Small, lightweight, watertight container [DIY]

[RWheeler]

Hey all, I made mention of this in my gear list, and I figured I'd share the information with others on here for anyone that may not have come across it/thought of it themselves.

The idea isn't mine, I came across it online. But my description is below if you don't want to click right away. Here's a link either way: http://www.briangreen.net/2011/02/plastic-soda-bottle-lid-capsule.html

You can essentially make resealable watertight containers from materials you may already have - soda bottles! If you cut the tops off the bottles just below the flange (the plastic "lip" just below the cap), you can glue them together. If you want, you can add a piece of plastic from the bottle itself between the two tops and make two separate containers. Volume ~10-15mL, depending on the bottle used (I think you're around 24mL if you use Gatorade bottles, but I haven't made one of those or seen any volume measurements for it specifically) at only 12-15 grams! They're easy to make (I used a knife to score the bottles deep enough and just snapped the tops off in lieu of a hacksaw).

In addition, I sanded down the caps themselves to a solid white so I can easily mark/label what is in each container.

My preliminary tests have shown that they're incredibly watertight (I submerged one container in water, capped it, removed it from the water, dried it with a towel, then let it sit wrapped in a piece of tissue for an hour, kept checking every 10 minutes and saw no wet spots on the tissue), relatively strong (I stood on one for a few seconds and my 170lbs didn't crack or break anything from what I saw) and honestly, a pretty awesome way to carry things, if you ask me.

I'm likely going to make a few to carry a variety of things - salt/pepper, maybe one with some Tabasco sauce, and then things like sunscreen, maybe use one to hold toothpaste (still trying to figure out how to bring that on the trail...)

So ideas on this? Figured it'd be worth it to start a thread for this.

[Hikes in Rain]

That's pretty cool, and one of those things that is perfectly obvious once someone points them out. You hit a bunch of ideas I had for them. Thanks for letting us know!

[sbhikes]

That is pretty cool! Thanks for sharing that!

[MuddyWaters]

Right thought process.

But unfortunately 0.5 oz is way too heavy for a container that small. That will add up fast if you take a bunch.

You can purchase small 10-15 ml Boston dropper bottles with screw on lids for $.20 each. They are much lighter.

My favorite is vaseline or carmex lip balm tubes w/screw on lids. You have to clean out, but weigh 0.15 oz each, drill larger hole in top and put hydropel, sunscreen, etc in and can squeeze out. Or anything else.

[Spokes]

Looks like a great mini-geocache container too........

[RWheeler]

Right thought process.

But unfortunately 0.5 oz is way too heavy for a container that small. That will add up fast if you take a bunch.

You can purchase small 10-15 ml Boston dropper bottles with screw on lids for $.20 each. They are much lighter.

My favorite is vaseline or carmex lip balm tubes w/screw on lids. You have to clean out, but weigh 0.15 oz each, drill larger hole in top and put hydropel, sunscreen, etc in and can squeeze out. Or anything else.

I'll probably use the dropper bottles for things like Aqua Mira (I can't stand the bottles they come in...) and probably Tabasco if I decide to bring some, however, I'll probably stick with the bottle capsules for other things. Ibuprofen, other food seasonings, and toothpaste drops for example.

I really don't see the 0.35oz difference between them as any point of concern. I'm only going to carry 3-4 of them, I think.