wet cache logs

[+jaceyb99]

Hi, I am a bit puzzled about my caches as I keep getting ones reported as wet.

I put them in 35mm film containers. By design they are air tight. I once put an alca-seltza tablet in water in one of them to make it explode (a fun thing from TV) so I know they are tight.

Saying all this I have had 4 reports now of different caches becoming wet and the logs inside rotting. I went to 2 of these the other day. The container was intact and lid was on but the cache was wet. Strangely this container was not a normal 35 mm container but a special one I bought from a geocache site which also said it was water tight.

 

So just wondered if someone had ideas why my logs are getting wet !!

[+va griz]

You can build up enough pressure inside to pop the top, but they aren't water tight in the long run.

[+jaceyb99]

ah ok. Any ideas on how to improve this ? The lid overlaps the container so I would think that any water would run off. Unless it's actually submerged in water then I would understand but this is still puzzling !

[+briansnat]

35 mm film canisters are not watertight. I've rarely found one where the log was dry. The black ones with the gray lid are worse than the clear ones, but both seem to fail to keep water out much of the time.

 

The only way to improve on it is to improve the container. Waterproof matcboxes are inexpensive (Under a dollar) and far, far better containers.

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

ah ok. Any ideas on how to improve this ? The lid overlaps the container so I would think that any water would run off. Unless it's actually submerged in water then I would understand but this is still puzzling !

 

Place the log into a ziplock bag. If the problem persists, which is likely since moisture will still get through the bag's seal if it's repeatedly opened and closed, you will have to replace the container with one that has a rubber seal.

[+StarBrand]

Take your film can, put a tissue in it, replace the cap.

 

Place it on its side in a sink under a slow but steady drip.

 

Come back in 4 or 5 hours.

 

Your tissue will be somewhere between damp and soggy.

 

Use a container with some kind of o-ring seal. Wal Mart sells a matchstick holder for about 88 cents in camping supplies.

[+va griz]

Like the OP, I have also wondered why film cans are not water tight. My theory, still unproven, is that they're actually made out of a reverse Gor-Tex material. So if you turned one inside out and filled it with water, it would be bone dry in an hour.

 

Just a theory.

[+PlantAKiss]

So just wondered if someone had ideas why my logs are getting wet !!

 

Most people have answered your question. Film cannisters are not watertight, no matter how much you THINK they should/would be.

 

Now...the pertinent issue is...what do you do about it.

 

I know of a local cache, placed by someone with 0 finds (at that time), that is a plastic, snap-lid coffee cannister (not watertight) that was placed in what was obviously a wetland/flood area. There were numerous "wet log" notes. After the cache owner went and poured all the water out, they put back the same container in the same area...but placed a big baggie over the top. Open baggie...not sealed. I politely emailed the newbie owner and told her that her container wasn't watertight and gently suggested she try an ammo can. She wrote a nice reply and thanked me for the information. But to this day, the cache remains the same leaky container and wet logs continue to be mentioned.

 

Point is...hopefully you can change your cache container to something that IS watertight...like the suggested match-holder containers. And then everyone will be happy with a dry log...including you!

 

By the way, once even a LITTLE moisture gets into a "sealed" container, the water evaporates and then condenses on just about everything in the container. So even a little rain dripping off someone's coat into an ammo can will cause dampness inside.

[+J-Way]

The best way to make a film can watertight is to put it in an ammocan.

Edited February 10, 2009 by J-Way