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placing a ten gallon bucket cache


crazypig88

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So there is this fair amount of woods nenear me that is open of caches and knowing how much most people love large cache containers, I was thinking about placing one of those home depot buckets in there (camoed with either paint or natural camo). What would be the best type of spot for a cache that large? And what would be some relatively inexpensive trade items to put in there?

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I did a bucket cache years ago. It was a 5 gallon bucket in a patch of woods behind a baseball complex. It was spray painted with a random green and brown pattern. I stocked it completely with baseballs, softballs, and golfballs I found beyond the fences. I covered it with some large leafy brances and it lasted for a few years. I called it "Have a Ball!" (Of course)

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So there is this fair amount of woods nenear me that is open of caches and knowing how much most people love large cache containers, I was thinking about placing one of those home depot buckets in there (camoed with either paint or natural camo). What would be the best type of spot for a cache that large? And what would be some relatively inexpensive trade items to put in there?

 

A "Home Depot Bucket" would be a 5 gallon bucket, not 10 gallon. :lol: I placed one a couple years ago, on a Church's nature trail, with their permission, of course. I figured it was pretty safe there. I painted it Olive Drab with some spray paint. The paint job didn't hold up too well, in retrospect, I should have sanded it down first. I just put it next to some downed limbs, not visible from the trail, but pretty easy to find for a Geocacher. If on public property such as in your case, I guess I'd go for that, try to make it not visible from the trail to the casual passer by.

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I'm looking at placing an oil drum-sized cache somewhere, though I'm still uncertain about the particulars. There are many of those out in the desert, filled with stones to mark desert tracks and one more might not be suspicious. I'm just not sure how to keep the contents dry, even though it doesn't rain much. If I place a lock'n lock inside the barrel the listing should probably reflect the size of the plastic container I guess. Hmm...

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The first cache I found was a large-size cache. It was lowered into a hollow tree and covered with a few branches.

 

It was also damp and mildewed. It was interesting finding so many large trade items, but who would trade for a mildewed baby stroller, or a mildewed teddy bear? I think a quality container that can protect its contents is more important than a larger container with more room for trade items.

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The first cache I found was a large-size cache. It was lowered into a hollow tree and covered with a few branches.

 

It was also damp and mildewed. It was interesting finding so many large trade items, but who would trade for a mildewed baby stroller, or a mildewed teddy bear? I think a quality container that can protect its contents is more important than a larger container with more room for trade items.

Well, you can get a lid for the bucket that is so called watertight, so maybe that could eliminate that problem.

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The first cache I found was a large-size cache. It was lowered into a hollow tree and covered with a few branches.

 

It was also damp and mildewed. It was interesting finding so many large trade items, but who would trade for a mildewed baby stroller, or a mildewed teddy bear? I think a quality container that can protect its contents is more important than a larger container with more room for trade items.

Well, you can get a lid for the bucket that is so called watertight, so maybe that could eliminate that problem.

 

Yeah, I do believe they sell a couple different lids at Home Depot. Mine was actually purchased from a Hot Dog Stand that had a sign that they sell 5 gallon condiment buckets for like $2, so I took them up on it. I think it had a pretty good watertight lid.

 

I can tell you one of my original trade items was a full sized Nerf football, although I'm sure it's long gone. And I specifically figured that is something that wouldn't be effected by dampness too much.

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I'm still not what swag I coils put in the cache that is relatively cheap. I am not old enough to get a job so I probably won't be putting gold bars in there ;)

 

I'm guessing that you have some money, just not a lot. Is there a Thrift Store (ARC, Goodwill, etc) nearby? You can get a lot of toys for a few bucks. Just be prepared for people not to leave large toys in trade.

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The first cache I found was a large-size cache. It was lowered into a hollow tree and covered with a few branches.

 

It was also damp and mildewed. It was interesting finding so many large trade items, but who would trade for a mildewed baby stroller, or a mildewed teddy bear? I think a quality container that can protect its contents is more important than a larger container with more room for trade items.

