texasgrillchef

Agreed, your part of the world definately needs true waterproof containers. The part of the country I am in we need containers that are more resistant to heat & UV exposure than anything. I have seen normal plasic lock'n'locks deteriote after a year of being exposed to direct sunlight. Although Pelican & Otter box's seem to use a better quality plastic that has better UV protection built in. Probably one of the big reasons why they are so damed expensive! How are "Bison" tubes doing up there as geocaches? Are they working out well? I will soon have a "How To" on how to make your own bison tubes. Although they won't be as pretty! LOL TGC

Margarine/butter tubs, mayo/mircle whip bottles, peanut butter bottles, coffee cans (plastic or metal), Jelly/Jam plastic jars, the list goes on & on & on. All of which need little to NO additional "Modifications" to become an excellant geocache container. Again depending on the location that you wish to put your geocache container. None of these would work at 50' under water, or at the North/South Pole, or on top of Mount Everest. Pringles & Lipton Powdered ice tea containers as well as most if not all FOOD canisters made of cardboard HAVE been impregnated with a wax at high pressures & temperatures. (Seen it in "How It's Made" episode on the "Discovery" channel, they showed making the "store brand" version of pringles containers). Yet, like I said in my previous starting post. When tested, the canisters (Pringles, Liptons etc...) all held water out of the container for only a short period of time. Held the water in the container longer then keeping it out. But either way was LESS than 24 hours. My method more then TRIPLES the time the canisters will handle water. I do NOT claim that this method, or using of these types of MODIFIED containers are perfect for EVERY geocaching situation. They are NOT. However, they are still a GOOD container for SOME geocache locations. If you live in swamp lands of the South, or in the wet areas of Washington, then no these won't be good cache containers. If you live in Texas or AZ, or NM or anywhere else that you get less than 24" of percipitation a year. (Places that when it rains it never or very rarely rains more than 2-3" in a day) then these container modifications will hold up JUST fine. I have also done the following test with these modified containers. I water my yard 3 times week with a sprinkler system. I use a rain gauge to measure how much water I have watered the yard with. I have put these containers under the sprinkler system for 2 weeks. Each time the yard is watered, I give it a good soaking, by watering my yard an average of 2-3" equivalant rain fall. So far they are doing just fine with no leakage or moisture inside what so ever. I will admit though that in this test, the containers have a good chance to have their "Exteriors" dry out fully before the next "Rain" fall. RECYCLING these containers is much better then throwing them into our land fills. EVEN if all you do is store your stuff from around the house. I have about 20 pringles containers full of pennies, nickels & dimes that I have collected from our families pockets over the years. Some day I will get around to rolling them up and taking them to the bank. Although they make great paper weights as well as good door stoppers too! I just beleive that we all should recycle as much as possible. Currently in our area of Dallas, Pringles/Lipton type canisters are not yet allowed in our recycle bins. Even though the canisters are marked as being recyclable. There are lots of household containers that can easily be used for geocaches WITH little to NO modifications as well as some that with some modifications can be used as well. If you don't want to be green & make modifications then don't. No one is holding a gun to your head to be "Green". At least not YET! LOL TGC

I wouldn't doubt it. Washington is wetter than the marshlands of southeast texas! I don't think any container that isn't made to be 100% waterproof could withstand washington! TGC

