My wife wears combat boots to work and carrys a gun everyday and prefers her Forest Green (2001 250) to my Red (2005 400i). She wears camo when hunting and wouldn't go for turquoise as it wouldn't match her quad. I was gonna get a black rack bag and was told camo. The woman has also attended "Weapons of Mass Destrution" classes put on by Homeland Security and Swat Tactical classes.

 

Just a thought for those of you who use 5 gal plastic buckets. I use them on my raft with screw-on tops that are O-ring sealed and they seem to be as "waterproof" as anything else on the raft and the tops are much easier to get off than the snap-on lids. No ripped up finger nails, etc.

 

I got the AC factory box and it works OK. But it isn't waterproof and water gets in around the seam of the lid and lower. It is also kind of a pain with the pin type lid lock. They are slower to gain access plus you have to make sure you don't lose the pin.

I bought some padlocks to replace the pins as sometimes the ATV is left unattended in some parks or when hunting. A determined thief will still get in them but it will slow down the thief of opportunity.

If I were to do it over again, I go with one of the boxes that have latches and locks built in or just go with one of the larger locking truck/SUV boxes and bolt it onto the rear.

My friend has a bag on the front of his Grizzly and it works well too but again, isn't waterproof and won't lock. The bad thing is once it gets wet inside, it takes a while to dry out where you can wipe up any wetness in a hard case.

This year for deer hunting, I used the MRP basket and put two empty kitty litter buckets in it. Step Fresh kitty litter comes in 28 lb buckets that are not much smaller than a 5 gal bucket. But they are square shaped and fit the basket perfect. They have a snap on lid too so stuff stayed dry and clean. It was a simple way to haul a day's gear and food etc. back and forth from my blind. I actually have several at home and use them for storing all kinds of gear, clean and dirty pistol brass, oily rags, etc. They stack well too.

I don't think there is a perfect solution.

 

I have found the ziplock bags work well for small items. For large bulky things the new vacuum storage bags work super cool and really increase your usable space. I bought a 12 volt mini shop vac to suck the bags flat at the trail head for things you couldn't pack at home and it doubles for vacuuming mud and water out of the truck too. There are also storage bags that just have a one way valve to let the air out as you sit on it or roll up the bag. I like those for items you will be using in the field and carry a spare empty one for the things that get dropped in the water or mud and I want to put back in the rack bag or box and not get anything else soaked.

 

If I am just going for a day trip and even most longer trips (I have done a 7day trip before). I bought one of those hydration back packs and it works very well. I now have two of them. One I have my hunting stuff in and the other I have ATV supplies in for short trips. It has an added plus of the hydration pouch that is right there to take a sip of when needed. Both packs are small and narrow so they do not interfere with movement.

As far a rack gear goes. I have a couple of dry bags that I use for rafting that have come in very handy. I fill them up and attach them to the racks with a small cargo net. I have AC trunk, Koplin (I think) rack baags, Tamarak trunks (front and rear), Rubermaid tuff totes, and one more I don't know who made. They are all what I would classify as "waterproof". IF its raining they will keep stuff dryer than nothing at all but clean. I have tried, caulking, weather stripping you name it. The ony thing that I have found that works to keep stuff dry inside any of the bags/trunks listed was the dry bags (from Cabelas) used alone or inside the trunks.

Variety is nice. I will also add that make sure that whatever you get can eaasily be taken off! a couple of straps, snap locks, pins or whatever. No bolts. It is nice to be able to dump gear in a stash and haul meat on the racks when needed. It is a pain to have to struggle to get the trunks/bags off to do this or even just to clean the machine.

SJ

 

The Tamarack box on the back of my Polaris is one tough box. It rolled 8-10 times down a hill and the box stayed closed and in one piece. The rackage underneath it was busted to heck but the box saved my life as I was stuck with my arm sleeve on the handlebars for the first 6 roll-overs. The box gave me enough room to keep my head on the seat until the jacket sleeve tore off.

But many accident victoms will tell you that a rear box prevented a quick egress and in retro-spect they would not have one again.

And rear boxes are used sometimes as a back rest for a PAX riding 2up on a single rider quad - and I don't recommend doing that anymore (see top paragraph)

My cousin uses a Koplin (sp) box on his TRV and it does a excellent job keeping dust and spashed water out. In fact after seeing the difference between the dirt in my box and his after a 100 mile ride - I went out and bought the same box.

FWIW

 

I found the link for the plastic bags.

https://www.spacebag.com/spacebag