Peli CRATE 45L & 90L Explained: 12 Things That Make It Peli's First Modular Cargo Case

For thirty-odd years a Peli case has meant one thing: a sealed, foam-lined vault that you cut once to fit one kit and never change again. That logic built the 1510, the 1620, the Storm line and everything in between. And it still works — right up to the moment your loadout changes every week. Recovery gear on Monday, a job-site tool kit on Wednesday, a camp kitchen on Saturday. Cut foam can’t follow you there. 🧰

Peli CRATE is Peli’s answer to that problem, and it is the first genuinely new kind of Peli case in years. Not a bigger Protector, not a lighter Air — a modular cargo system with an open interior, a T-slot rail running around the outside, a lid that opens from either side, and two sizes that lock into each other. We have been selling Peli cases for about fifteen years at Drava, and this is the launch that made us stop and reread the spec sheet twice.

Below are the 12 things that actually matter about the CRATE 45L and CRATE 90L — what is new, what is the same old Peli underneath, what the ModRail system can and cannot do, who it is for, and when you should still buy a classic foam case instead. Watch the launch film first; it explains the idea faster than any paragraph. 🎬

What Peli CRATE actually is 📦

1. It is not “a case” — it is a transport ecosystem

CRATE is an acronym, and Peli means it literally: Configurable Ruggedized All-terrain Transport Ecosystem. The word that matters is ecosystem. A classic Peli Protector is a finished product the day it leaves the factory. A CRATE is a platform: the empty box is the base unit, and everything that makes it useful for your particular job — dividers, an inner tray, a MOLLE lid panel, rail cleats, bar loops, vehicle mounts — clips on afterwards, without tools and without drilling.

That changes how you buy it. With a 1620 you decide once (foam, dividers or TrekPak) and live with the choice. With a CRATE you buy the shell and then configure it for the week ahead. If you have ever owned three Peli cases because three jobs needed three interiors, that is the problem CRATE was designed to solve.

2. Two sizes, one system: 45L and 90L

The family launches with two cases. The CRATE 45L (CR45) is the compact unit: 51.05 × 41.4 × 30.73 cm on the outside, 45.21 × 35.31 × 27.94 cm inside, 4.76 kg empty. The CRATE 90L (CR90) is the same width and height class but almost twice as long: 81.79 × 51.31 × 30.73 cm outside, 73.66 × 43.18 × 27.94 cm inside, and roughly 9.3 kg empty according to Peli’s spec sheet.

The two are not just “small and large”. They are designed to interlock: the base of a 45L nests into the lid of a 90L (and into another 45L), so a stack moves as one load instead of three boxes sliding around a truck bed. Both share the same 27.94 cm interior depth, the same 4.29 cm lid depth and the same 23.65 cm base depth, which is why interior accessories designed for one feel familiar in the other.

3. HPXC polymer, IP67, and a formula tuned for sunlight

Underneath the new silhouette is the same promise every Peli case makes. The shell is moulded from Peli’s proprietary HPXC polymer and the closed, latched case carries an IP67 rating — dustproof and waterproof at one metre for up to 30 minutes. There is a silicone O-ring in the lid, an automatic pressure equalisation valve with a 3-micron hydrophobic membrane so altitude or temperature changes never vacuum-lock the lid, and stainless-steel-and-aluminium pins in the hinges. If you want the long version of what IP67 really means in practice, our guide Waterproof, water-resistant or submersible? covers it.

One detail is specific to CRATE: Peli says the HPXC formulation for this line was tuned for enhanced UV resistance and colour fastness. That is not marketing filler. A Protector lives in a van or a cupboard. A CRATE is meant to live strapped to a roof platform for a month in Andalusia, and black polypropylene that is not UV-stabilised goes grey, chalky and brittle faster than most people expect. Operating range is the usual Peli −40 °C to 87.8 °C.

And yes — like the classic Protector line — the CRATE is made in the USA and covered by Peli’s Lifetime Guarantee of Excellence. If you are curious where the rest of the catalogue is made, see Where are Peli cases made?

