3-Piece takedown hard case reccomendation?

[Gdpolk]

I'm looking into quality hard cases for a 3-piece takedown bow travel kit.  I plan to use the case to hold all of the following items to be a grab and go kit for when travelling to hunt.  It needs to be durable enough to pile luggage on top of and be water resistant.  I'm thinking largely in line with a Pelican type case.  I do NOT like pluck out foam, I'd rather have a solid foam insert and custom cut it myself, but that's not an absolute deal breaker.  What the case will need to hold is:  

• Riser
• limb set
• spare string
• Screwdriver for limb bolts
• Binos
• quiver with arrows
• a few game calls
• hunting knife
• small box of spare broadheads, small game points, and field points
• a couple gloves

This will be used primarily on road trips in my car but will also have to survive the rare/occasional airline flight, hence it has to keep my knives too and be able to be checked.  The idea is to be able to have one thing to load with all the necessary tools for hunting and for me to keep all my clothing and other stuff in   one bag.

[Cove-Creek]

Pelican Case

I sprayed the foam with a product called PlastiDip that I bought from Walmart first. After a few coats and curing I traced outlines and used a utility knife to cut the foam. The PlastiDip firms the foam up nice to make it easier to cut accurately.

[Msturm]

^^^ That guy is a genius!    I use a Pelican case too but I just cut cut the foam my quiver will fit. everything else just gets pushed into the foam when it closes.

I am going to get some of that plasti dip and a new piece of egg crate foam now Thanks Cove Creek!

[Gdpolk]

Originally posted by Cove-Creek:
 

Pelican Case

I sprayed the foam with a product called PlastiDip that I bought from Walmart first. After a few coats and curing I traced outlines and used a utility knife to cut the foam. The PlastiDip firms the foam up nice to make it easier to cut accurately.

This is darn near EXACTLY what I had in mind.  A simple, crush resistant, weather resistant, grab and go kit.  Something that can be tossed in the SUV with luggage on top and be airline approved for the once every few years trip.  While I love my 1-piece bow, whomever is in the back seat on our multiple road trips each year gets to dodge it.  Also, it's been a pain to find a place to carefully lay it on top of luggage.  I'm pretty sure I just found "my" take down so now I need a good case to make this travel kit a reality.

[Cove-Creek]

That case is a Pelican Storm Case IM3100

That's a 60" Stalker Wolverine and the arrows are 29.5" long.

Everything fit pretty nice.

The foam in the bottom of the case comes in two layers. I only cut through the top layer.

[Gdpolk]

Originally posted by Cove-Creek:
That case is a Pelican Storm Case IM3100

That's a 60" Stalker Wolverine and the arrows are 29.5" long.

Everything fit pretty nice.

The foam in the bottom of the case comes in two layers. I only cut through the top layer.

Thanks for the reference.  I was looking at it and the 1700.  I've also browsed SKB, Plano, etc.  I need to get to laying out some stuff and really measuring it all.  I've been looking for the right take down to make a road kit like this happen for a very long time.  I think I just found it so it's time to make the move on a good case.

[Archie]

I have a Pelican case for my Black Widow 3 piece TD recurve, which is very similar or identical to the one pictured.  It's gone back and forth to Alaska a couple of times on commercial airlines, and I'm very pleased with it.

[Gdpolk]

I did a little on site research at a few options locally including: Pelican, Storm, SKB, Plano All Weather series, Cabelas, and another brand that I can't recall right now.  All in all my overall impressions are this:

Plano All Weather series would be adequate and offered the best value for the dollar by a long shot.

Cabelas cases were overpriced and NOT up the the quality of anything in similar pricepoints - NOT worth it.

SKB cases were pretty good but the Pelican and Storm cases were very similarly priced and more sturdy.

Storm cases had egg crate foam on lid, which may be a plus for some uses but would be bad for making arrow holders for me.  It came with 3-layer foam in the bottom, two thick layer and one 1/4" layer to just cover the bottom which I liked.  It's latches were smoother operating but felt a little less beefy/robust and had a more complex mechanism.

Pelican foam seemed better suited for my needs and the outside of the case had minimally less flex when standing on it.  In addition to that the latches seemed a little sturdier so I'm going with a Pelican 1700.  It's pretty pricey at $200 for a plastic box with foam in it, but compared to the cost of a custom bow, binos, handmade knife, arrows, quiver, etc it'll be worth it to have a quality case to protect the investment.  In addition to this, it'll be very, very nice to have a small, compact, grab and go kit that makes it EASY to check for everything needed to complete a hunt successfully in a glance when travelling meaning there's no way to forget bringing something important.

Thanks for the help guys.  Hope my thoughts above help future guys who may look through the threads.  My vote is Pelican 17** series for top quality or Plano All Weather for high value and GOOD protection.