I've done some checking on this myself. I looked into the smaller (8" x 12") bearproof canisters that they have at REI, CampMor, etc. but "holy cow!" they cost in the $70 to $80 range for a canister that is rated for only 6 person days. My wife and I would need two of them for a four to six day trip. That sounds awfully steep to me.

The larger barrels with carrying straps cost $100 or more, still plenty expensive - they also don't look like they'd be very much fun to carry. I did some searching on the web for polyethylene barrels, but didn't find a real good outlet that is interested in selling one or two. Most of these places deal in large lots for use in food manufacturing, etc. The pack barrels with straps are made from the same food grade polyethylene barrels with screw end caps. If someone knows of a reasonably priced source of these that will sell in small lots, I'd be interested.

Posted by Dean on April 09, 2000 at 21:38