A company called Contico, St. Louis, www.contico.com manufactures = polypropylene (sp?) boxes for all sorts of purposes. At the outdoor shop, I = discovered a 32"l x 17"w x 12.25"h footlocker which just might do the trick for = me. I plan to go back tonight and purchase one to check it out. = Since 32" doesn't fill out the luggage rack, I'll have space for a gas can since I = haven't found any alternative way to carry one safely. I could also store = my folding chairs alongside the footlocker. It has little wheels on = one end so that, when it's on the ground, it would be easy to move around. = It is extremely light weight - I could pick it up with one finger on each = hand. It sells for $30! And this is not any kind of a discount = store.

What I will do if this seems like a = good thing is this: remove the luggage rack, drill appropriately spaced holes in = the bottom of the luggage rack, to be mated with holes in the bottom of the footlocker. I'll glue bolts upwards through the holes (with some = kind of metal reinforcing under the fiberglass) to go into the holes in = the footlocker, fasten the footlocker down with rubber washers and butterfly = nuts on the inside of the box. The footlocker has a place on it for a padlock. If you space it really well, you could have the = footlocker face either the front or the back. Since we will be crossing a = great number of borders in South America, it occurred to me that I didn't want = to have to pop the top at the border so that the border guards could search the luggage.

For anyone who wants a larger storage = space, I saw a truck storage box on the website that is 48" long. I'm not sure = if that would fit in the luggage rack or not, but it's close. If anybody = finds these footlockers on the web, please let us all know. Heck, a = discount off of $30 would still be a good thing.