After a month of design and testing I have figured out a way to RECYCLE used cardboard containers into water resistant geocache containers suitable for most areas. By cardboard containers I am refering to those containers of various sizes such as Pringles cans, Lipton powdered ice tea cans, dishwasher tabs cans, as well as a few other cardboad cans that household food & cleaning products come in. Pringles & Lipton cans have a foil lining in them, the others have a wax coated paper lining. When testing I have found that all of these cans when filled with water will hold the water for about 1 to 2 hours before they start leaking. If you semi-submerge the cans in a pool of water, so that the water is trying to get IN rather than OUT like the previous test, then water leakage INTO the can begins in as little as 30 min. So I tried a few things & ran the same tests again. After many hours of trial & error, this is what I found that actually works to be USABLE as a geocache container in areas that the container could be pounded with heavy rains or days of very wet weather. After the following steps, I tested on no less then 10 cardboard cans, all of various sizes with success. When filled with water, they hold water for about 48 hours before any notiable signs of water leakage begins. When put into a pool of water in the sink, with the water trying to get INTO the container, it succesfully held the water out for over 72 hours. In all cases, the container was NOT fully submerged as the LID is NOT water proof for submerging. I will explain this in detail later. Here are the steps... 1. Clean the inside & outside of the can. Make sure no "oils" for the food product or whatever other product was in the canister. Make sure you let the can fully dry out. 2. Using vinyl tape. Otherwise known as common electrical tape cover the entire outside of the can. So that each turn overlaps the previous turn. Give the can at least 2 layers. Make sure that their are NO wrinkels or BUBBLES in your wrapping. Make sure the ENTIRE double layer wrapping is ONE single length piece of vinyl tape. Do not cut. This isn't an easy task and can take some patience. Do not cover the metal bottom. This tape helps provide a layer of strength as well as a layer of water resistance. 3. Do the same with as step 2 with a high quality duct tape. This can be of any colour or style, including camo duct tape if you choose. Again, make sure you use one single length of tape & that the entire can is covered. Do not cover the metal bottom. Make sure their are NO bubbles or wrinkles in your duct tape wrapping. This layer of tape provides alot of strength as well as another layer of water resistance. 4. Now we are going to COAT the ouside & inside of the can with a polyurethane clear coat spray paint. Be carefull as to which product you purchase. Some are made ONLY to coat WOOD products. Such as a brand from "Minwax". The kind of polyurethane clear coat you want to get, is the kind that will work to cover plastics, metal, or painted items. Using a clear coat will maintain the colour of your duct tape. If you don't want to use the colour of your duct tape, then all you need is an oil based polyurethane paint (GLOSSY) using the colour of your choice. I have tested several brands. They all seem about the same. I have found you need NO LESS than at least 4 coats of clear coat &/or paint. (Then again the number of coats needed is also dependant on the brand your using) Using the clear coat/paint. Spray the metal bottom on the outside as well the same number of coats. This will help prevent rusting & add to the life of your can. It will still eventually rust, but will triple the life. The paint/clear coat will soak into the duct tape, helping the duct tape to remain where it is as well as provide even more resistance to water. Give the can at least 36 hours to dry AFTER applying the LAST coat of clear coat/paint before you start using it as your geocache container. The container for the most part is very water resistant. However there is a caveat to this design that I have yet to resolve. Because of the way the "Snap on" lids work, the lids will only prevent the container from getting water inside them as long as the container is right side up. If it is laid on its side or gets inverted, water could still get in around the lid. I would say the average cost per can of using the tape & paint. About $3 per can as the can of paint & rolls of tape will obviously do quite a few cans. The cost of the cans are FREE because you obtained the cans because you wanted the product inside them. I am sure there are some tweaks that could make this "Mod" even better. Such as using a more expensive Silicon based clear coat/paint, or even an epoxy based clear coat/paint. Epoxy based paint though is about $30 a gallon & Silicon paint is about $25 a gallon. In my next HOW TO: I will show you how to MAKE YOUR OWN BISON TUBES! TGC

You make a very good point. Having had my hands turn black for a week many many years ago in college & the pains that caused me. I would not want to live through that experiance again. Even though the woman in my life now would probably still let me touch her... maybe.. LOL You could always warn them on the cache page, assuming the maggot wasn't checking geocaching.com.... but they probably are. Who knows. TGC

Well I would hope that having black hands for a week would be enough punishment! I know when I got that stuff on my hands in college, it was a very horrible week for me! GF wouldn't let me touch her the entire time! LOL (She was afraid I would turn her black too!) TGC

Staples, Office Depot, Kinkos as well as a few other places can laminate for you on a "As needed" basis. However, if you plan on doing alot of laminating it would be cheaper to just buy yourself a laminator, along with the appropriate size sheets that are needed for your uses. I have found that the "Sticky" glue self laminating pages are: 1. a pain to use. 2. They only "Seal one side" of the paper. so any "Bending" or folding that might get done will break the seal. 3. you can't trim very close to what you have laminated. In alot of cases you need at least 1/4" or more "Border" on the self laminating pages. A true heat baed lamination you can trim the border to as close as 1/8" and in some cases as close as 1/16". Having used both systems, the heat based lamination systems are the best way to go. Look at it this way... Its the difference between buying a hamburger at Micky D's and getting one at Fudruckers or some other high end hamburger specialty restaurant. JMO anyways... I laminate most everything that doesn't have to be written on in my cache/hide and the heat based system has worked wonders. TGC

