On setting up a cache

Qew71

Qew71

Joined
Dec 4, 2000
Messages
169
Ok guys... we have the BOB and the survival kit... and my other thread was discussing what foods to pack into either... here's something else I've been thinking about: cache(s).

It seems like a good idea to set up a cache or four around where I live or work... just in case things go apeshit for whatever reason. What recommendations do you guys have?

For instance: how should I hide the cache in an urban environment or in the woods? Bury it? Hang it? Hide it in a stream? In a cave? In an urban environment, where can I hide it?

What should I include? If cash, how much? What about money alternatives like gold? How much kit? What sort of considerations? Should I add tools or knives (doh!!) in it? Flashlight? Power cells (does lithium really have a 10yr shelf life??)?

How should I prepare the kit to protect it? wax paper? vacuum seal? Pelican case? Daypack?

have any of you done it and if so what did you do and what lessons can I learn from you?

ok... here are some assumptions/considerations: The operational environment is 80% urban. I have some wooded areas near my home... but I doubt that they'll be around in the next 10 years... probably ripped up for development. Other wooded areas farther out are approx 30min by car and 1-2hrs on foot. The environment is tropical so water and heat protection should be considered.

another consideration: my objectives. Hmmm... I don't expect to commit any crimes in the near future so I'm not gonna be a fugitive from the law. hehehe in a small country like Singapore, being a fugitive is a really dumbass idea. They always get you in the end.
War? hmmm not really a consideration too, as I'll probably get mobilised so the army will take care of me.

I guess what I'm worried about is civil unrest. I shudder to think how bad it could get. *sigh* peace is such a rare commodity in the world today, I just can't help being a little paranoid.

alright... let 'er rip guys!! and thanx in advance.
 
Why not store your extra food/etc. in your house or apartment?
I have land and a camphouse back in Louisiana but I don't
stockpile stuff up there as it is subject to being stolen.
Do keep a couple months supply of dried beans/rice (cheap
& easy to store) and about a 2-weeks supply of canned goods
in house where I live. Try to rotate stuff where possible.
Another thought might be relatives, perhaps
grandparents in a rural environment? If so, have them store
a box or two for you and load them up with extra stuff.
I personally wouldn't build a cache on property I did not
own.
 
I believe it was called "Cacheing" or some such. I'll have to look it up in my library at home. It had some excellant tips on what to hide along with how to hide it, including some tips on using PVC pipe. Another book which had helpful tips was "Living Off the Land City and Country", also by Benson. Good Advice.
 
I am no expert on caches but it would seem to me that you would have to have land already chosen. so you knew that you were going to "X" hideout location.

so assuming you have an "X"

then that setting up a cache is an excellent idea. since you have your land chosen you might make sure that it has a water supply and animals and other things to sustain you. maybe plant rye grass to invite deer and other animals. then you can worry about storing less food and more ammo etc.
 
I think PVC pipe is the way to go. Buy as big a diameter as you can find with endcaps. Place your goods in and glue the endcaps on. It's sealed till you need it. No scent for animals to dig up. No water can get in.

You've got to be able to get back into the pipe, of course. You can bury a cheap hacksaw (or just a blade) alongside the pipe in a large ziplock or in some other waterproof container that is easily opened.
 
Bury your hacksaw blade(s) in a piece of 1/2 PVC with the endcaps glued on. Then, to get the blade(s) out, smash it, then open your larger tube.

Mike
 
I like the idea of a fall back point better than a cache because it also provides a secure, or defensible area you can keep stuff in. I guess if I wanted to just stash some gear, I'd go for a public locker, or safe deposit/mailbox. Hell, mail some gear to yourself, keep your dues payed, and stop by there on your way out of town.
I don't like the idea of burying gear where it could be dug up, found, or whatever. I live in a city, so secure spots outdors are at a premium.
If you're particularly well funded, you could concevably keep a spare car loaded with gear in a long term parking lot near your work. Maybe trade out parking, and driving them weekly so it doesn't die of neglect, and transferr the BOBs, etc.
NE way, that's my 2 cents.
 
Another thought if one could afford it, would be to rent a small
storage space in a rural area. In America, we have those just
about everywhere. Normally people store excess furniture,
boxes of junk, momentoes, etc. I would not normally think of breaking into one looking for foodstuffs or ammo in them.

JJ Magnum
I've never read any of Ragnar Benson's books.
Which one of his that you've read do you consider
to be the best?
Are there others by someone else that are even
better?
Thanks.
 
"Live Off the Land in the City and Country" (actual real title) is probably one of his best. It is among the 5 or so "important" text type books I have wrapped up for emergencies. "Survival Poaching" is also a good primer on low profile hunting as well as trapping under adverse social conditions. The one I alluded to earlier is "Modern Weapons Caching". It covers the history of caching as well as the various methods. It really covers the ins and outs of PVS piping as well as other methods of "hiding" vs "caching".

The original "Survival Retreat" is a great book on "off the grid" living as well as a pep talk on why not to be a refugee.

