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We bought our tonneau cover so that when we took our trip to Canada we'd have secure storage for our belongings. The only real water test we could perform on it before the trip was at the car wash, and we were quite pleased that we only got small puddles up near the drains. However, we were quite aware that would not be a fair test to the effect of drenching rain, if we ran into bad weather.
While getting ready, since I have to be prepared for anything, I came up with the idea of using plastic containers. Clearance and cost were big considerations. I have to efficiently use space and I couldn't stand the containers that wasted a lot of space at the bottom when stacked side by side. I know they're made slanted so they can stack when empty, but I wanted square bottoms so I could pack my space better. It turned out that with our cooler there wasn't a lot of room for multiple containers anyway. I bought one large one that was just the right height. I used another smaller one for our meds and bathroom supplies.
I also bought some huge zip lock bags and some of those compressing bags. Some things we took in regular stuff sacks.
We started out by lining the bed with a green drawstring tarp. You can see it in the corners of the photos. I worried that any leaking would be completely hidden from us unless I unpacked clear to the front of the truck bed. I figured if we put all our stuff in fairly waterproof containers and they were all contained in the tarp, any water would run out under and around the tarp. It was a good idea.
The first photo is the mountain of stuff that I considered important to take on a three week trip. We used almost everything we took. The only things I would have done differently is leave the dog kennel home (we didn't need it in dog friendly Canada), take less shoes and one or two less jackets.
I have an eye for what will fit where. I had that back in packed so solid that I worried about any souvenirs we might want to bring back, but we found room as we went along. You can see it was like a puzzle. Things had to be packed in somewhat the same order each time. In the middle of the last photo you see a water jug we bought specifically for this trip.
While getting ready, since I have to be prepared for anything, I came up with the idea of using plastic containers. Clearance and cost were big considerations. I have to efficiently use space and I couldn't stand the containers that wasted a lot of space at the bottom when stacked side by side. I know they're made slanted so they can stack when empty, but I wanted square bottoms so I could pack my space better. It turned out that with our cooler there wasn't a lot of room for multiple containers anyway. I bought one large one that was just the right height. I used another smaller one for our meds and bathroom supplies.
I also bought some huge zip lock bags and some of those compressing bags. Some things we took in regular stuff sacks.
We started out by lining the bed with a green drawstring tarp. You can see it in the corners of the photos. I worried that any leaking would be completely hidden from us unless I unpacked clear to the front of the truck bed. I figured if we put all our stuff in fairly waterproof containers and they were all contained in the tarp, any water would run out under and around the tarp. It was a good idea.
The first photo is the mountain of stuff that I considered important to take on a three week trip. We used almost everything we took. The only things I would have done differently is leave the dog kennel home (we didn't need it in dog friendly Canada), take less shoes and one or two less jackets.
I have an eye for what will fit where. I had that back in packed so solid that I worried about any souvenirs we might want to bring back, but we found room as we went along. You can see it was like a puzzle. Things had to be packed in somewhat the same order each time. In the middle of the last photo you see a water jug we bought specifically for this trip.
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