Back to civilisation

[Kath]

So you have returned from a bushcraft outing, how do you store your kit?

Do you keep your backpack ready to go?
Or do you keep your stuff in locations/containers so they're easy to reach and you know where they are?
Do you have a special room/cupboard/shed?

What are your tips and tricks for stowing away kit?

Or is it all in a pile on the floor?
(Tell all! The confessional is open... :-))

[TheViking]

Hi...

Normally I pack my bag/rucksack out and lay all the items next to it. If I need something on a daytrip or anything, I'll just take what I need. Very easy! :wink: If you keep the items in a pack, you won't be able to look after them and if they are stored different places all over the house, it will take hours to gather! (well, almost....) :-D 8-)

Well, that's my opinion....

[Gary]

I have several kits,

I have a courses kit which I have set up ready for when I'm running courses.

I have my leisure kit

and I have possibles.

Courses kit is unpacked cleaned and packed away everytime. Leisure pack the same.

Possibles however are generally cleaned and then repacked ready to go as this is the kit I carry with me the most and it rarely changes.

[MartiniDave]

I'm quite lucky in that when I first met the woman who became my wife I was into scuba diving, and was allocated what became known as the "dive cupboard". After getting a type 1 bend I gave up diving, the cupboard is now the "Dave cupboard". Between that, the shed and my secret stash under the bed, that takes care of stowing my kit.

I can't leave a rucksack packed, because I tend to use my ruck's for different things on different days.

Although, being a bit of a jackdaw, I tend to have spares and duplicates of some things kept in the stranges of places! And you've never got too many matches! :-D

Dave

[RovingArcher]

I keep multiple kits as well and when I return from the field, everything in my kit is cleaned, replentished if needed and repacked for the next outting.

[jamesdevine]

Both of the first two options.

Hammock, Poncho, boots, pack etc. are usually seperated as soon as i get back to air them and clean them etc.

Then once all is Ok they are tidied away in a box just in side the Attic for easy access.

But I am always pulling on bit or another down just for random checks and maintance. :wink:

James

[Ed]

We are lucky enough to have a spare room to hang, dry and store kit.... I pack (what I need according to what I'm doing and where I'm going) the night before a trip.
The only exceptions are 'food' which goes back into the kitchen and my 'poachers kit' which lives in the garden ;-)

:-)
Ed

[tenbears10]

After getting a type 1 bend I gave up diving, the cupboard is now the "Dave cupboard". Between that, the shed and my secret stash under the bed, that takes care of stowing my kit.

Although, being a bit of a jackdaw, I tend to have spares and duplicates of some things kept in the stranges of places! And you've never got too many matches! :-D

Dave

I know those secret stashes under the bed Dave and I agree on the match point. :wink:

My kit is kept in several boxes or bags but none packed ready for a trip unless i've planned it. Normally start a couple of weeks (sad I know) before and start a pile which grows and is added to or sometimes reduced when it gets too big ready to be packed the night before so nothing is left behind.

As for cleaning and storing kit I can't believe how many people don't bother. I'm not talking about mud covered stuff but boots which never see a tub of nikwax in their life and then people wonder why the leather cracks and they don't last. A bit of proofing and care and things last and work so much better. Anal I know but if you spend the money some of us do on kit it is a crime not to look after it.

Bill

[Kath]

I chose "everything in my pack ready to go" as I tend to use the same 20l pack as a day pack and for short away missions. I keep that packed with most of my kit, but excluding everyday items like petzl, surefire, flint, EDC etc which live in my handbag.

Everything else I tend to store separately so they're easy to grab (bashas/bags/bivvis/water bottles/sleeping bags/rat packs/replacement fuel).

Bear in mind I'm usually packing at least four backpacks ...

[Adi007]

Hmmmm, mine is currently on the floor!

[leon-1]

When I get back the whole lot gets dumped on the floor, that which requires cleaning gets cleaned, if it needs sharpening it gets sharpened and oiled.

The sleeping bag is left out to air so that it maintains its loft, the various sharp objects that I own are stored seperately, everything else once it is clean and dry gets packed, but not into my daysack.

I normally have two Ortlieb bags and a bergan liner. My kit gets packed into these and stowed, when I require it the kit gets dumped into my pack in three parts and I am ready to go. :-)

[Mikey P]

I got a few of those transparent stackable boxes from Wilkinsons (or was it Ikea?) and split everything up into various groups (cook kit, edged items, shelter, sleeping, first aid, etc) whenever I get back. All gear is checked over to make sure it works when I next use it and I just put together what I need based on what I'm going to do.

