Cache Containers any recommendations ?

[AK0B]

What make a good low cost cache container ?

 

I know about the ammo boxes, but interested in other low cost ones and also micro cache ones.

 

Thanks, AK0B Stan

 

Stan-AK0B

[+Brown Dwarf]

I've been happy with surplus decontamination kit containers. They are olive drab and about the size of a very large wallet -- room enough for a Rite-in-the-Rain pocket notebook and pencil. With the colour, they just about vanish with almost no cover. Any surplus site ought to carry them.

[+sbell111]

My fave for 'regular' caches is the ammo can. It comes in many different sizes and shapes and you will not find a less destructable container.

 

My favorite for micros is a 35mm film container. These come in two basic varieties. One where the lid seals outside the container, and one where the lid seals inside the container. The variation with the inside-seal does a better job at remaining weather tight, in my opinion. They can also be found in a number of different colors; white, black, tan... Oh, yeah, they're also free.

[+Uncle Alaska]

Try a magnetic micro with one of those hide a key containers (hardware stores)

-UA

 

...Proudly ranked 620th in the state of California!

[+Criminal]

My Favorite for nine bucks!

 

This is out of stock here but is way cool and cheap.

 

I used one of these for my last hide, cool for seven bucks.

 

This one will set you back twenty bucks. It's on my "fantasy cache" list.

 

This was mentioned above. Way cheap at <$2

 

A pricy but cool container for wood loving folks.

 

I've done business with them twice and was very satisfied. There are many more possibilities on this site if you want large aluminum boxes etc..

 

If your house catches afire, and there ain?t no water around,

If your house catches afire, and there ain?t no water around,

Throw your jelly out the window; let the dog-gone shack burn down.

**Huddie Ledbetter**

[+welch]

i would say anything designed with a seal (ammo boxes) would be better than something without.

 

but if your set on only using plastic go i'd go with one that has a screwtop. you can get small ones like one cup size for micros.

 

ive also seen a thread where someone said if you use tupperware you should go with round ones, because when the other shapes have been out there for a while they start to warp. And when it does that its hard to get the lid to seal at all the corners.

 

[+creagerstonefamily]

Don't forget about my favorite, Altoids tins! Actually, there are a lot of mint tins available everywhere nowadays.

 

They're cheap and come in numerous shapes and sizes. While they're not waterproof, you can get Rite in the Rain logbooks (well, in a few days, anyway). A magnet glued to the back makes a great stick anywhere steel micro.

 

If anyone wants it, I have a Pagemaker document that I use for my micro caches. It has the Geocaching info page sized to fit in the lid and a "title" for the outside in perfectly sized cutting guides. I print it on full sheet adhesive labels.

[azog]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Brown Dwarf:

I've been happy with surplus decontamination kit containers. They are olive drab and about the size of a very large wallet -- room enough for a Rite-in-the-Rain pocket notebook and pencil. With the colour, they just about vanish with almost no cover. Any surplus site ought to carry them.

---

 

I've hunted two caches which had these containers. I really liked them. What's a good source? Criminal's armysurplus doesn't seem to have them.

 

----------

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be also be like him.

[+DutchBoy]

Here is a good source for decon containers:

 

Decon Containers

[magellan315]

There is a new line of tupperware with a blue/rubbery feeling type lid, that is supposed to have a better seal. A good way to go if you want to use a container that is see through. Otherwise I would agree that that that round tuppwerware warps a lot less than other shapes.

[+The Leprechauns]

Just to provide equal time for the competition, I recently browsed Rubbermaid's Website to see what products they had available in large, watertight, see-through containers suitable for placing in parks with "no ammo box" policies. (There's a nice one-gallon screw-top jar that's clear plastic.)

 

You can browse here to find just the right container and then watch for Rubbermaid to go on sale at a local store. I picked up some containers recently for $1.50 each.

 

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Rubbermaid. Or Rubbertoe.

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about?

[Dinoprophet]

I've used an America On-Line tin to great effect. It holds a regular notebook and a couple of small pencils, plus room for small trade items. For mine, I superglued a magnet to the *inside*. The magnet is powerful enough to hold the tin in place.

