Otter Box Latches

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

My wonderful beloved just bought me an Otter Box for a puzzle cache I'm putting together (tentatively titled "Princess Jasmine's Pirate Treasure"). The Otter Box looks like it will be perfect as a jewelry box for Princess Jasmine's jewelry swag and I have read that they do a good job keeping out the wet. But the latches are very difficult to open. Has anyone had difficulty using Otter Boxes in the field? Do anxious cachers break the latches?

 

Carolyn

[+ecanderson]

My wonderful beloved just bought me an Otter Box for a puzzle cache I'm putting together (tentatively titled "Princess Jasmine's Pirate Treasure"). The Otter Box looks like it will be perfect as a jewelry box for Princess Jasmine's jewelry swag and I have read that they do a good job keeping out the wet. But the latches are very difficult to open. Has anyone had difficulty using Otter Boxes in the field? Do anxious cachers break the latches?

 

Carolyn

I use the 3000 series for some other stuff (at $20+ a pop, WAY too expensive for caches!) and have not noted that the latches are particularly difficult to deal with - Solid, but not tighter than the materials with which they're constructed. Never broke one.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

I use the 3000 series for some other stuff (at $20+ a pop, WAY too expensive for caches!) and have not noted that the latches are particularly difficult to deal with - Solid, but not tighter than the materials with which they're constructed. Never broke one.

 

Thank you! That's good to know. I really like how this Otter Box looks for the cache I'm putting together so I'll just have to find a safe location to put it. Is there a high theft rate of cache boxes in the field?

 

Carolyn

[+Von-Horst]

Ammo cans seem to go missing quite often in here the UK (the theory, rightly or wrongly, is that 'someone' seaches for listings that mention ammo cans). Sometimes the contents also go, often they don't.

 

Otter Boxes are by and large too expensive for use as caches over here, so we tend to use lok-n-lok type boxes instead.

 

Whilst some (most?) caches seem to last a long time, I think you'd have to be prepared for the fact that one day the cache is likely to 'vanish' and only use a cache container that won't break your heart (or the bank!) when/if it goes...

 

Mike

[+geodarts]

I have used Otter boxes in some locations. The main problem has been with cachers not taking the time to close them right so water gets in -- I have had to go back to maintain about half of the Otter or Pelican boxes I have used because of this. But nobody has reported difficulty with opening them.

[+J10fly]

They do tend to be tough to open at first but they seem to break in after a while. Also, they are hard to break, actually I think the latches are removeable if I recall correctly. Have to check one of the ones back at the shop.

[+StarBrand]

My one pelicanbox hide was a bit stiff for the first 10 finders or so but nobody said ahything after that - lasted 2 years before flood carried it away.

[Clan Riffster]

Carolyn, how far off the beaten path are you going to hide this?

Around these parts, the value of the container, combined with how close it is to being a park & grab, largely determines its theft risk factor.

A film can behind a dumpster is pretty safe. An ammo can, not so much. An ammo can at the end of a 3 mile swamp bushwhack, is pretty safe.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

Carolyn, how far off the beaten path are you going to hide this?

Around these parts, the value of the container, combined with how close it is to being a park & grab, largely determines its theft risk factor.

A film can behind a dumpster is pretty safe. An ammo can, not so much. An ammo can at the end of a 3 mile swamp bushwhack, is pretty safe.

 

What I am currently looking for is a site with a pleasant 1-2 hour hike in bottomland forest with some minor bushwacking toward the end. Failing that, I am looking for a shorter hike with more bushwacking in light swamp, marsh, or weir. The sort of thing that can be crossed by laying down a pattern of sticks or simply wading through. (Our swampy land is not as deep as yours, I think.) I want to try to keep the terrain rating somewhere around 2.5-3. I'm willing to go down to 2 if it is a truly breathtaking site and I'm willing to do 3.5 only if it is both beautiful and reasonably near to where I live.

 

I'm really having a great deal of trouble finding a location I like. I have discovered that I am apparently the world's pickiest princess when it comes to picking a location for this hide. I've found two other locations I like that I intend to put hides, but they're not good enough for the Princess Jasmine cache, though they are both reasonably pretty sites. (I have an ammo can and a witz case for the other two hides and puzzles ready for those as well.) I am beginning to think that my aesthetic sense needs to be pinned to Snoogans' Tree of Angst and have tomatoes thrown at it.

 

I really like the Otter Box. It looks like a jewelry box and it is water-tight. Since it will be filled with jewelry, it is perfect. But, of course, I don't want it to disappear in the swamp or be taken by someone. I plan to cable it to its location because that is the only way ammo cans survive our floods and I assume the same will be true of this Otter Box but I am not under any illusions that cables can prevent determined thieves.