Most of his books are available from Paladin Press or Delta Press. Even Amazon carries some of them.
 
Let's assume you have some property or a meeting point, whatever...you want to cache some things in one or more sealed PVC pipe cache's there. What non-food items do you want to include?

'blue' Tarps, contractor trash bags, ziplock bags filled w/first aid kit & replacement items, surgical tubing, multi vitamins, paracord, nylon twine and rope, pulley, trotline, snelled and treblehooks, 8 lb and 20 lb line, snap swivels, sinkers, frog and fish gig heads, seine, catfish skinning pliers, red & black popping bugs, marabou jigs and spoons, matches, lighters, magnesium & ferro fire sticks, parafin wax, AA rechargeable batteries and 2 solar rechargers, flashlights & replacement bulbs, .22 ammo 1000 rounds, 25 12 g. slugs, 75 #4, #6 birdshot, .223 ammo 150 rounds, silver dimes, quarters, half dollars, ax heads, crooked knife, saw blades, machete & butchers kit (skinner, boning, butchers knife, slicer, utility or paring,) stainless Mora knives, whetstone & file, large needles, buttons, patches, thread, snare wire and 'coathanger' wire, tool kit (pliers, brace and bits, wrench) nails, brass screws, arrowheads and fishing arrowheads, bow strings, 'sportsman' emergency blankets, large cook kit, water filter or iodine bandanas, polypro socks, tennis shoes, acrylic stocking cap, gloves, nalgene bottles filled with bourbon

food? Lentils, split peas, whole wheat, pinto, red and navy beans, parched corn or chicos, crushed chili, dried onion & garlic, curry powder, italian seasoning, bullion cubes, radish and alfalfa seed in nalgene w/a sprouting jar lid. Freeze the food for ~ 2 weeks before packing it to kill any pests in the grain.

Suggestions? Enhancements?
 
texas,

that is a well thought out list. I think most people forget kitchen type knives and whetstones. They would become very important if it became more long term.

I think something to add would be trading items,hi priority, hi demand, hi value essentials people will need that they can't use against you ie. ammo is bad to trade. rope or para-cord, fire starters would be awesome trading hi value.
 
The idea being that if this TSHHTF scenario
really happens, lifestyle as we have known
it is over, if that goes on long enough,
you'll need to start growing some of your
own food eventually. Some suggestions :
corn, beans/peas (the dried ones
at the super-market can also be planted, hence
doubling as a possible food source),
okra, watermelon, canteloupe, tomato, & turnip.
Where possible get non-hybrid seeds.
Note : most seeds begin to lose their potency
or ability to germinate after the 1st year.
By 3rd-4th year may be nearly worthless.
Corn,beans/peas, tomates, & turnips are probably
the easiest to grow.
Anyone else have suggestions?
 
I included radish and alfalfa sprouting seeds for vitamins, but beans, corn and squash/pumpkins formed local Amerindian agriculture, grow fairly well in primitive garden conditions. Many non-hybrid seeds will keep for quite a while in dry storage. Might as well throw in some heirloom tomato seeds, and roots/salad seeds as well. Winter & early spring garden seeds like Daikon, chinese cabbage, leeks, kale, spinach. Look for pinto and other heirloom dry beans, chicos or other field corn (learn about making hominy) melons and 'long keeping' hubbard and winter squash and pumpkin. Grow the beans/corn/squash together in mulched "hills" instead of rows -cut weeds in the fall, pile weeds and leaves, cover with dirt, sow spinach and lettuce seeds. Eat your early spinach and replant in spring plant a circle of corn seeds, with melons and squash in the center, plant pole beans after corn is 1 foot high to grow up the corn. Deer, squirrels and coons that come for the corn and beans go into the stewpot. Learn about root cellars and food drying techniques now.
Include seed for sweet sorghum, unless you live in maple sugar/syrup country. Also consider wheat, rye, millet, and oats depending on where you're at. Read up on 'no till' grain methods, unless you're willing to find a plow, keep and feed horses/oxen. Grinding grain, or sprouting & malting it, using malt to make whiskey to trade with...things to think about. Cache copper tubing and a book on 'bootlegging'. Liquor is always an excellent trade item. If you own land, plant grapevines, berries and fruit trees, turn some fruit into wine/brandy. Learn how to tend fruit and make wine/distill now. Include some mosquito netting, read up now about bee keeping and robbing beehives. Learn how to make mead.

With agriculture in mind throw spades heads, mattocks and hoes, root hormone powder (made from willows) grafting tools & pruning shears into your cache. A pipe full of hickory tool handles wouldn't be a bad idea, but you can always make your own if there are local hardwoods and you've got a few tools to split, rive, shape.

I forgot to list chisels, plane irons and/or an adze. With an axe, saw and adze/chisels and stovewood mallets, you can make large 'dovetails' in greenwood, using dovetails, a brace & bit and the occasional whittled peg you can make sturdy greenwood rafts, furniture and structures without (many) lashings or nails.
 
