Expedition Size Bear Canisters

When I entered the first ever Yukon 1000 mile canoe race, the race organizers being unsure of how long ti would take to complete the race in that environment, the race rules required 10 kg (22 pounds) of food ( not including water weight) per person be loaded in the boat (a calculated 3-week supply), regardless of calorie content . For a voyageur crew of 6, that totals to a tremendous weight and volume, even for efficiently dehydrated and packaged food. Throwing a 50 pound bag of potatoes overboard would get you disqualified.

The rules also required bear resistant containment (a legal requirement for passing through the Yukon-Charley National Preserve). So standard bear canisters would not do, and blue barrels are not certified legally bear resistant.

After much searching we settled on a large Yeti cooler, which has been officially tested and certified by the IGBC. Turns out, after our 6 day race, we finished with almost 3/4 of the food left over in the Yeti. Since then that ridiculous food weight requirement has been dropped. The next time we did the race we used several standard size canisters carrying far less food (just an 8 day supply) instead.

I bought the BV-500 yesterday because I was having raccoon problems on the Colorado over the weekend. I figure that anything that will stop a bear will equally frustrate a raccoon or mouse.
Problem was, that when I washed it inside and out, soapy foam exited the lid as I shook the BV. This indicates that they are NOT odor-proof and even if you hide the vault, bears and such will manage to find it via smell.

Bears and other critters have very sensitive noses. And basically all of your gear, including your bear canisters, is going to smell like food, because it will sitting around cooking areas, and you will handle it after handling food. There isn’t any way to avoid that. But even if a bear or other critter can identify stronger food odors coming from your bear canisters, it doesn’t matter if they can’t get into the canisters.