 

Carolyn

(The angsty hider)

[Clan Riffster]

I have discovered that I am apparently the world's pickiest princess when it comes to picking a location for this hide.

That's what I refer to has having high standards. I see it as a good thing.

[+ecanderson]

Failing that, I am looking for a shorter hike with more bushwacking in light swamp, marsh, or weir.

I think you'll find that in most areas, things tend to go missing due to misadventures with non-cachers a lot more than with cachers. A cache reasonably well placed in the areas you describe aren't likely to be stumbled across by accident. Your Otter should stay out there for a good, long while. We've got ammo cans out here in Colorado that must be nearly as old as the mountains themselves! When you've got your container complete, post a pic for us!

 

That said -- geez, watch out in your placement in any kind of area that has water on it most of the time. You'll unquestionably discover SOMEBODY who needs to drive home the point that it's some sort of protected wetland and that either 1) no humans are allowed, or 2) if they are, they have to levitate so they don't touch anything on the way through .

 

Seriously, issues of this nature can come back to bite you, and it could be a long way to go to pull it out, so be sure of your ground (literally and figuratively) when deciding where to place your cache. Placing it in an area that invites "bushwhacking" (and we all have our own ideas of what that really means) may cause some grief as well.

 

Whose turf do you think it is, and why?

Edited August 21, 2009 by ecanderson

[PastorJon]

Carolyn, how far off the beaten path are you going to hide this?

Around these parts, the value of the container, combined with how close it is to being a park & grab, largely determines its theft risk factor.

A film can behind a dumpster is pretty safe. An ammo can, not so much. An ammo can at the end of a 3 mile swamp bushwhack, is pretty safe.

 

And a film can at the end of a 3 mile swamp bushwack?

 

 

Nobody ever logs a find on it...

 

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

Failing that, I am looking for a shorter hike with more bushwacking in light swamp, marsh, or weir.

I think you'll find that in most areas, things tend to go missing due to misadventures with non-cachers a lot more than with cachers. A cache reasonably well placed in the areas you describe aren't likely to be stumbled across by accident. Your Otter should stay out there for a good, long while. We've got ammo cans out here in Colorado that must be nearly as old as the mountains themselves! When you've got your container complete, post a pic for us!

Hi!

 

Thank you for the advice. I feel much better about placing my Otter Box in the wild once I find the right place! I can't wait! I will definitely post a photo because the spot I pick will be worthy of photos.

 

That said -- geez, watch out in your placement in any kind of area that has water on it most of the time. You'll unquestionably discover SOMEBODY who needs to drive home the point that it's some sort of protected wetland and that either 1) no humans are allowed, or 2) if they are, they have to levitate so they don't touch anything on the way through .

 

I think the wetlands in Colorado are different than the wetlands in the Midsouth and the social attitudes around water in general and wetlands in particular are profoundly different. My recollection of Colorado's wetlands (at least in the high country) was of marshy areas where columbines and other flowers grow and I remember being shamed by someone I was hiking with when I was young because I ran across the marsh and harmed the delicate vegetation. And, of course, water is rare enough in Colorado that wars have been fought over it.

 

Memphis exists on land reclaimed from yellow fever swamp, so any area that isn't either bottomland forest or developed is wetland. Most of the farmer's fields here seem to be set on land my topo map designates as swamp. Waterlogged land here is as common as fields of yellow/brown vegetation and yucca are around Denver. Even many of our bottomland forests spend part of the year under a few inches of water. (Half my backyard spends a portion of the year under water despite our best efforts to rectify this problem.)

 

As a consequence the wetland sensibility here is not as developed as Colorado's or California's. It is not just that ecological consciousness is not a substantial part of the dialogue compared to Denver or L.A., but that the ecology itself is different and this drives a different conclusion. I think it is difficult for many people to see wetlands as fragile when their best efforts to have a nice lawn and garden are hampered by the terrain's desire to turn back into a swamp (or weir).

 

There are designated wilderness areas and some caches have been placed in these places. I do not understand the complexities of permission for this, so I am reluctant to do this until I understand these issues better.

 

Seriously, issues of this nature can come back to bite you, and it could be a long way to go to pull it out, so be sure of your ground (literally and figuratively) when deciding where to place your cache. Placing it in an area that invites "bushwhacking" (and we all have our own ideas of what that really means) may cause some grief as well.

 

I should probably stop using the word bushwacking. Alongside most of the portions of swampy areas is muddy land with very high plants, twisted vines, brambles, thorny vines, poison ivy, and so forth. It's very dense and simply trying to walk through it isn't possible. The process of hiking through these areas is that you have to push the vegetation out of the way as you duck under or lever your body past the hazard and you pretty much have to do that every step of the way while watching for snakes and waving off mosquitoes. Often when we return from a longish hike my shoulders and arms hurt more than my legs. That's what I meant by bushwacking. A lighter version features areas with vegetation that isn't as dense.