Wow! Y'all are way beyond me, but that means I get to learn from the masters! :D One suggestion: if we're talking TEOTWAWKI, throw out the 'blue' tarp and replace with green or brown. No need to stand out like a sitting pidgeon. Other than that, I'm amazed at this thread...
 
Some above suggested hiding and using a hacksaw blade to get into a piece of PVC but I have a better idea. All you need is a 3 or 4 foot piece of nylon string. You can use it like a wire saw to cut pvc pipe. I know, I didn't believe it either 'till I tried it.

I used to work construction and I learned this from a co-worker. I needed to cut some plastic conduit without damaging the wires inside and this guy told me to try it. Believe it or not the nylon string cuts just as fast as a saw. It's also handy for cutting plastic pipe in tight places.
 
LOL, forgot about that trick, but it really helps if the pipe is anchored somehow (like in a wall) It isn't real effective freehand.
 
I'll add some green and brown tarps.

If you're interested in gardening for self-sufficency, let me recommend author John Seymour, a Briton who spent much of the latter half of the 20th century writing about self sufficency and the 'forgotten' crafts and arts of farmers and smallholders. How to grow your own food and brew your own drink. All of it. On less land than you'd believe.
Seymour wrote many well written, easy to read books that are now sadly out of print. My favorite is still 'The Self Sufficent Gardener', which shows how to raise a lot of food in a small garden. The illustrations are great, make it very easy to understand. It also has info on raising ducks, chickens, quail, and rabbits for meat, and info on beekeeping. Your meat and your sweet. Written in the 70's, it's out of print, but it turns up in used bookstores here and there. If you have a knife, an ax, a firesteel, some cord, wire, seeds and a couple of his books, you could probably walk off into the wilderness and come out fat and sassy in 2 or 3 years. Many of his books qualify as valuable resources for anyone interested in long term survival &/or self sufficent living.

My highest possible recommendation.
 
some of this stuff is awesome guys!! wow!

but I really do NOT expect any of the **** to go sooo far out of hand.

I don't think I'll be away from home long enough to plant any sort of crop... and considering how small singapore is, planting anything without being discovered is kinda out of the question.

I loved the ideas about using pvc pipes as a cache container. Anyone else have any other ideas about where to hide such a cache in an urban environment? Public lockers are rare and too small. bus stations don't have such a thing and I'm not sure the airport does either.

places like libraries and discos have small lockers but since they are for short term storage, management would probably open it to check out after a few days.

anyone else got any great tricks to hide a cache in an urban environment? would appreciate it.

In a rural environment, I guess I'd just bury the pipe and it's contents.
 
Qew71, Paladin Press has a number of inexpensive books on hiding places & techniques. The one I recall eyeballing was about finding inconspicuous public hiding places for stashing stuff. Of course, if you can get into the hiding place, so can other people. The trick is to use the conditioning of other people's minds to not "see" the hiding place as such. To them it's all just part of their everyday inconsequential landscape. If and when the s*** hits the fan (which is when your cache/stash will really be of value to you), people will be distraught and confused, since their usual routines are disrupted. This means that they will be even less likely than normal to get imaginitive enough to discover your "right in front of your eyes but not seen" hiding places.

- Paladin Press homepage
http://www.paladin-press.com/
- How To Hide Things In Public Places
http://shop.paladin-press.com/Store/prodinfo.asp?prodid=3286
- How To Hide Anything
http://shop.paladin-press.com/Store/prodinfo.asp?prodid=3285
- DEA Stash And Hideout Handbook
http://shop.paladin-press.com/Store/prodinfo.asp?prodid=3116
- Big Book Of Secret Hiding Places
http://shop.paladin-press.com/Store/prodinfo.asp?prodid=3039
- Construction Of Secret Hiding Places
http://shop.paladin-press.com/Store/prodinfo.asp?prodid=3039

As an addendum to texascarl's recommendation for the books of John Seymour, try to find books of edible wild plants in your locale (or your bugout location). It's information that was more popular in the 1960's and 70's and has now seems to have gone out of fashion to a large degree, so people may be weeding these books out of their collections. Second hand bookstores or garage sales might be good sources for these.

And speaking of weeds, there's a lot of plants that we Americans call weeds that other cultures eat and that could be utilized to keep you alive. Here in the Northwest Coast area (and probably lots of other areas of the country) we are surrounded by food sources, if we learn where & how to look for them. Of course, during pre-contact times there were probably more salmon & game animals here than currently, but the plants are still here. For instance, the Japanese serve as a delicacy a plant I think we call colt's foot. They seem to have lots of plants from which they'll steam the leaves and pickle the stalks & stems. Their frugality led them to eat what they could get free.
 
If I may add 2 words for you to consider in S'pore or anywhere coastal: Tsunami and Hurricanes. Where do you go, what would you find there if a tidal wave/tidal surge is predicted. Might be prudent to pick out high ground and cache accordingly.
 
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