Sounds a bit anal but the methodology hasn't let me down yet and I know pretty much where to find everything.

Hmmm....am I obsessive-compulsive?

[maddave]

All my gear is cleaned and stored.

There's a saying The excercise aint over till yer kit's away :-)

[RAPPLEBY2000]

i try to organise my gear, as i type some is in a wardrobe, some is in a chest of drawers, i seperated into

cooking/fire

hygine/first aid

food/water

some i class as:

"ain't gonna use soon", others are classed as "every trip" sorted like this it's easy to lay your hands on any kit at a moments notice!

....well that's the theory anyway :wink:

[bushwacker bob]

but excluding everyday items like petzl, surefire, flint, EDC etc which live in my handbag.

Kath, Adi is a lucky lad.

[JakeR]

I didn't fit very well into the poll.

I have a drawer where all the bushcraft kit goes, then clothing just goes into the ahem clothing pile, usually my desk.

[Ranger Bob]

Whenever I return to 'civilisation', my kit is all cleaned and packed right back up, ready to go at a moments notice.(bar food and water, obviously!)
p.s. Civilisation is evil!

[arctic hobo]

p.s. Civilisation is evil!

YES :biggthump

[Squidders]

Mine is rapidly expanding so storage is a bit of a problem... my computer shed takes the brunt of my climbing gear and the top of one of our wardrobes houses my pack but it can't support the growing weight.

It's all being shuffled around at the moment, a short while in each place until I get nagged to move it. This rotation is working so far as Eloise and I are still on speaking terms :wink:

Most of the new or expensive kit usually just floats around getting played with and fondled so technically doesn't need any storage space.

[jakunen]

I'm a 'hybrid'...

I keep basic kit ready to go but hang up all my clothes (after airing/washing), and put everything else away. For the first time in my life I'm actually pretty organised.

Its scary!!!!:smiley-fa

[PurpleHeath]

i am a real slob unlike you guys, all the kit that has to come out when i get back does but the rest i usually leave in there for a day or two before i do anything with it, i am terrible! for that! i do clean my kit but it takes a while before it gets done!ops:

[SquirrelBoy]

My kit lives in 3 rucksacks, 8 plastic boxes `borrowed` from work :roll: and generally put on a stacking system from Argos.. too much gear in all!

Will get around to sorting it out one day and have just one pack with all i need, ready to go... yeah right ! ):

[Stuart]

I have a room dedicated to my kit storage because my better half complained so much about it being stored all over the house.

[PurpleHeath]

thats a lot of kit!! how big is the room? :?:

[bothyman]

I keep away from Civilisation so don't bother putting anything away.



:wave:

[Greg]

When I get home my wife cleans the clothing and the cooking gear/utensils, I hang all the basha gear in the garden to dry, all my sharps get cleaned and oiled and locked away in the shed, And once that is all done it gets packed away ready for the next outing(except the sharps of course)

I do have a dedicated full wall cupboard that I use for all my gear that doesn't always go with me on trips, but the wife, Bless her! wants me to put it in the attic out of the way and where I will probably never see it again!
And thats about all really!

[torjusg]

I am terribly disorganized. Not only is my rucksack a mess when I am on a trip, but when I get back, I unpack only the things that will start to smell too bad (that doesn't include dirty clothes) if I leave it.

My equipment is also at any given time mostly scattered around. What is not laying around the house is probably hidden in the stack on my desk.

[janiepopps]

Wow Torjus, that is some seriously bad Feng Shui...

j

[torjusg]

Wow Torjus, that is some seriously bad Feng Shui...

j

Being disorganized is a little sexy, eh?

Or have I gotten that completely wrong....

[Pablo]

Torjus...love the style

Coming back from an outing, I unpack everything, dry and maintain it (clean? - only when necessary) then I pack it away in areas where it's all easy to find.

I keep clothes at one end of the wardrobe, kit in a four drawer cabinet, belt, possibles pouch and neck sheath is hung up near the cabinet, rucksack on a chair ready to be packed and thermarest laid out on the floor. Food is packed in a ration bag and hung up near the kitchen.

All I have to do is go in in a systematic "circle" to pack the kit when I'm ready to escape again

Pablo