Top box on a budget

During my few weeks on the road I have been fighting with daily task of strapping my food bag with bungee cords to the rear rack. Every time I wanted some food I had to take bungee cords off, potentially removing all other bungee cords etc.

Bottom line: it is a very annoying and time consuming task. I often won’t bother eating because I can’t be bothered getting food out, just to find myself later exhausted, hungry with no energy.

I was stuck in Adelaide due to a heat wave (over 40deg Celsius), while sitting bored in the pub I thought of different ways I can solve it cheaply. Then it came to me. Get a basic tool box and use that instead of often overpriced top box.

So, decided that I’ll go to Bunnings (they close at 9pm, so temperature was not bad).

I ended up getting

1. Ryobi cheap tool box
2. Metal mesh thing (to improve strength of plastic walls).
3. Cable ties (make sure that the width goes through the drilled mesh)

Total cost just under $50 AUD.

Tools needed

1. String for measurements
2. Swiss army knife or a screwdriver to drill holes in the toolbox.

Step 1

I put the box on the rear bracket, made sure it is sitting flat, pushing against the rear bar.

Step 2

I then broke apart the metal drilled sheet into multiple parts to get all installation points with metal support.

Step 3

I marked off all places I need to “drill”. Took the box off and proceed to make holes in plastic using my Swiss army knife screwdriver.

Step 3

I marked off all places I need to “drill”. Took the box off and proceed to make holes in plastic using my Swiss army knife screwdriver.

Step 4

I then got cable ties through to tie it all together from the outside of the box – so that nothing inside gets scratched or rubs on the cable tie locking mechanism.

Job done. It is very sturdy and I have been using it now for few days and it makes a massive difference in term of packing up time and quick access to food when you need it.

One tip is to still use Coles or preferably Woolies reusable bags to make getting things in and out of the box even faster. E.g. I’m cooking dinner, I go to the box and get the bag with food out, cook and then put it back in the box – 2 second job.

Added benefit is that while you camp, you can’t leave food out, otherwise you are going to have to share with possums, kangaroos and foxes going through your food bag. (Same for goes for your rubbish bag)