Spackle Buckets Will Work for Everything
To elaborate on BoozTalkin’s post about a 5-gallon bucket, these spackle buckets will work pretty well for most anything. Although, because of their size, they’re pretty much limited to canoeing. You can just line it with a garbage bag, pack your gear in it, twist the bag and seal with a rubber band, and then snap the lid on and you’re all set.
-Scott
Cat Litter Buckets, too
They have a similar locking lid but are square and not as tough as spackle buckets.
On one 10-day trip I packed all the food into two litter buckets. I carefully listed the contents of the buckets on the lids. Didn’t work in practice. The buckets are deeper than they are wide, so its hard to look in and see what you are trying to find. We’d have to empty the buckets every time. Everything got mixed up, so the labeling was useless. We gave up after a couple days and shifted the contents into one of those rectangular boxes with the two folding doors on top. The buckets could work if you anticipated the order of your meals while packing and had discipline in using stuff, but in our group with our cook, it wasn’t happening.
I also thought the cat buckets would pack in the boat better. I thought the square shape would pack with less air space, but that wasn’t the case, because the buckets are tapered and have ridges near the top, there was still a lot of air space.
So the litter buckets were retired with less than one trip on 'em.
round cutting boards…
Since you said everything fit except your cutting board, you might want to get a round cutting board. They are readily available in different sizes (I think I got mine from REI), and will fit right under the lid.
frisbees
I remember reading an article once about frisbees. the list of things it could be used for was amazing ranging from paper plate holders to something to step on in cold weather while getting changed. I have to find that article…maybe it was here on p-net. Must have been about 20 different uses
Paul
second the frisbee thing. I read the
article that is mentioned, but am suffering from a severe case of CRS and do not know where it is. The uses that I have applied are: plate, cutting board, step pad while changing pants, piece of plastic to throw back and forth for fun, water collector, tray to hold soap/shampoo while in the water, and small parts holder. I always carry about 3 with me on trips.
cutting board
Well, I thought about just taking the bow saw we had with us last time out and cutting the corners off the cutting board, but didn’t bother to do it because I had plenty of space to store it. We were in the 20 footah and had packed sparingly since we expected to portage. But the circular board is a good idea and I’ve seen the one you were talking about at REI.
I figured on getting a different cutting board…cutting surface I should call it. We have one at the house that stays on the counter in front of the toaster oven. Its a piece of tough plastic not much thicker than paper and quite pliable. It could be curled like a cylinder and slipped into the bucket. My kid gave us the one we have. It’s 12" by 15", semi-transparent and has a logo on the corner that reads “Chesapeake Knife and Tool.” Way bigger than the REI disk. However, after camping in the Adirondacks last week, I realized the flaw is that it needs to sit on something flat and solid, like a table, a rare thing at the sites on the Bog River.
Reading the posts below, about the Frisbee, it dawned on me that I could just use the top of the 5 gallon bucket, but there goes the top of the only table we had (the bucket), and it is not that flat a surface.
Working without a table, it was nice to have a bigger surface, so I may keep the board and just pack it separately. If I am going where I know there are tables, it’ll be the tough plastic thingie that gets the nod.
Thanks for posting~~Chip
found the article on frisbees
http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showArticle.html?125
Now thats versatility!
Paul
Underground conditions matter
Stuff that’s buried near the surface where oxygen doesn’t get depleted as a result of the actions of decay organisms will degrade reasonably quickly. For deeply buried stuff, like in landfills, the lack of oxygen brings the degredation process to almost a standstill for some materials. I myself have found newspapers about 50 years old that looked like they might have been buried for a couple of weeks. That stuff makes interesting reading when there’s time to kill on the job site, too!
Bathing for Two
– Last Updated: Oct-16-05 5:24 AM EST –
Right after I paddle, while the kayak is still on my pickup truck, I drive into a coin-op car wash (not the automatic ones, but instead the one that has the self spray and foam brush). Pop in a few quarters, and foam brush and wash both the truck and the kayak hull and interior. Don;t forget to wash behind the ears!