DTRH: The "Store It" Edition

Storing your stuff featuring YETI, Plano, Magellan, Husky, and others.

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Jul 12, 2024

You know the saying “birds of a feather, flock together?” Well I think the same applies to gear heads and people in general that throw themselves down rabbit holes.

If you would have told me when I started started this newsletter I would have someone reaching out to do a guest appearance just ten posts in, I would have laughed and said something like, “I’m literally writing about bags and random sh**, no one is reading.”

I guess that’s why I’ve grown to love Substack, it does an outstanding job of cultivating community. I would also say it does a heck of a lot better at actual “social media” compared to the likely suspects.

Anyways, this post isn’t about me, it’s about boxes and storage (exciting right??). Jokes aside, it’s a good read and if you’re anything like me, you’ll dig it.

Take it away Lou.

I have way too much gear. This is a fact. Given my inexplicable desire to well-equipped for any situation and every adventure, I find myself surrounded by boxes and crates filled with all manner of sleeping bags and tents, climbing sticks and archery saddles, spearguns and wetsuits, fly rods and saltwater reels.

A normal person would be content to just buy a bunch of random bins and call it a day, but I’m also concerned with the aesthetics of my storage: it needs to look cool. Obviously, as a self-proclaimed YETI fan boy, the easiest thing to do would be to buy a bunch of LoadOut GoBoxes and call it a day. But at $300 a pop for the largest size (and, of course, you need to go big — otherwise you’re just going home), to house all my stuff would get expensive quick.

Product Feature Image — It goes without saying I need this level of protection for my kids’ flannel-lined sleeping bags from L.L. Bean.

So I started going down the rabbit hole. And let me tell you, there are a plethora of options in the gear storage world. You could go with your basic Rubbermaid, with looks ranging from “moving into my first dorm room” in the Clever Store series to “Your Father-in-Law’s Garage” in the Roughneck series.

If you’re trying to channel YETI vibes without the YETI price, you might want to look at Plano and their Sportsman series. Their Hinged Sportsman’s Trunk is bigger than the GoBox 60 and a fraction of the price ($40). It also has wheels! If you want to get fancy with your colors, they also make them in blaze orange. The downside here is these aren’t waterproof nor IP-rated — but for keeping my turkey decoys packed up in the garage, that’s not a problem for me. These are made in the USA — so they have that going for them, which is nice.

Plano 108 qt Green Sportsman's Trunk — The Plano Sportsman’s Trunk — me and who?

If you want to spend a little more, you can get an 92-liter, IP-rated box from Magellan for under $100. That too is bigger than the GoBox, also has some nice storage in the lid (which you don’t find in the Plano boxes), and also has wheels. They make smaller sizes as well, which is nice if you don’t need it to hold a six-person tent and a queen-sized air mattress.

Magellan Outdoors Pro 92 L Waterproof Gear Box - view number 3 — It’s not well-known, but Magellan based this model on the original trunks Ferdinand himself used during his 1519 circumnavigation of the globe.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, Husky does have the best logo out of any of the other options we’ve reviewed.

If neither of those options tickles your fancy, you can go with this little number from HUSKY, which gets you waterproofing, dustproofing, and a six-point latching lid. It’s not quite as big as the other options, but it will also only set you back $30 — and you’ll have plenty of street cred when you stop at a construction site to use the porta-potty on the way to your fly casting class at your local suburban Orvis.

Some honorable mentions: COHO makes what appears to be a dead-ringer of the GoBox sized in-between their 15- and 30- sizes. It’s priced the same as the larger Magellan ($99), so I’m not sure if there’s a value play there, but also worth noting Costco members can pick a larger version up for half the price. Home Depot’s HDX line is comparable to Rubbermaid’s Roughneck series and comes in at a slightly lower price ($10+). Condition1, better known for weapons cases, makes their own “Sportsman” model, which has the benefit of can holders on the lid — those come in right around the same price-point as Plano’s version ($130). They also have IP-rated boxes that are priced similar to YETI. RTIC, the perennial YETI competitor, makes IP-rated hard case ($150), but it’s long and flat and probably better suited to a bow or rifle as opposed to general “gear.”

So there’s your rabbit hole — if you have any other options which are either A) more elegant, B) cooler, or C) more or less expensive, please let me know in the comments.

When he’s not adding to his gear collection, Lou Tamposi writes Cow We Doin' , a weekly newsletter about living and eating radically. There, he writes about food, the outdoors, fatherhood, and enlightenment. He lives in New England with his wife, two feral children, and extremely active dog.