Actually here is an EASIER and MUCH CHEAPER way of doing it. At Cabella's, or The Bass Pro Shop, or even online somewhere. You can get a outdoor "NATURE" camera. They are waterproof, digital, Camo'd, and will run for WEEKS on their internal battery system. You can easily hide them in the woods FACING your geocache. When the camera detects motion, it will take a photo, or even a seriers of photos. All are stored on a SD card. You can mount this camera high high up in a tree, so that even if the MAGGOT does find the camera. (WHich honestly I doubt they will). He might not be able to get to it being high up in the tree. These nature cameras's which were mainly designed to take pictures of animals that are hard to find & capture have been used by many proffestionals, including National Geographic. The cameras run from as little as $100 now on up to several thousand depending on what features you want. Such as HD (1980x1080p) resolution. The other thing you could do to be mean.... is... put about $10 worth of $1 bills in the cache. Lightly coat them with a fine SODIUM NITRATE powder. When he comes to NAB the $1 bills, the moisture of his hands will disolve the Sodium Nitrate powder on his fingers. The sun light will then "Expose" the Sodium Nitrate solution, which will then turn his hands BLACK. This blackness CAN"T be washed off. His hands will be black for about a week. Less if he is a manual laborer. You can get sodium nitrate powder from http://unitednuclear.com It isn't that expensive. All you need is about 1 teaspoons worth for $10 worth of $1 bills. TGC

I keep saying and thinking... when ever someone opposes having a gun, or carrying a gun. 1. OUTLAWS... (Criminals) don't give a rats a** about any laws or rules. They will carry a gun weather or not you like it and weather or not their is a law against it. If they want to shoot you, they will, & only another gun will stop them. 2. When guns are outlawed... only outlaws will have guns. My point being is that the people who are actually LAW ABIDING CITIZENS (BTW watch the movie with that name coming soon, I saw the sneak preview very good!) aren't the ones you need to worry about carying guns. They won't shoot you unless you give them good legal reasons to do so. It's the ones who are criminals, the so called bad guys that will carry a gun with intentions of no good that you have to worry about. Those guys don't care about gun laws and no gun law or rules, or regulations is going to STOP them from having a gun. EVER. As long as guns exist outlaws will have guns. Even if they have to make them themselvs. Bombs are illegal and don't normally exist. Yet they do... cause as we all know we can make one. Timothy McVei did! So having bombs "Banned" didn't save the lives of the 169 who lost their life in Oklahoma City. TGC

How about going for an underwater cache? As far as I know things don't burn very well underwater. I could be wrong though. TGC

The easiest thing without messing with glue, or tape, inside or out... is simply TWO magnets. One on the inside & one on the outside. However.... according to this one company. All you may need is ONE magnet on the INSIDE and it could hold almost anything you wanted! Check out... http://www.unitednuclear.com/magnets.htm They have a couple of magnets that I bet could hold a HUNDRED pounds or more to most things & only be the size of a 3" x 1" disk! I garuntee no glue or tape is needed then! TGC

No Green Latern? TGC

All I will say on this subject is this: 1. I have a concealed weapons permit & I am in the great state of TEXAS. 2. I carry my weapon wherever I am legally allowed to by law. Anywhere that I am NOT legally allowed to have my firearm with me is locked in a my firearm safe that is bolted firmly to my truck frame. Which requires my thumb print as well as security code to open. 3. Even when I carry my firearm, it is NEVER concealed. I keep it holstered on my belt in full view of everyone. In the great state of Texas, you don't need a concealed weapons permit to carry if your weapon isn't concealed. State Parks in Texas as well as the National Park service will soon allow those with Concealed weapons permits to carry their firearm on park property provided that the Park Rangers are notified upon entering the park. IMHO... If you dont' want to carry a firearm geocaching, or anywhere else. Then by all means don't. If you are LEGALLY allowed to have a firearm & carry it, & you wish to carry a firearm with you while geocaching & it is legal to do so in your state. Then please feel free to do so. As long as you follow the law I don't have a problem with anyone carrying their firearm. Keep in mind one thing when it comes to laws around firearms.... Only those who wish to be legal don't break the law. When GUNS are OUTLAWED... ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS! TGC