ModRail™: the part that is actually new 🔩

4. A T-slot rail around the whole case — no drilling, ever

Walk around a CRATE and you will see a continuous T-slot rail moulded into the exterior. Peli calls it ModRail™. It is the same idea as the aluminium T-slot extrusions used on expedition roof racks and camera rigs: slide a cleat, a loop or a bracket into the channel, tighten, done. Move it tomorrow. Nothing is drilled, nothing is permanent, and the IP67 seal is never compromised because you never touch the shell itself.

At launch Peli offers its own ModRail Cleat and ModRail Bar Loop for tie-down points, strap anchors and accessory mounting, plus a quick-release and a fixed vehicle mount kit announced for the CR90. In practice the rail is where you anchor ratchet straps, hang a shovel bracket, clamp a light or bolt on a third-party holder.

5. Rated to 45 kg — and open to third-party T-slot hardware

Peli has tested ModRail to carry loads of up to 100 lb (about 45 kg). That is enough for a full fuel-can bracket, a traction-board mount or a pair of heavy tie-down points, and it is the number to keep in mind when you start hanging things off the side of a crate on a corrugated track.

The second half of the story is more interesting for European buyers: ModRail is compatible with a wide range of third-party accessories built for standard T-slot rails. The overlanding world already runs on T-slot — rack platforms, awning brackets, table mounts, jerry-can holders, light bars. If a piece of hardware fits a standard T-slot extrusion, it will very likely fit a CRATE. That means you are not locked into one accessory catalogue the way you are with most proprietary case systems.

6. What ModRail is NOT for (read this before you buy roof straps)

Here is the paragraph most retailers will skip, and the one that will save you a case sliding off the motorway. Peli is explicit: ModRail is not intended or rated for securing the CRATE to a roof rack. The rail is for accessories and tie-down points on the case — not for being the structural link between the case and a moving vehicle.

For roof transport Peli recommends a platform-style roof rack with a flat, continuous support surface, and heavy-duty tie-down straps run over the entire crate. Mounting a CRATE across two bare crossbars is specifically not recommended, because the bars do not support the base evenly and the case can rock. If you want a purpose-built solution, the quick-release and fixed roof mount kits are the answer when they arrive. Until then: platform plus straps over the top. It is the same advice we give for any large hard case on a roof, and CRATE does not change the physics.

The lid, the latches and the details that make it usable 🔑

7. A lid that opens from either side — or comes off entirely

This is the feature you will appreciate on day two. A conventional hinged lid needs clearance behind the case. Push a 1620 against the wall of a van and you have to drag it out to open it. The CRATE lid is multi-position: it opens from the front, opens from the back, or lifts off completely. Strap three crates in a stack against a bulkhead and you can still get into the one at the bottom without unloading the ones on top.

The removable lid also solves a problem the overlanding community has been hacking around for years: with the lid off, a CRATE becomes an open bin. Kitchen box, wash station, a place to drop muddy recovery gear and sort it later. Snap the lid back on and it is sealed again.

8. Padlockable hasps, a purge valve and grab handles that take abuse

The latches are nylon, the same family as Peli’s other cases, and each hasp has a 0.79 cm padlock hole. That is the right size for a standard small shackle lock — and on a case that sits in a truck bed in a car park overnight, that matters more than it does for a camera case under your desk. The reinforced grab handles are moulded for gloved hands and for the reality that two people will carry a loaded 90L by its ends across uneven ground.

The automatic pressure equalisation valve is standard Peli practice, but it earns its place here: a crate that goes from a 35 °C car park to a 1,800 m pass will otherwise lock its own lid shut. The valve breathes air, not water, through a hydrophobic membrane.

9. An interior built for accessories, not for foam

Open a CRATE and you see a smooth, empty 45- or 90-litre tub. No foam, no pick-and-pluck, no TrekPak. That is by design. Peli’s own framing is clear: traditional Peli cases are optimised for the maximum protection of sensitive equipment in fixed loadouts, while CRATE prioritises organisation, accessibility and adaptability for loadouts that change.

