Just some general thoughts on stashed stuff. 5 gal buckets, with seals or use silicone, aquarium works good, non toxic too. Bees wax, wax seals that are used on toilets, hardware item. Bury tubes, PVC cut to size and sealed on one end with a cap and pvc cement, the other with wax or silicone. Plastic trash cans if you need to hide more stuff. I hate digging a hole that big tho'. I have hidden water in 2 liter plastic pop jugs in stumps, piles of rocks, if not obvious. What to put in your cache? Depends on what you might need, water, fuel, stablized of course, food, shelter? Visqueen plastic, thicker is better, can be gotten at hardware stores and is VERY versitile, blue tarps are secondary for me. What about an old refer, Rust on the outside but has a plastic liner. When you bury yo' stuff, place the dirt on a tarp, keep the top layer intact and set it aside, less evidence of what ya' doin'. Use plastic when you can so it don't rot out. Dry areas not as big of problem, wet ones more so.In your yard plant roses on top of bury site, you know were it is and it is a good excuse for the nosy neighbor why you are digging. If placing your cache elsewhere then maybe a map, All mesurements off by X number of feet, or degrees of bearings. Keep it standard so you don' forget. I dug up a tube after 4 years and my SKS and ammo was just fine, re burried it elsewhere. Use the desicants, dry ice ect just to be sure. snowbyrd
I wouldn't recommend stowing drinking water long-term unless it was store-bought and sealed. Zero light and constant temp can produce some very nasty bacteria in closed drinking containers. I have, however, stowed some various bulk combinations of my favorite pistol and rifle ammo in 2 liter soda bottles. Top off with a brief spray of cooking oil, dry nitrogen or co2, and a couple of freshly dried silica gel packs in there. I always bury at a uniform distance and compass position relative to small recognizable landmarks. andrew
So can you take a two liter bottle, fill it from the city water, then bury it and it will stay safe? If so, how long will it be good? I've heard that it can keep for a while, though if it becomes cloudy, it's no good. Anyone?
It should be good indefinitely. It is chlorinated. The container needs to be cleaned, and sterilized if possible before filling for long term storage. It may have a plastic taste, a process called plasturization. Would I drink it? Yeah if I needed to.
Good to know E.L. Do you know of the shelf life of the plastic itself? I know if you store stuff in icecream buckets, you can leave it for a while and when you come back to grab it up, it can fall apart on you.
Think think. plan, survive. Many sites on water, just think, plan survive. Practice, do. If the bottle has clorine in it then it will last for a very very long time. Do some rearch on water storage, clorine and that stuff, the more you KNOW the safer you are! I do teach and preach, ya'll just don't know me. Use your brain, it is the best survival tool you have. snowbyrd
It all depends upon the quality and density of the plastic used in the container. Go to Lowe's and pick up some of the thick plastic five gallon blue kerosene containers. Clean them good, and store some water in them. Don't use the milk jugs, besides being hard to properly clean they leak after a couple of months.
Good to know. I'll get me enough for a couple weeks worth of water. That should tide me over for a little while til I can find more.