This is just my opinion.... Personally I feel that in life "S**T" happens sometimes. Because of this cache/hides sometimes need to be disabled &/or archived from time to time. Now... when "S**T" happens.... should a cache be disabled or archived. Well... 1. If the CO has honest intentions of "Fixing" the issue with the cache, then in that case the cache should be disabled. However... if the CO knows that he won't be able to "Fix" the issue, &/or has no desire to ever fix the issue. Then in that case the cache SHOULD be archived & NOT just disabled. 2. If a cache is disabled. A reasonable time should be given for the CO to "FIX" the issue at hand. At the time the cache is disabled, the CO SHOULD leave a log as to WHY the cache was disabled. If it is known that because of the "ISSUE" at hand that the issue will cause an EXTRA delay in getting the cache fixed, then the CO should say so in the log as well. NO cache should be disabled for LONGER than 30 days, UNLESS an unusual circumstance is involved. 3. Caches that have been disabled for longer than 30 days WITHOUT an unusual circumstance should be reviewed by the local reviewer & that reviewer should contact the CO about the future of this cache. If the local reviwer doesn't get a response within 14 days or doesn't obtain a reasonable solution for this cache, then the reviwer should archive the cache. 4. In those circumstances that the reviewer has not reviewed the disabled cache, or has not had contact with the CO. In other words because the reviewer has been busy themselvs. Then users (us) should initiate an SBA OR... contact the CO to see if they are willing to allow you to ADOPT their cache. At which point if you adopt their cache you can make changes as needed, or as you see fit. This is only my opinion though. however... in my neck of the woods.. there have been 2 cache's that have been disabled for OVER 90 days. I initiated contact on both of them offering to ADOPT both of them. One one I got no response back after an additional 30 days. (Which made the cache disabled for 120 days). I then initiated an SBA on.. As of today it's still archived. The other the CO contacted me back, said he would have it fixed in 2 weeks, & now... it's back online and available again. TGC

Then it's time to issue a SBA & leave it at that! TGC

Get you some Neodymium magnets... 2 big ones... put one on the INSIDE of your plastic container, & one on the OUTSIDE. These are super magnets... so you can get ALOT of magnetic power from a very SMALL physical size. The two magnets inside & outside will hold each other together, & the outside magnet will hold the container to the metal that you want to attache it too. I use this setup in my kitchen to hold plastic SPICE bottles to my spice rack. a 1" diameter, 1/8" thick neodymium magnet (With a N45 rating) will easily hold up to about 5lbs when stuck to Steel. Less if the quality of metal is lower. If your attaching it to cast iron, it can hold as much as 10lbs. The cost of 2 of those 1" round 1/8" thick Neodymium magnets? About $2 - $4 There are many places on the internet you can find them. Look for a neodymium magnets with at least a N45 rating. TGC

What about the difference betwen kayaking on smooth wave free lake/river water and having to kayak on wavy ocean water, or white water on a river? COULDN"T that constitue the difference between 4.5 stars and 5? A Kayak cache/hide should allow the DIFFERENCE between those two. Kayaking on smooth wave free water is MUCH easier than having to kayak on white water, or open ocean water & dealing with the waves. THUS.... Kayaking should be given a 4.5 star or 5 star accordingly. TGC

ABSOLUTELY!.... I just received my order from http://www.orientaltrading.com I ordered Smiley face balls of all different shapes and sizes & types. Smiley face RUBIX cubes, Smiley face & Earth printed "Slinkeys", Smiley face erasers, I even ordered some smiley face LOG BOOKS! They have all sorts of other smiley faced swag as well. Really cool stuff I think. They have all sorts of other great SWAG as well. You can find cool swag for as little as 10 cents each all the way up to $4 & $5 each. Don't think anyone wants to go that expensive. Starting with my [/b] caches... I order some DOG TAGS... engraved with "Congrats for the FTF". Leaving space free to put the name of the cache hide I make at a later time, & leaving the other side blank for the FTF to engrave if they desire as well. The cost... about 85 cents each. Anyways... I think it's a great place for some cool inexpensive swag that will BEAT ANYTHING you can find at the Dollar store. www.orientaltrading.com TGC

I do that! I wear my flips geocaching, golfing & anything else I can get away with!! I've started taking along my shoes... but, yeah! LOVE my flips!!! My husband goes with me, but thats more because I have a tendancy to get hurt doing nothing, so you can imagine how dangerous I am in nature!! A few weeks ago, we had to step over a barbed wire fence that was maybe a foot off the ground. I told him I wouldn't make it! Sure enough, stupid fence took me out!! So yeah... he'd be a muggle if he could, but for my own safety, he can't be! Hope you married a Paramedic!

Did ya marry Morticia? TGC

Yes, it does. I think that all depends on HOW the velcro is attached to the location, & what the location material is made of. If your referring to velcro with a sticky back. It would also depend on the type of "glue" used on that velcro. Sticking velcro to glass won't damage the glass. You can pull it off, clean the window as you would normally clean the window, & it leaves no damage. I believe the "RULE" applies to anything that would leave PERMANANT damge of any type, including damage that would require repair as well. I have in my collection at least 15 different types of velcro & double stick tape. MANY of which were made to attache to various different items and be REMOVED without causing any damage to the item it was stuck too. I have velcro/Double stick tape made to stick on Walls, concrete, Wood paneling, Furniture, Stone, metal, & glass & be REMOVED and at the same time leaving NO damage. So again... I would say if the velcro in question that is used can be removed and not cause any damage. Then it is fine. IF it can cause damage to the surface it was attached too. Then I would say it DOES break the rule. Same thing applies to double stick tape. TGC