The organisation comes from the launch accessories, all tool-free and all sold separately: a Divider Panel Set (one for the 45L, a longer one for the 90L) that splits the tub into compartments and carries a MOLLE grid on each panel, an Inner Tray (45L and 90L versions) that sits on the rim for small parts and tools (the thing you need first, on top), and the EZ-Click™ MOLLE Lid Panel that turns the inside of the lid into a MOLLE grid for pouches, knives, torches and first-aid kits. Peli has also said that a ModLight can be mounted inside the crate with an adapter plate, so a lit, organised kit box is on the cards. If you want to understand how this differs from a divider or TrekPak interior, we wrote Foam, dividers or TrekPak? — CRATE is essentially the fourth option that article did not have yet.

The Peli CRATE family — both sizes, both colours

Peli CRATE 45L CR45 — Black

Peli CRATE 45L CR45 — Desert Tan

Peli CRATE 90L CR90 — Black

Peli CRATE 90L CR90 — Desert Tan

Who CRATE is for — and who should still buy foam 🚙

10. Overlanders and 4x4 travellers: the obvious audience

Let us be honest about who Peli built this for. The launch imagery is roof platforms, pickup beds and desert tracks, and the Desert Tan colour option exists for a reason. On a long overland trip the problem is never “will the case break”; a Peli never breaks. The problem is access and change: you need the stove and the coffee at 7 a.m., the recovery boards at noon and the rain layers at 6 p.m., and all of it was packed in a different order yesterday.

A 90L on the platform for bulk — tent, chairs, recovery kit, spare fluids — with a 45L interlocked on top for the kitchen and the daily-access things is the configuration Peli clearly has in mind. Tie-down points go on ModRail cleats, straps go over the whole stack, and the lid of the top crate still opens on the roof because it opens from either side. It pairs naturally with the kind of trips we described in 10 European road trips better than the Amalfi Coast and with the growing off-grid Starlink crowd, who finally have a sealed box for a dish, a router and a battery that does not need cut foam.

11. Trades, field service, emergency teams and film crews

The second audience is the one that will quietly buy more of them: anyone who runs a vehicle-based kit for work. A field-service engineer with test equipment, consumables and spares. A film crew’s grip and cable crate. A municipal emergency team’s pre-packed kit that must sit in a van for months, stay dry, stack without strapping and open in a tight loading bay. A hunting or fishing group’s shared food and clothing box.

What all of these have in common is that the contents do not need cushioning — they need to be dry, dust-free, locked, organised and reachable. Cables, stands, hand tools, fasteners, PPE, rope, clothing, food: none of it benefits from cut foam, and all of it benefits from a tray on top, dividers below and a MOLLE lid for the small things. That is exactly the gap between a generic plastic tote and a foam-lined Peli, and until now Peli had nothing in it.

12. When NOT to buy a CRATE (and what to buy instead)

Here is the part a dealer who only wanted the sale would leave out. CRATE is not a replacement for the Protector, Air or Storm lines. If you are transporting a cinema camera, a drone with gimbal, a rifle with optics, a spectrometer, a server or any instrument where the risk is shock rather than water and dust, you still want a classic Peli with foam, TrekPak or padded dividers. The crate’s open tub lets contents move, and a moving telephoto lens is a broken telephoto lens.

Think of it as a spectrum. At one end: the Peli 1650, the 1620 and the Storm iM2950 — sealed, cushioned, wheeled vaults for things that must not take a hit. At the other end: a plastic tote from a DIY shop. CRATE sits in the previously empty middle: Peli-grade sealing and shell, zero cushioning, maximum flexibility. Buy the one that matches the fragility of what goes inside, not the one in the nicest video.

CRATE vs a classic Peli trunk: the honest comparison 📊

People will ask us “should I get a CRATE 90L or a 1620?” several times a week from now on, so here is the table we will send them.

The missing wheels deserve a sentence. A CRATE is designed to be lifted into a vehicle and stay there, or carried by two people. If your workflow is airport terminal → hotel → location, a wheeled 1620 or 1650 still wins. If it is driveway → roof rack → campsite, wheels are dead weight and CRATE is the better tool.

