alternately, a day of project creep.

I’ve been trying to figure out a tongue box (my wife loves that term, BTW) for the utility trailer. A place to store the lines, straps, wheel chocks, locks, tarps, tools, and other sundries that the trailer requires. But they’re fairly expensive and I’m having problems finding one that seems to be the right size size.

Remember the drill press? It’s a post about the drill press (mostly).

But then I saw it, on a neglected shelf in the garage. A Rubbermaid Action Packer box. Before we met, my wife used it to store her camping kitchen equipment. It sat empty at the old house for years. When we moved here I filled it with the candle lanterns that we use for party lights. Of course we moved just before the pandemic started and haven’t had any parties.

I know that the KLR crowd uses small action packers as tail boxes, so I think it is reasonably water tight. It’s lockable, certainly large enough for my needs, and the price is definitely within my budget. It might not be perfect (foreshadowing), but it will do.

Chainsaw Caddy (Use notes)

Used the chainsaw caddy today for the first time. Not only was it phenomenal to be able to grab all the bits & bobs at once, there were two unexpected bonus features.

Tag: Storage