Just thought I'd give a heads up to those of you not afraid of doing a little work for something that will save you a lot of money and be very useful. If you need a good sized durable travel box you can do a search on ebay for "mermites, or mermite" these are old USA military coolers that can be stripped down into very nicely sized aluminum pannier boxes. I bought a pair for $40 off ebay and will be modifying them for a rack soon. Nice big lid and durable watertight construction.

Seth S

Hello Seth. I met a guy at the Airheads rally in Feb. who had a pair of these. He removed the insulation to make more room, but his only mistake was bolting through the body of the boxes and not using a proper frame to distribute the weight. By the end of our off-road adventure both of them had fallen off and he was forced to strap them to his rack behind his back. Great boxes, but you'll have to support them properly.
Good luck!

The guy I bought my Wee-Strom used mermites as well. The insulation was removed and the cans were attached to givi rack frames. I changed the bolts to 1/2 in with washers. I'm heading to Mexico for 6 weeks with this set up. When I return I'll let you know how they held up. Shayne

It's taken me a year to fill you in but here goes. The mermites held up wonderfully as did the rack frames. My only complaint was the how wide the combination made my bike. It got very tight trying to squeeze through traffic in Mexico City. Otherwise they made great panniers.


motolocogringo.blogspot.com

only thing which came up on the suggested seach was marmite !
I hate that stuff

marmite, you either love it or hate it !

My search brought up this ,
No self respecting motobicycular traveller would leave home without one !

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan

first build a frame

then buy 2 mermite cans for $40

cut around the interior leaving about one inch from the top for extra support

cut down the center

now pry the aluminum away fron the insulation

after prying loose, pull out

ok, its out

now your left with about one inch of insulation that you have to scrape

almost done scraping

now wire brush the interior

paint the interior if you want

here is the end result



the panniers now are buffed to a nice even luster with a few stickers and the mounting systen is different. I will take a pic some day of the new system.......oh ya the interior has a stainless steel sheet with stainless bolts welded to it. This plate provides tons of support so there is no stress on the aluminum where the holes are drilled

Absolutely excellent post, where in UK can these mermite cases be obtained if anywhere or similar containers.

military surplus stores. Ckeck e-bay..........

bc-gs: do you know how the paint was removed from the exterior of your mermites? They look great and I'm hoping to do the same with mine.