 

[+briansnat]

Ammo boxes are by far the best low cost containers. I've yet to find one that wasn't bone dry inside. The d-con containers are OK too, but not fully waterproof. I use the d-con containers when a small cache is necessary and the ammo box in all other situations. I'm slowly upgrading my older caches with ammo boxes.

 

If you are dead set against ammo boxes (and I don't understand why you would be), the next best thing seems to be the Rubbermaid containers with the blue rim on the lid. The caches I've placed and found in one of these have always been dry.

They cost about as much as ammo boxes tho, unless you can get them on sale.

 

Please don't use Gladware. I rarely find a Gladware cache that isn't soaked. The containers don't last long and the lids have a poor seal.

 

Plastic food jars are popular among some, but you really have to rinse it out to get rid of the smell of the original contents. I've also used empty Tucks containers for smaller caches. I just sandpaper off the name on the lid so it doesn't gross people out.

 

"Men don't stop playing because they get old, they get old because they stop playing" Oliver Wendell Holmes

[+bigredmed]

For the REALLY small minded micro cache, there are dog id containers that are about 3/4'' long and are a brass cylinder that screws together. Not big enough for anything, but can hold a piece of paper that hold s log in info such as a secret question that must be answered for credit as a find. See "Cunningham Micro".

 

By appointment to the Court of HRM Queen Mikki I.

[+barondriver]

Half gallon Coleman Jugs stand up well..and stay dry mostly ..I try to seal the plug..they are big enough to hold reasonable stuff and too big for smaller animals to haul off and difficult to chew on ..paint doesn't stay on real well but reasonable.

 

[+welch]

quote:

---

Originally posted by barondriver:

Half gallon Coleman Jugs stand up well..and stay dry mostly

---

 

can you explain what a coleman jug is??

 

[+sbell111]

quote:

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Originally posted by welch:

can you explain what a coleman jug is??

---

 

It's a drink cooler. Check this link: jug

[+Cachier]

Institutional size Mayonanais jars work well.

 

"When you find it, its always in the last place you look."

[+welch]

quote:

---

Originally posted by sbell111:

quote:

---

Originally posted by welch:

can you explain what a coleman jug is??

---

 

It's a drink cooler. Check this link: http://www.globalmart.com/index/o/outdoors_outdoor_kitchen_water_containers_coleman_jugs.htm

 

thanks, id seen those before i just didnt realize it was called a coleman jug

 

[+briansnat]

I fail to see the advantage Coleman jugs have over ammo boxes (unless you want to keep your cache contents cold for a day). They aren't paintable and usually come in bright colors. Being round may be an advantage, but the insulation adds several inches

to its size, reducing its usability.

 

"Men don't stop playing because they get old, they get old because they stop playing" Oliver Wendell Holmes

[+Alan2]

quote:

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Try a magnetic micro with one of those hide a key containers (hardware stores)

---

 

A cache I recently found was using this but the contents were soaked from the rain.

 

Alan

[+barondriver]

I really prefer an ammobox myself but the jug works well..and I can usually find them at garage sales for 25 to 50 cents where an ammobox..the smaller ones run $3.95 here and up. They just make a cheap container..of course if you buy them new they'll probably cost as much or more than an ammobox.

 

[+Uncle Alaska]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Alan2:

quote:

---

Try a magnetic micro with one of those hide a key containers (hardware stores)

---

 

A cache I recently found was using this but the contents were soaked from the rain.

 

Alan

---

 

That's too bad...I plan each of my caches to a T and consider all weather possibilities. Use write in rain paper, hide the cache under something water tight, etc. All the planning can be foiled though if the finder doesn't place it back correctly. They will leak if left in the open, that's for sure.

-UA

 

...Proudly ranked 620th in the state of California!

[+Uncle Alaska]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BrianSnat:

I fail to see the advantage Coleman jugs have over ammo boxes (unless you want to keep your cache contents cold for a day). They aren't paintable and usually come in bright colors.

