Geocaching
The perfect geocache container
When planting geocaches the one thing that you need is a darn good container to place everything into. A good container for a geocache needs to fulfill several criteria:
- Be waterproof - it is going to live outdoors
- Be strong - most geocaches are hidden beneath logs or rocks, which have to be moved to retrieve the cache and then placed back
- Be large enough to hold all the geocache goodies
- Relatively easy to open and close - but not too easy to open
- Easily camouflaged and hidden
There are three common geocache containers that you see in the field:
- The Tupperware box
- The 35 mm film pot
- The ammo box
The Tupperware box and ammo box are by far the most popular container for a "regular" cache while the 35 mm film pot (with a magnet glued to one end so that it will stick to iron/steelwork) is the ideal microcache.
Let's take a closer look at the three most common geocache container types used in the wild.
The Tupperware box
This is probably the most common geocache container in the world. It's easy to see why when you consider the advantages:
- Easy to find (every home has one!)
- Cheap
- Quite waterproof
- Quite strong
- Come in a variety of sizes
- Can easily be wedged into nooks and crannies
- Looks innocent - unlike ammo boxes!
The Tupperware box, despite all these advantages, does have some disadvantages:
- While they are relatively waterproof, they are not 100% waterproof and will leak if submersed or suck in water if subjected to temperature changes (remember, the cache lives outdoors)
- While for kitchen use a Tupperware box (or one of the many variants or generics out there) have a warranty (up to 10 years on some), sticking them out in the field under logs or rocks not only invalidates that warranty but will shorten their lives dramatically. UV from sunlight and freeze-thaw action can make the plastic brittle very quickly
- The lids can be hard to get back on properly and they aren't attached and can blow away whilst the cache is being visited
- The plastic is hard to paint, and as such it is hard to camouflage. This is why so many are wrapped in plastic bags (remember to make sure the plastic bag isn't biodegradable or it won't last long!
Still, the Tupperware box is the Geocacher's friend and with proper care the cache can survive many years outdoors.
The Ammo box
If you want a serious geocache container, look no further than the ammo
box! Some think that the ammo box is the ultimate geocache because:
- They are cheap - if you buy from the right place they can almost be as cheap as a Tupperware box
- They are extremely robust, designed for the outdoors and a rough life at the hands of the military
- They are large
- Waterproof - if the rubber gasket is intact an ammo box can live underwater for months (or even years) and still stay dry inside
- Made of metal - you can pile all the logs or rocks on top of them all you want!
- The olive drab colour blends in well outdoors
- Despite what some believe, rust does not seem to be a major problem - it is likely that a Tupperware box will be destroyed by the elements before rust takes hold or an ammo box
However, some would point out the drawbacks of the ammo box:
- Heavy
- Can be hard to open
- Only come in a few sizes (commonly 30 cal or 50 cal rounds)
- You need to paint them before use to cover up the military ammunition markings
- Some think they "look threatening"
Ammo box sizes:
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Prices are about £3.99 for a 30 Cal box and £4.99 for 50 Cal.
Trip Flare Can
In our search for good geocache container we also came across something
called "Army issue useful screw top metal jar". This is
basically is, well, a metal screw top jar, originally designed to hold trip
flares and keep then dry and safe while being trasported. Being military
issue they are robust and come with a waterproof seal. The main
disadvantage is that they are usually unpainted shiny metal, so will need a few
coats of black/green before they blend in outdoors. They do, however make
great cache containers, especially if you are looking for a smaller container
for perhaps a multicache.
Army issue useful screw top metal jar:
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It's hard to go wrong with these at 0.50p per container.
NOTE: It might be wise tp avoid using ammo boxes in some potentially sensitive areas or areas commonly frequented by geoMuggles (non-geocachers) use common sense!
Get your ammo boxes or screw jars from Surplus and Outdoors
35 mm film pot
The ideal microcache container. Small, weatherproof, discreet, cheap
(free with every 35 mm film!). If you want to attach one to a metallic
(ferrous) surface you can glue (use epoxy or silicone sealant) a small magnet
inside (or outside) the lid.
Add a little log book and a small pencil. Now comes the hard part ... finding a good place to hide it!
Kingsley-Hughes
Last updated: May 4th 2004
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