Scuba Cache

[+linxdev]

I was doing my normal 5 mile walk tonight and had this crazy idea. A Scuba Cache. I do not scuba but I do spend time at Lake Lanier. I thought I could use PVC to build the cache.

 

http://buford.linxdev.com/cache.jpg

 

The only way to get to it would be to dive to it. The weight may be so heavy that it goes too deep in the mud?

[+mtn-man]

Scuba cache construction is more of a topic for the Geocaching Topics forum. I am going to move this there.

[+Jhwk]

Could you anchor it to a weight on the bottom? Then the weight can sink in the mud and the cache is "safe"

[k_statealan]

I recently put out an underwater cache (not scuba, just shallow water) with PVC and it is working ok. I used a small 4" tube with caps on the end that were sealed with large rubber gaskets and plugged with another small cap in the center. Found all at Home Depot for just a few bucks.

 

However, there is one scuba cache near here that uses an ammocan. It was originally a cache chained to a tree above water in the middle of a lake, but wind and waves shifted the tree early last year and the cache sunk. The owner recently recovered it after 18 months and it remained dry as a bone inside, so he decided to leave it as a scuba cache.

 

Ammocans are cheaper and easier than PVC and they have the added advantage of needing less weight to keep them from floating. My PVC cache required attaching a concrete weight plus packing it with swag plus attaching a hook and cord as a failsafe to keep it under. Extra weight would be much easier to add to the ammocan (at the handle) than it would be to the PVC.

[hobo dude]

I actually have a multi that the final 2 stages are done with scuba gear. I have used small containers that will float but are anchored to stationaly objects. It is seeming to work fine now. I know if I were to go too deep the silt on the bottom would cause a lot of problems for visibility and really wreck things for other divers in the lake so I have tried to keep things off the bottom for that reason. I hope that you can find something that works and you can get it approved.

[+ElectricBird]

I live near Alatoona, but go to Lanier often, too.

 

I think your best bet would be to anchor it to a bouy line to keep it from being moved by the current or hidden by debris or silt.

[+-Low-Bat-]

As long as the cache is placed so you can maintain it.

[+ThePropers]

As long as the cache is placed so you can maintain it.

 

No kidding. If you don't SCUBA and you have to dive to get it, how are you going to maintain it?

[+dr.clean]

As long as the cache is placed so you can maintain it.

 

No kidding. If you don't SCUBA and you have to dive to get it, how are you going to maintain it?

 

Having recently placed a cache in Lake Erie with MsKardiac, you really need to be able to maintain the cache. I took 3 separate trips to get this one right. It is a perforated 3" x 12"pvc tube with one end closed and a cleanout plug on the other end, 16'of aircraft cable looped through the cache container and the other end looped through an eye hook firmly screwed into a wreck. The wire allows cachers to move it off the bottom without disturbing the silt while they check the contents and sign the attached dive slate.

 

For more info on scuba caches, styles and techniques, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scubacachers/

 

Happy caching!

[+redtailfalconer]

The way I built my SCUBA cache was I used a 20 lb. free weight for my bottom anchor. I attached a plastic coated steel cable to that with a Float on top. The length of the line is about 5 feet. The cache is on a slider to go up the line. I used a pvc pipe for the cache, and a dive slate for the log. I plan on putting this cache in the water next summer in Lake George.

[+dr.clean]

The way I built my SCUBA cache was I used a 20 lb. free weight for my bottom anchor. I attached a plastic coated steel cable to that with a Float on top. The length of the line is about 5 feet. The cache is on a slider to go up the line. I used a pvc pipe for the cache, and a dive slate for the log. I plan on putting this cache in the water next summer in Lake George.

 

Sounds excellent! I'd love to hear about it when you place it! I can probably fit in a road trip next summer!

[+AtoZ]

I don't think you should place the cache as you can not maintain it. If you can't do the cache then I don't think you should place it.

cheers