Well, you can get a lid for the bucket that is so called watertight, so maybe that could eliminate that problem.

Not really. If someone opens it on a rainy or snowy day, water will get into it. then the watertight lid is keeping the moisture inside.

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My first hide was a 5 gallon bucket, that I hid with the help of an offroad club who donated items as swag. After a couple of years the lid began to crack and then a wild fire came through the area and that was it for the bucket. :sad:

 

Replaced it with a ammo can and it's still out there where I placed it.

 

Found a large bucket with a broken lid near home full of water. So I'm going to stay with metal ammo cans.

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Yeah, I've found a couple large-size ammo can caches. They've done well.

 

Of course, I've also found a few regular-size ammo can caches that have been wet inside. As TriciaG pointed out, a sealed container keeps water in, as well as keeping water out. And any container with a gasket (ammo can, Lock & Lock, whatever) will leak if a plastic bag is caught between the gasket and the container.

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We have out about 5 5 gallon bucket sized caches. Some have been out for years with out any problems. I get lids at work that have a rubber O-ring. As far as painting at home depot at least for a while they were selling ones that were already camo.

For swagg if you are younger and don't have a job I am sure you have some toys or whatever around the house you probably don't care about anymore you can add in there or just don't add much and chances are someone like me might stop by someday and fill it up. We have had people come to ours and say they were cleaning out there kids toys and decided to come to our large cache and drop some stuff off.

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So there is this fair amount of woods nenear me that is open of caches and knowing how much most people love large cache containers, I was thinking about placing one of those home depot buckets in there (camoed with either paint or natural camo). What would be the best type of spot for a cache that large? And what would be some relatively inexpensive trade items to put in there?

 

A "Home Depot Bucket" would be a 5 gallon bucket, not 10 gallon. :lol: I placed one a couple years ago, on a Church's nature trail, with their permission, of course. I figured it was pretty safe there. I painted it Olive Drab with some spray paint. The paint job didn't hold up too well, in retrospect, I should have sanded it down first. I just put it next to some downed limbs, not visible from the trail, but pretty easy to find for a Geocacher. If on public property such as in your case, I guess I'd go for that, try to make it not visible from the trail to the casual passer by.

By sanded it down, how much do you mean? Does it just have to have the glossy part become rough for the paint to stick?

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So there is this fair amount of woods nenear me that is open of caches and knowing how much most people love large cache containers, I was thinking about placing one of those home depot buckets in there (camoed with either paint or natural camo). What would be the best type of spot for a cache that large? And what would be some relatively inexpensive trade items to put in there?

 

A "Home Depot Bucket" would be a 5 gallon bucket, not 10 gallon. :lol: I placed one a couple years ago, on a Church's nature trail, with their permission, of course. I figured it was pretty safe there. I painted it Olive Drab with some spray paint. The paint job didn't hold up too well, in retrospect, I should have sanded it down first. I just put it next to some downed limbs, not visible from the trail, but pretty easy to find for a Geocacher. If on public property such as in your case, I guess I'd go for that, try to make it not visible from the trail to the casual passer by.

By sanded it down, how much do you mean? Does it just have to have the glossy part become rough for the paint to stick?

Yep. Just a light sanding to get the shine off.

We've had luck using Krylon Fusion

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The first cache I found was a large-size cache. It was lowered into a hollow tree and covered with a few branches.

 

It was also damp and mildewed. It was interesting finding so many large trade items, but who would trade for a mildewed baby stroller, or a mildewed teddy bear? I think a quality container that can protect its contents is more important than a larger container with more room for trade items.

 

This is true, dampness takes its toll. I place my log in a water tight container that I then place in all my larger caches ( even ammo cans ).....in the swamp you can't beat double protection and I've never had a wet log on one of these.

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I was thinking about placing one of those home depot buckets in there (camoed with either paint or natural camo). What would be the best type of spot for a cache that large?

Pick a spot less traveled, where it takes a little extra effort to go. And place it out of the sun, which kills that kind of plastic. If I were to place a bucket cache, I'd try to set it on its side, so less water can accumulate.