 

Whose turf do you think it is, and why?

 

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking here. The two spots that look promising for the other two caches I'm planning are both city-owned park area or areas designated to become parks. There are already caches in the areas but the area is not saturated. I asked the locals about permissioning and was told that geocachers are welcomed by the officials for both cities and so I am very relieved.

 

Princess Jasmine's Pirate Treasure now has an Otter Box, but I don't yet have a perfect site to place it.

 

Carolyn

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

Here's a quick picture to illustrate what it looks like to hike in the swampy areas. We pursued a cache here last weekend.

 

 

Carolyn

Edited August 22, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

If I could find a spot like this, I would be in heaven:

 

 

Carolyn

Edited August 22, 2009 by Steve&GeoCarolyn

[+ecanderson]

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking here. The two spots that look promising for the other two caches I'm planning are both city-owned park area or areas designated to become parks. There are already caches in the areas but the area is not saturated.

Sure do like that photo above.

 

Yes, now that I know where you are, I'd agree that you've got three terrain types to deal with - wet areas, wetter areas, and under water. Good to hear that you're on city park grounds and that they're already aware of the game and amenable to it. Sounds like the area is big enough that you should be able to place your cache where it will never be found by accident.

 

There are a couple of things you might do to help keep your Otter hidden and a little out of the weather. One example is to hollow out an old log and insert it, and hide the log. Then again, if you're miles away, that could get a little heavy getting it on site!

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking here. The two spots that look promising for the other two caches I'm planning are both city-owned park area or areas designated to become parks. There are already caches in the areas but the area is not saturated.

Sure do like that photo above.

 

Thank you! That particular cache is GC1JGBV : Leonarda One. If you ever find your way to the Memphis area, I highly recommend visiting it. Not only is it beautiful, it is near other beautiful caches and close to the oldest cache in Tennessee.

 

There are many beautiful areas here. You know how whenever you take someone new to Mount Evans they always say, "It looks just like a postcard"? The inner areas of the Midsouth swamps (or weirs) evoke a similar reaction. However it is more often, "It looks unreal, like some sort of dark fantasy landscape."

 

Yes, now that I know where you are, I'd agree that you've got three terrain types to deal with - wet areas, wetter areas, and under water. Good to hear that you're on city park grounds and that they're already aware of the game and amenable to it. Sounds like the area is big enough that you should be able to place your cache where it will never be found by accident.

 

There are a couple of things you might do to help keep your Otter hidden and a little out of the weather. One example is to hollow out an old log and insert it, and hide the log. Then again, if you're miles away, that could get a little heavy getting it on site!

 

We have a very good community here in the Midsouth. They're knowledgeable and friendly and they seem to have forged good relationships with the parks and landowners. They are even invited by the parks people to give demos and lectures on geocaching. Often when I read the forums I think how lucky I am to be here.

 

I shall consider your hollow log suggestion. It really depends on where I end up putting the Otter box, I suppose.

 

Thank you!

Carolyn

[+KBI]

If nothing else, I think we can all agree here that "the Otter Box Latches" would be a great name for an alternative music band.

[+ecanderson]

If nothing else, I think we can all agree here that "the Otter Box Latches" would be a great name for an alternative music band.

Alternative to WHAT?

[Clan Riffster]

Alternative to music?

[AZcachemeister]

Not really related to the latches, and probably not likely to be a problem in your area, BUT:

I recently found an otter/pelican box in which the seal material had adhered to the opposing lip it was sealing against, probably due to the extreme heat here in AZ. As careful as I was, there was some damage to the seal, and some residue on the formerly smooth sealing surface. This container is not likely to encounter much of a test of water-resistance, so it should be OK.

 

I would suggest a light coating of silicone grease (O-ring lube) on the seal to prevent adhesion.

[+Steve&GeoCarolyn]

Not really related to the latches, and probably not likely to be a problem in your area, BUT:

I recently found an otter/pelican box in which the seal material had adhered to the opposing lip it was sealing against, probably due to the extreme heat here in AZ. As careful as I was, there was some damage to the seal, and some residue on the formerly smooth sealing surface. This container is not likely to encounter much of a test of water-resistance, so it should be OK.

 

I would suggest a light coating of silicone grease (O-ring lube) on the seal to prevent adhesion.

 

Thanks for the info and the suggestion. It does get hot here, though not as scorching hot as Arizona gets. But I would think that silicone grease would also prevent other problems endemic to the Midsouth like mold.

 

Carolyn