While I agree with this concept 100%.... I don't think that is what the OP was getting at. Example... Placing a cache in an URBAN GARDEN obvioulsy wasn't designed to handle a ton of geocachers. Yet... the OP was ALSO refering to cache/hides that are out in state/city parks that are off the "Trail" system. This is where the geocache HUNTER is responsible for NOT using a machette and hacking down the forest to get to the cache/hide that is located in a nice wilderness area of a State &/or city park. It goes both ways... CO's SHOULD take responsibilty for WHERE they put their caches. However... geocache hunters should NOT be using lawn mowers, machettes and other tools to CREATE a path to GZ, or be doing anything out of the oridnary to find the cache. One example I will give. In our area a CO put a cache hide under some trees. To get there you had to hike yourself across a huge field of waist to chest high grass. Now JUST walking through it automatically creates a "Trail". When my wife, & beagle were making our way back from the cache/hide to the city created trail system. We easily followed our way "home" from just the path we INADVERTANTLY created walking through the grass. We tried to MINIMIZE that path as much as possible. Yet their is only so much we could do. So in that respects a CO would in my opinion be responsible for that kind of path..... WHAT the CO would NOT be responsible for... is if I brought along my handy dandy Troy-Bilt "Brush Mower" and MOWED my way through the field. THAT would NOT be cool.... and in that case I would be the responsible party... NOT the CO. See my point? It's that mowing, or use of a machette or any other power tool, or piece of lawn equipment that the OP was complaining about being used!

Other side of the line? You mean her cache & my cache maybe seperated by this invisible line so her cache is reviewed by one person & mine by another? WOW... considering hers & mine are both in the same public park, on the same trail system & withint 634 feet from each other. Thats a mighty fine line! LOL Guess it could happen though. Intersting though. Like I said just am curious, love to know the process of everything. Why I love backstage passes... Not because I get to party with the celebs.. but I get to watch how everything works! TGC

oh I am patient... No big hurry. The one I submited on Wed, was a multi. So if they set those aside to process later, then that makes sense why it hasn't been reviewed yet. (Although this is the first cache I have ever submited that took longer than 3 days to publish) As far as the cache/hide that me & her both submitted at the same time. They are completely identical. Mainly cause we making them be "Married" caches. Both hers & mine are Traditional caches. Same everything. On the Same public park, only 634 feet from each other. (Still over the min of 528) and neither of our caches are within 700 feet of any other cache/hides. So if there is a problem with my hide, I wouldn't have the slighest idea what it would be, as it hasn't been officially reviewed and feedback given as to why it hasn't been published. (At least at the time I am writing this). She has temporarliy disabled hers as our caches were meant to work as a pair. Her's is known as "Mrs. Trail of OUCHES" and Mine is known as "MR. Trail of OUCHES" and both are on the same "Trail of OUCHES". Both are traditional caches. A geocacher will be able to search for one & not the other if they so choose.... but the "cache contents" (Other than the log) have been split between the two caches... Like the FTF puzzle prize. Half is in hers, the other half in mine. TGC

First off I want to say this... I am NOT complaining. Just seeking further information. I know that once you submit a new cache/hide, it can take up to 3 days to get reviewed & hopefully published. Sometimes it can take alot less time. I currently have 8 cache/hides. A few took the full 3 days to get published, and a few others were published within 24 hours of me submitting them. I also realize that the reviewer is doing this as "Volunteer Work", & that they have a life too. That is WHY I am NOT complaining. Just trying to understand the actual process that goes on "Behind" the scenes as well. I only ask... because... This week I submitted 2 cache/hides. As of the writing of this post. They have not yet been reviewed & of course not published. One cache hide was submitted on Wed August 6th at 8:30am Although I am not for sure how that time is calcuated. As according to my records I submited it on August 6th at 11:30 am CST. I then submitted my second cache hide Friday August 7th, at about 9am CST. My Wife... submitted her cache/hide at the same time Friday August 7th, at 9am CST as well. Her cache/hide was reviewed and published that night at around 8pm CST. So what I am wondering is... Me & her BOTH submitted a cache/hide at the same exact time. (She has her own computer and I have mine). Yet hers was reveiwed and published within less than 12 hours, & mine has YET to even be reviewed. In addition I have a cache/hide that I submited MORE than 48 previous to my wife's submittal, & my second submittal & that one has yet to be reviewed either. Like I said.. I am NOT mad nor am I complaining (Even though it may sound like it). I am just curious how the process works. Thanks TGC