Stuff in the boot/trunk, how do they do it?

[Hasbeen]

Many on here often mention carrying tool boxes, spare parts, water, oil & such around with them in the boot. How do they do it?

I carry an inline fuel filter, a screw driver to fit the hose clips, & a torch in the centre consol. These are still there from before I fixed the fuel tank rust problem, on the feeling that the moment I remove them, I’ll get a dose of dirty fuel. I also carry the wheel nuts to suit the MG spare wheel, but that's all.

I can’t even get home from the supermarket with my fortnightly groceries without throwing things around. I carefully tie the handles of the shopping bags in a tight bow, to stop things coming out, & pack the things to support each other, but they still slide around.

Of course, 2 of the last few remaining enjoyable corners left in the district are between my place & that supermarket, & that doesn’t help. As the city comes out to join us bushies, & many city types try so called rural living on their 1 or 2 acres out here, they keep upgrading the roads. That includes straightening them, it makes life a bit dull.

I even have a dent in the driver’s side fender/mudguard, from the inside out, where a standard air filter housing I was taking to give to a club member slid across the boot, at the first corner. If I carried a tool box in there, I’d have dents everywhere.

So, do you make some sort of retaining box, or am I just a hopeless hoon, driving too fast all the time? There is no way I could carry tools & stuff with me, on a long trip, with out the rear fenders looking like a porcupine by the finish.

Hasbeen

[nadg63]

Just carry cable ties and race tape - if you cannot fix it with those you need a tow! [:D]

[Marsu]

I have a plastic bread tray in the middle that holds my small tool box and some towels and a rug that I use as packing to stop it sliding around. When I have shopping I lift and reorganise the packing as needed to give a snug fit.

Outside of the bread tray I have a 5L oil container on one side and same sized container of de-mineralised water on the other. These are turned so their long side is lateral to the car and provide a close enough fit between the body panels and the bread tray to stop it all shifting.

You should try it - it works well!

[addendum]
I shop weekly, or more frequently, so my loads are probably much less than your fortnightly shopping load.

[trv8]

This stuff is good....
http://www.toolbaydirect.co.uk/catalogu ... M2/174856/

[PeterTR7V8]

Dear Hopeless Hoon,

There are people who think that grocery shopping is best done as a couple but they are wrong. I'm sure you know this already so for you the answer is simple. Put your grocery bags in the otherwise unesed footwell of the passenger side where they have a nice carpeted cubby hole with air con washing cool air over them to keep the veges fresh & the frozens from thawing. If you take a corner a bit too fast & find yourself trapped in the car stuck 50 meters down a ravine you will have plenty of food & drink at hand to keep you alive while you wait for the search party to find you.

The boot is for hardware. In mine there is room for 2 spare wheels (race tyres actually) stacked vertically in the spare well, a tool bag with all the wheel changing bits (alt nuts, spacers, deWalt ratchet gun etc), another tool bag with all my other tools, a 1 ton trolley jack, 4 litre of oil, a 20 litre jerry can. 4L of water, brake fluid, handcleaner & rags and a 12V air pump. There is absolutely no room for shopping & even if I was tempted to take up golf, unloading the boot within 6 months of the next track day or hillclimb just so I can throw some clubs in isn't worth thinking about. I've never had a roadside breakdown that I couldn't fix with a bit of a rummage in the boot.



The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

[trekcarbonboy]

I only have a small tool box (right in the center tight to the wall) and a cloth bag (wedged to the left side) which holds a quart of oil, bottle of antifreeze, jumper cables and a few rags. I have no trouble with anything moving around, and I drive like a madman. The carpet seems to keep everything in place just fine. I have the battery relocated to the trunk (in a plastic marine box) so that would protect the right side if anything shifted. I also still have those fiberboard trunk liners that came in the car, so they would protect from any mild collision with the sheetmetal.
The carpet that I have in the the boot is of the household variety. So it may have a slightly greater coefficient of friction than a nylon auto type. Ooooo Science![;)]
As far as sliding groceries.. I use those reuseable cloth bags and they stay put also. Though I would have to agree with Peter as I usually put them in the front seat.

Peter--How much weight do you reckon you have in that boot of yours?? With all that stuff I wouldn't expect you to have too much trouble fixing anything that might come up! And I suppose if you took all of that out of the car many more things WOULD come up![:D]

Craig

[FI Spyder]

I have one of those canvas (black and red of course) zippered tool bags with a little lock so it can't be opened without little key (on key chain). In that I have some tools, flashlight, new Delco electronic coil/amplifier as if that goes I would truly be stranded. The tool bag itself is tied with one of those zip ties to a hole in the trunk support so it can't easily be lifted when I have the trunk lid up during car show. It's on the left hand side. It cusions any thing that wants to slide/push left. On the right hand side (when I go to car shows) I have a plastic container that has 50/50 coolant, spray shine, car wash fluid, towels/clothes (in case it rains on way to show) ice cream bucket for wash water, etc. When I go for groceries, I have plastic recycle box to hold a couple of grocerie bags, plus an cooler to hold perishables like frozen/fresh veggies, ice cream etc. It all fits quite nicely and can't move around. As all our grocery stores are quite close together I usually go to several to get the stuff on sale so can't be leaving anything in the cockpit.

The several times I brought home three boxes of bamboo flooring I drove it like there was a bowl of gold fish on the front seat so it wouldn't shift and leave the tell tale marks Hasbeen has on his car.


TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[trv8]

A couple of strips of velcro on the boot/trunk carpet, then a couple of strips on your canvas bags, plastic boxes etc, and it will all stay in place [:)].
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heavy-Duty-Velc ... _sim_diy_3

[PeterTR7V8]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by trekcarbonboy</i>

Peter--How much weight do you reckon you have in that boot of yours?? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The trolley jack doesn't actually weigh a ton! [:D]



The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

[RadioGuy]

If I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself...

Hasbeen, I can only pray that in in about 20 years or so I have the same problems with speed that you have ...[:0]


Maintained on Saturday…Drive on Fun-Day !!! 1976 FHC - 1980 DHC

[Hasbeen]

Yes Radio Guy. I'm still a hoon as Peter says.

On my way home [28Km from town], we have a little bit of double lane overtaking place, up a small hill, with an S bend at the top. These are a couple of the few enjoyable corners left around here. When another car refuses to move over to let you past, they still tend move to the inside of these corners. At this, I will pull alongside, drop back a cog or two, & floor the old girl. Sliding around the out side of them, rather noisily tends to display your displeasure with their lack of courtesy. It also tends to intimidate them somewhat, & they hopefully display more courtesy in future.

This may be the time that my groceries become more mobile than desirable.

I have rather a lot of groceries each fortnight. You see my eldest daughter left behind when she left home, 3 horses, a cat & a bird. My son left one horse, a dog & 8 goldfish. My youngest daughter left a dog, cat & 2 birds.

Since then, my eldest has bequeathed me a cat that became troublesome when she brought a baby daughter home, my son has flown up from Sydney, [550 miles away] with a stray kitten he had adopted one very wet night, for me to mind, when he was posted back to sea.

Both dogs sercombed to their habit of attacking our rather venomous snakes, but immediately my youngest turned up with a collie looking for a home, when her owners moved into a unit where dogs were not permitted. I’m never going to be allowed to move into town.

Thanks for the suggestion, but by the time I have food for that lot plus my stuff the foot well would be a bit full, besides this old body does have trouble getting things from that low.

I guess I’d better put some protective lining on those inner fenders, I’m nor planning on slowing down any time soon.

Hasbeen