Clasps

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...

So recently, I saw a photo on a rocketry forum page that showed a field range box or tackle box, dropped and spilled.

It was a sad sight, with the contents mixed helter-skelter... the kind of picture that makes your heart sink.  But we've all been there.

Among the comments were various suggestion on how to avoid such a fate.

And one senior member of a club nearby specifically said, "That's why I keep small   carabiners through the hasp of all my boxes, so that they can't do this."

It got me thinking, much as we all have tackle boxes or range boxes, and have discussed how each of us have a different type or style, we've never discussed securing those boxes.

So I'd like to ask, "Do you secure your range box?  How?"

You can talk about locks, hasps, bread ties, paper clips, removable links, carabiners, or whatever.

Personally, I don' t secure my tackle boxes, as they have a fold-down hasp that snaps down and latches over top of a bottom cleat.  As long as you've snapped it, it won't fly open.  But if you don't have a clasped, you're at risk.

My range box probably started life as a fishing lure tackle box, however it folds open like a  book, allowing a good look at the open trays and compartments in the middle (the bottom most part of the unit), and either wing that folds out is secured by a red, clear plastic cover that clips down, trapping the contents into the side wings. You can either unclasp the red plastic sheet, or spring the latch and fold each of the wings up to reveal another duplicate set of compartments under the first layer.

In this way, the unit folds up upon itself and the secures with a metal double clasp to hold the entire unit together tightly.  It only started to open when I failed to securely clasp the book together out in the field once.

It was a gift from a retiring rocketeer who decided he didn't need all his supplies any more. I can't thank him enough for all the motors, parachutes, transitions, motor hooks, nosecones, scissors, ignitor plugs, recovery wadding, string and more that I have used over the years.  It's the gift that keeps on giving.

However, I am starting the think about the clasps and if I can utilize the small carabiner idea somehow.

What say you?

Do you secure your range box, and how?

The Thrifty Rocketeer wants to know...