Need cushioning instead? Classic Peli transport cases

Peli 1620 Protector Case

Peli 1650 Protector Case

Peli Storm iM2950 Expedition Case

Peli 0550 Transport Case

Peli CRATE specifications at a glance 📐

A note on naming, since it confuses people every launch: in Europe the brand is Peli, in the Americas it is Pelican, and the CRATE is the same product under both names — CR45 and CR90. The SKUs you will see on EU stock carry an “E” suffix for the European distribution channel. If the two names bother you, What do Peli model numbers actually mean? explains the whole numbering logic, and CRATE is the first Peli line in years to break with the four-digit convention entirely.

Peli CRATE: the questions we get asked 💬

Is the CRATE really waterproof, or just splash-proof?

It is IP67, the same rating as a Peli 1510 or 1620: dustproof and watertight to one metre for 30 minutes when closed and latched. It is not a dive case and it is not meant to float loaded. For the full story on what the rating does and does not promise, read Are Peli cases really waterproof?

Can I put foam in a CRATE anyway?

Nothing stops you dropping a block of foam into the tub, and for a one-off transport of something fragile that is a reasonable hack. But the CRATE has no lid foam, no pre-scored interior and no foam-retaining lip, so a cut-foam layout will never be as secure as in a Protector. If you need foam permanently, buy a Protector; it is cheaper per litre and built for it.

Does a 45L fit inside a 90L?

No. The interior of the 90L is 27.94 cm deep and the 45L is 30.73 cm tall on the outside. They are designed to interlock on top of each other, not to nest one inside the other.

Will third-party T-slot accessories fit ModRail?

Peli states that ModRail is compatible with a wide range of third-party accessories made for standard T-slot rails. Check the slot width of the specific accessory against the rail before you buy, as T-slot profiles vary between manufacturers, but the system is explicitly open rather than proprietary.

Can I strap a CRATE to my roof bars?

Not to two bare crossbars — Peli does not recommend it. Use a platform rack with a flat surface and run straps over the whole case. Do not use ModRail as the roof attachment point; it is not rated for that.

Which accessories are available right now?

At launch: the ModRail Cleat, the ModRail Bar Loop, the Divider Panel Sets (45L and 90L), the Inner Trays (45L and 90L) and the EZ-Click MOLLE Lid Panel. Vehicle mount kits for the CR90 have been announced. Peli has said more organisation accessories will follow, which is the usual pattern for a new platform. Everything is sold separately from the empty case.

Is it covered by the lifetime guarantee?

Yes. CRATE carries the same Lifetime Guarantee of Excellence as the Protector line. Accessories and normal wear items follow Peli’s standard terms.

Before you order: a 10-point CRATE checklist ✅

1. Is the contents fragile? If yes, you want a foam or TrekPak Protector, not a CRATE.
2. Does the kit change from job to job? If yes, CRATE is the right tool.
3. Measure the vehicle first. A 90L is 81.79 cm long — check the roof platform, the bed and the tailgate opening.
4. Stack logic: 90L at the bottom for bulk, 45L on top for daily-access items.
5. Roof rack type: platform with a flat surface only; not two bare crossbars.
6. Straps over the case, not through ModRail, for roof transport.
7. Order the interior at the same time: dividers and the inner tray in the matching size (45L or 90L), the MOLLE lid panel for either crate.
8. Buy two small padlocks (shackle ≤ 7.9 mm) if the crate will sit in a vehicle overnight.
9. Colour: black for job sites and vans, Desert Tan if it lives in the sun and you want it to stay cooler and show less dust.
10. Weight budget: 4.76 kg and roughly 9.3 kg empty before you fill them — plan the roof load limit accordingly.

The bottom line

Peli CRATE is the most interesting thing to come out of Peli in a decade, precisely because it stops pretending that every piece of gear needs a foam cradle. The shell, the seal, the valve and the guarantee are pure Peli. The open tub, the ModRail system, the either-side lid and the interlocking stack are something the brand simply did not offer before — and the overlanding, trades and emergency-response worlds have been improvising around that gap with totes and ratchet straps for years.

Buy a 45L if you want one box that does everything for a van or a weekend. Buy a 90L if you have bulk to move. Buy both if you have a roof platform. And keep buying Protectors for the things that must not take a hit. We will be adding the CRATE accessories to the store as Peli’s European stock arrives; until then, the two empty cases above are in stock and shipping across the EU. 🚚