 

Are you buying an O-ring sealed screw-on lid? You didn't say where you'd hide it, but if there are occasional rain/snow/ice storms, temperature changes and some humidity (and depending on a number of factors), water builds up inside naturally. It's a cache that creates its own water from the air. Plus finders will allow rain to get in.

 

A local bucket cache seems to have at least 6 inches of water inside at all times. I donated the O-ring seal lid (called a Gamma Seal). It's amazing how wet it always is, and of course a good seal means water remains. But plan on cleaning it up on a regular basis, and you may have a cache people will like.

 

And what would be some relatively inexpensive trade items to put in there?

Do you have large items laying around to get rid of? You don't have to "buy" anything, if you already have things you could place. One local cache had a Game Cube and a VCR. Who knows if either work, but it's funny to see a Game Cube in a cache. Unfortunately, everything in the cache became smelly and moldy (Did I mention, cache maintenance would be great?).

Edited by kunarion
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I was thinking about placing one of those home depot buckets in there (camoed with either paint or natural camo). What would be the best type of spot for a cache that large?

Pick a spot less traveled, where it takes a little extra effort to go. And place it out of the sun, which kills that kind of plastic. If I were to place a bucket cache, I'd try to set it on its side, so less water can accumulate.

 

Are you buying an O-ring sealed screw-on lid? You didn't say where you'd hide it

It's going to be placed in texas. I might also get a large bag for most of the stuff so it can keep all of the swag and the log dry. Would that work?

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For swagg if you are younger and don't have a job I am sure you have some toys or whatever around the house you probably don't care about anymore you can add in there or just don't add much and chances are someone like me might stop by someday and fill it up. We have had people come to ours and say they were cleaning out there kids toys and decided to come to our large cache and drop some stuff off.

 

Garage/yard sales in your neighborhood might be good too; there's a good chance that you could bargain for a lower price on things as the day goes on. If you go late, as they're ready to shut down, they might even give you some stuff just so they don't have to deal with it anymore.

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It's going to be placed in texas. I might also get a large bag for most of the stuff so it can keep all of the swag and the log dry. Would that work?

Part of the fun :rolleyes: of cache ownership is figuring out what works and why. Look at some of the local caches that are larger, and see which ones seem to be OK. Set up your cache like that. If everything’s in plastic bags, that might seal moisture inside. Or they may be great except that finders destroy the bags or take everything out of the bags and drop them in the cache water, which happened in a cache where I live, and they also dropped the silica gel pack (which was in the small bag with the log book) into the water. And the log book, right into the water. Fun! I used to put my sig item metal pin badges in ziplock bags until one day when I saw one that had been in a cache for 3 years, and the badge was completely rusted – still inside its perfectly sealed ziplock bag, in its dry ammo can.

 

Anyway, check on it once in a while to see if it’s OK. If everything gets moldy, cachers may not mention it til it’s unbearable.

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How about coloring books? At county and state fairs you can pick up state and county maps for free. Marbles are cheap at the dollar stores. look at the dollar store for party favors. Cheap whistles, little games, crayons, . Little tables or sticky notes are cheap. Go to goodwill stores and pick up trinkets from there.

 

Good luck with your cache.

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I like these lids

HD

utwdx.jpg

 

That's what I used on my bucket containers (never placed), and donated to the watercache that had the original paint bucket lid. That cache sometimes floats in the lake during floods, but manages to be full of water in a drought. Weird. I had a theory that the O-ring on the screw-on lid would cause less water inside. But there's a lot more water. And the nice seal causes less evaporation (if evaporation were possible). So I had to admit that my idea of a water-tight lid made the problem worse. But I didn't admit that directly to the poor CO that I donated the lid to. :laughing:

 

I mentioned this on another thread somewhere. There are four sectors in that lid that fill with water. Unscrew the lid, and water immediately falls in, unless it's completely dried off before opening. The ridge above the O-ring holds some water, too, inside the rim of the lid, and that water is tough to dry off before opening. If I placed one of these, I'd design it to be on its side, not sitting upright. Or even inverted when not being opened. Also, the O-ring is cheap and falls out easily, and is hard to replace (who sells that size?).