---

 

I've painted them before (not for geocaching) growing up with a professional painter I've yet to see something that can't be painted

 

-UA

 

...Proudly ranked 620th in the state of California!

[+briansnat]

quote:

---

I've yet to see something that can't be painted

---

 

Teflon?

 

"Men don't stop playing because they get old, they get old because they stop playing" Oliver Wendell Holmes

[+Uncle Alaska]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BrianSnat:

quote:

---

I've yet to see something that can't be painted

---

 

Teflon?

 

---

 

Shoot!!!.....And so many things in this world are coated in teflon!

-UA

 

...Proudly ranked 620th in the state of California!

[+Genius Loci]

The Igloo brand (Coleman?) drink jugs are popular with a lot of folks in this area, and although I don't think they're as good as ammo boxes, they seem to work out OK most of the time. The big problem I've seen with them is that they often have a little folding spout on the top. That spout has to be cut off (on the inside) or it interfers with stuff crammed into the container as the lid is being screwed back on. Then seal the hole with silicone seal or shoe goo glue.

 

The guys around here always paint them - usually black or dark olive green. The paint does wear off very easily on all of the ones I've seen, though.

[+trippy1976]

How water-resistant are the decon containers? Do they stand up well to regular rain and snow? Can they be submersed? Those are right up my alley for a cache I'm planning. I need small (preferably waterproof) containers.

 

Other options I've considered are the altoid tins or to rip off Dino's AOL tin method and use this paper:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005OMZ9/qid=1035825125/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_4/002-6701142-1166434?v=glance&n=507846

 

But it's so expensive. I'd rather buy better containers that keep the moisture out.

 

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

[J.A.R.S.]

We use altoid tins a lot. To keep the logbook dry we put the logbook in a tiny ziploc polybag. Michaels Craft stores sell ziploc bags in a variety of small sizes.

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by trippy1976:

 

Other options I've considered are the altoid tins or to rip off Dino's AOL tin method and use this paper:......

But it's so expensive. I'd rather buy better containers that keep the moisture out.

---

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I don't know what you are going to do, but I know I can't lie around and be lazy. I am a Thing-Finder, and when you're a Thing-Finder you don't have a minute to spare....The whole world is full of things, and somebody has to look for them. And that's just what a Thing-Finder does.

-Pippi Longstocking

[+Criminal]

I forgot to mention, in the lid of this container is an excellent micro-cache, you just have to pull it out.

 

If your house catches afire, and there ain?t no water around,

If your house catches afire, and there ain?t no water around,

Throw your jelly out the window; let the dog-gone shack burn down.

**Huddie Ledbetter**

[+Brown Dwarf]

One of our caches is in a decon container that's been lying on the ground under some weeds for the past four months. Checked it yesterday, and it is still dry. Wouldn't want it to be submerged, but we've had no problems from heavy rains.

 

(The notebook is Rite-in-the-Rain, and in a plastic bag. We use a golf pencil, rather than a pen.)

[+RobAGD]

Decon containers vary, if they have the rubber gasket they can be mostly water proof for short ammounts of time, but I wouldnt want to keep the complete submurged for any length of time.

 

Look into some of those water proof key & wallet holders they see around beaches, $3 - $6 a pop and they are made to keep water out while swimming.

 

I only use Ammo Cans, I have one coming up that might get a plastic jug because of where I want to place it.

 

I hate Glad Ware and some of the realy cheap tupperware rip off containers.

 

-Robert

[+briansnat]

Some of the containers come with a rubber gasket and are completely waterproof. If they don't have a gasket, I put teflon tape around the rim and it seems to help.

 

I tested two dcon containers recently. One with teflon tape and another without tape or a gasket. I filled them with newspaper and fully submerged them for about 4 hours. The one without a gasket or teflon tape had a slight leak, a corner of the newspaper was damp. The one with the teflon tape also took some water, but it amounted to a few drops.

 

So are they totally waterproof? No. But they are highly water resistant, probably more so than many of the Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers out there and way more waterproof that Gladware, Altoids and AOL tins.

 

"Men don't stop playing because they get old, they get old because they stop playing" Oliver Wendell Holmes