Attach Nodes to Users for a "Gear Box"

I am brand new to drupal, and am trying to use it to build a social networking site (of course, that is why I am posting here). Although new, I have tried to research this question/idea but have not found a whole lot. Good chance I have blatantly overlooked some resource, and if that is the case, I apologize (but please point me to the resource). Here is what I would like to do:

I want to allow users to have a Gear Box, in which they list the gear they use for their activity (ie, Callaway Big Bertha club), and add it to their Gear Box. I would like users to be able to create their own gear, but also allow them to add gear from the nodes other users have already created. There will be different types of gear (clubs, balls, gloves, etc). My current plan is to create a custom content type for each type.

So here are my questions (if the above is possible)
1) Can I group the Content Types together (in a Gear collection)
2) How do I allow users to attach these nodes to their "Gear"
3) How do I allow multiple users to add the same item to their respective "Gear" boxes?

Thanks in advance, sorry for being a newb.

Josh