 

[EDIT]: I have two kits of "Never Wet" laying around. I'm coating the lid area, to see if that makes a difference. "Never Wet" has been a disappointment for my caches, since it creates a white haze and has a strange feel like oil (and it supposedly wears out after a while). I'd also note that someone who happened upon a bucket, and who needs a "free Geocache container" is likely not buying a "Gamma Seal" and "Never Wet" for it. :ph34r:

Edited by kunarion
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I like these lids

HD

utwdx.jpg

 

That's what I used on my bucket containers (never placed), and donated to the watercache that had the original paint bucket lid. That cache sometimes floats in the lake during floods, but manages to be full of water in a drought. Weird. I had a theory that the O-ring on the screw-on lid would cause less water inside. But there's a lot more water. And the nice seal causes less evaporation (if evaporation were possible). So I had to admit that my idea of a water-tight lid made the problem worse. But I didn't admit that directly to the poor CO that I donated the lid to. :laughing:

 

I mentioned this on another thread somewhere. There are four sectors in that lid that fill with water. Unscrew the lid, and water immediately falls in, unless it's completely dried off before opening. The ridge above the O-ring holds some water, too, inside the rim of the lid, and that water is tough to dry off before opening. If I placed one of these, I'd design it to be on its side, not sitting upright. Or even inverted when not being opened. Also, the O-ring is cheap and falls out easily, and is hard to replace (who sells that size?).

It's a good thing I didn't for for that lid while I was at home depot!

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I like these lids

HD

utwdx.jpg

 

That's what I used on my bucket containers (never placed), and donated to the watercache that had the original paint bucket lid. That cache sometimes floats in the lake during floods, but manages to be full of water in a drought. Weird. I had a theory that the O-ring on the screw-on lid would cause less water inside. But there's a lot more water. And the nice seal causes less evaporation (if evaporation were possible). So I had to admit that my idea of a water-tight lid made the problem worse. But I didn't admit that directly to the poor CO that I donated the lid to. :laughing:

 

I mentioned this on another thread somewhere. There are four sectors in that lid that fill with water. Unscrew the lid, and water immediately falls in, unless it's completely dried off before opening. The ridge above the O-ring holds some water, too, inside the rim of the lid, and that water is tough to dry off before opening. If I placed one of these, I'd design it to be on its side, not sitting upright. Or even inverted when not being opened. Also, the O-ring is cheap and falls out easily, and is hard to replace (who sells that size?).

It's a good thing I didn't for for that lid while I was at home depot!

One advantage is the lid screws off and on. The typical paint bucket has a lid to pry off, and it's tough to put it back on and have it seal at all.

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I applied "Never Wet" to the lid area of my cache bucket, The Gamma Seal screw-on lid has four sectors that fill with water, but Never Wet allows water to bead and fall off. It is not getting into the lip at the O-ring, but that may change depending on mist, fog, snow, etc. I applied this per instructions, which seems to have used almost half of the Never Wet kit, just on the lid. Now I'll test to see how long it lasts. One week would be no good. One year, slightly better. In the video, the water falls off, so the lid is instantly dry except for a couple of water beads. My hope is that since water isn't sitting on the seal, it won't be pulled into the container due to temperature changes -- from the vacuum caused by a temperature drop. That would kind of pump water inside. Also, a cache this size makes its own rain, from condensation. It's probably a great way to get water. :anicute:

 

The coated area has a weird gritty feel like microscopic glass beads. On a couple of other caches, they're covered with camo cloth, so I used the cloth coating version of Never Wet for that, which is more like typical water repellent coating used on clothing or tents.

 

 

The bucket is white, and I painted darker camo onto it and left some of the white. The lid is black. I used Krylon plastic paint, and scuffed up the whole thing before painting. It will scrape off in patches, but for camo, meh, that's probably no big deal.

Edited by kunarion
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