Bear Cannisters & tp

“Oh yes, the special ice-tea helps with the entire process!”

“The Bearikade is made of Aluminum and Carbon Fiber, not Titanium.

I saw cables (tree to tree) in the Sierra that were torn down by bears, so that doesn't always work.

A cub was found with a broken back in the Big Pine Lakes area. Mama forced it to go on a branch to get a bag. Sierra bears climb on each other to get the bags.

I have kept my Bearikade near the tent and never had a problem with it. Sierra bears know they can't get into it so they don't bother. I've also used it in my truck for food while dayhiking in problem areas. It has a o-ring, which keeps it pretty tight. Its supposed to float in water, but I haven't tried it yet. We just got all 3 Bearikade's re-certified, and they said it took a lot of work to remove the old endcaps, and these would never have failed in the field.

If you use it enough, its worth the $$. For me, the weight savings was worth it.”

“I humbly stand corrected...
Wild Ideas I want my money back! LOL”

“Those are the two most ugly blisters I have ever seen. My eyes seen nothing other than pain in those feet, but they do remember the vistas we over looked and the hills we climbed in the name of pleasure. In time they will heal and you will be back on the trail. To prevent future blisters I recommend that you soak your boots in water, then walk around in your bath tub to break in the boots. My other off trail recommendation is to use a liner and wool sock combo. I recall asking you about your footwear for the weekend, and if I am correct I remember you speaking of smart wool with no liners. It has been my experience that coolmax/thermax liners provide superior protection from blister to my feet. I may be writing what you already know; yet this system works well for me, even with a wet boot. I recommend it entirely for your next outing. Heal with out haste.”

“Hey Tea - I've got good news and bad news.

Good news - I am very impressed with your post. I think you spelled every word right and your grammar is even ok.

Bad news - you posted to the wrong thread!! This is the bear canister thread, not the blister thread. ;o)”

“*my eyes "see"

*from blisters for my feet”

“Oh crap... I thought it said beer cannisters.

Oh you were talking about leaving tp in canisters for the bears... (hmmmm... do they $#!+ in the woods?

Seriously though I keep thinking about getting an Ursak for the East Coast.”

“nice, Snow Nymph...gotta love bathroom humor!!”

“LOL! Nymph... I learn something new here everyday.”

“Haven't read any of these since I left work yeseterday at 5. So, I just caught up on some good reading here. Thank you all for your contributions. Even you, Ice Tea (I'll let you know if i run into any bears with blisters). Bobo, your method of hanging the food looks very interesting, but I think my lack of experience with this is going to lead me towards playing it safe by using the cannister. I will probably rent one as I don't know if I will do enough of this to warrant buying it. I will do an internet search for my area and see if there is a place close by that will rent them, unless someone knows of a place in the NYC area. Penns, thanks for your input as well. I learned some things from you, Bobo, WLD, Snow Nymph and the others that I wasn't aware of before... Thanks again”

“Has anyone ever made a canister out of PVC? I was wondering if there were any tricks I should try. What type of compound to glue the pieces together. How did you make the lid? etc.”

“I'd hate to disappoint, so I must note that Pennsy has also used his Bearikade as a canoe. Instead of renting a canoe, a Bearikade, and a paddle, just rent the Bearikade and the paddle.

When you portage, you just turn the Bearikade on its side and push it along with the paddle.

Also makes a swell seat.

Also makes a swell signalling tom-tom to send secret messages.

Also makes a swell Lazy Susan.

Also makes a swell writing desk.

The only drawback: One day, sooner or later, some bear is gonna con a dime out of a liberal hiker, and the stuff is gonna fly!”

“I've not tried to make a bear, or 'anti-bear can' with PVC. I have used PVC in my home. My thoughts-- use the PVC glue, you also need the 'cleaner/primer' to fit an end on the bottom. Then you need to get a PVC to to threaded end for the top. That comes in a couple of different forms. Then get a matching threaded cap. As PVC was designed for water systems, it ought to be waterproof.

Hope this helps.”

“Couldn't a bear chew into pvc???”

“I do not know, can can a bear chew through PVC? What if I spay it with that "no chew spray" like I use for my dog.

Seriously, Is PVC weaker then the the traditional bear canister? My first answer is no. anyone?”

“WLD tried to make one, it was big enough to hold one or two bags of freeze dried food, small enough for the bear to walk away with it in his mouth, and way heavier than the Garcia canister.”

“I was thinking PVC would be way heavier.”

“Both the Bearicade and the Garcia are too big for a bear to fit in it's mouth. If I ever run into a bear that big, it can have my food!”

“Good point. Perhaps the difference between using PVC and bear canisters is the size? Bear canisters are too large for bears to carry off. Haven't seen PVC with a diameter that large.”

“Apparently Sched 40 PVC is available all the way up to 24". But I've never seen anything larger than 6" or 8" myself.”

“Tea I think I did enough walking around in water this past weekend. I really think that the boots just loosened up on Sturday in the rain and I didn't stop often enough to tighten them.”

“Schedule 40 PVC weighs about 7.8lbs/ft for 10" diameter (the approx. diameter of the bear canisters)

You can get 10" diameter pvc in much lighter weights - down to about 2.3lbs/ft.

Any home-made device would still weigh more by the time you were done.”

“I did experiment with the use of PVC. Not as a canister for carrying, but for stashing of food for resupplies. It is heavier and not practical for day in and day out carrying. My idea although good in thought was way to heavy. I used different diameter PVC. A 5" will fit into a 6" and a 4" will fit into a 5" and so on. That way when you went back to recover the stashed containers, we did not have a problem with space. The problem was the amount of food that could be put in this type of container did not seem reasonable for the amount of weight the total containers weighed. Remember it went from 6" down to 3". Four total containers.”