Gear organization is so important for many reasons. Primarily, good gear is expensive and more fragile than most budget outdoor gear, so indoor storage is critical for some equipment. Dyneema composite is a laminated fabric that will fail faster with hot dry storage. Poly-sil and nylon is also very vulnerable to dry and hot storage conditions, such as in a garage in a hot Arizona summer.
Storage with moisture, such as in humid regions, will lead to mildew and gear fabric breakdown just as bad as heat will. Dry and cool conditions are optimal for storage.
So, I turned my spare bedroom into my activity gear storage space so my important stuff stays dry and climate controlled and easy to sort through. I can take out my folding sort table and pull out the items for a backpacking trip in just minutes. Drawers are categorized and labeled so everything has its place and is easy to find.
After many trips to hardware and big box storage retailers, I moved my storage shelf system, that I had already bought at Costco years before, out of my garage and up along the spare room walls and then found a perfect modular drawer system that almost seemed built for my shelves. A mish-mash of garage organization items worked as an adjustable hanger setup for my packs, clothes and sleeping quilts/bags. Fishing rods are on the ceiling, and other gear is affixed to the walls in some of the empty spaces. Garage gardening tool brackets make for a good trekking pole collection organizer. I have a plan for an electronics/charging cabinet station, coming soon.
Here’s a gallery of how it all came out so far. The cheap futon keeps this room as a place for a guest to crash if the need arises.
