This is the fourth of a series of articles about caching,
the third most important tool a survivalist has. The first being knowledge
of how to survive under any circumstance, the second is being in good enough
physical condition to survive under any circumstance. 

Cache construction is one thing that is both critical
and varied from person to person. The size and shape varies according to
your personal survival strategy. I have vaguely covered construction of
a fuel cache in the last article. It is a place for you to start and then
improve as you tailor the caches to your own needs. We will now discuss
construction techniques for the rest of your supplies. 

My favorite type of construction is the tube style
caches. These days the availability of plastic pipe in a wide variety of
sizes has made it simple and easy to construct caching tubes in the size
you need. It may not be cheap but you can purchase PVC pipe in sizes large
enough to place fully loaded backpacks in them with room for your weapon
of choice along with it. If you are planning on a foot bugout then your
first cache (if your plan is to take it all with you) should be in a pipe
of this size. Smaller pipe sizes (and therefore cheaper) can be used from
this point on to hold food and water caches for restocking. 

To construct these caches a minimal investment in tools
(you may already own them) and a small amount of knowledge is needed. To
cut the pipe I use a normal circular saw ( I use a special blade purchased
from a local hardware store but the standard blade will do) and purchase
end caps, glue, and cleaner made for the PVC pipe. Follow standard procedures
to glue one cap on the chosen length of pipe. The hardware store will explain
how to do this if you don’t already know. Just remember, the glue is cheap,
a leak can be expensive. The other end cap is generally not glued. I have
heard of some survivalist placing stores that do not need to be rotated
in tubes and gluing them shut. This requires you to cut the tube open to
retrieve your cache. The end that is not glued is always kept up towards
the surface. If you use a normal end cap you can (if your climate is not
wet and the ground water level is not a problem) coat with a liberal coating
of petroleum product and just slide the end cap over the end of the tube.
However, you can purchase "cleanout plugs" that glue on the end
of the tube (a necessity if you are in wet climate with high level of ground
water) and have a threaded plug that tightens enough to be watertight.


I have been using end caps for a smaller size pipe
that I turn down on a lathe to fit the inside of the pipe. I then turn
groves in the cap and put "O rings" in the groves. I also drill
a hole across the cap on the "outside" of the O rings to side
a piece of brass stock through to use as a handle to remove the end cap
with. The O rings are lubricated with petroleum jelly and the cap slid
into the tube. It is a nice water tight fit but you have to have access
to a lathe, it is too expensive to have it done for you. 

One important point to make while discussing construction
of your caches is the depth of the combined earth and depth of the constructed
cache. If the bottom of the cache is a further distance from the top of
the ground than you can reach you need to provide some sort of retrieval
system. This can be as simple as a piece of monofilament tied to the bottom
item in a tube cache and then tied to the top piece so that you can pull
the bottom piece <and all those in between> up out of the cache.
If you are using a different type of cache then you will have to provide
proper means of retrieval for your cache. I have seen barrel caches in
which all stores were in ammo boxes inside the barrel. A 3 foot metal hook
was also in each cache with a "T handle" on the other end that
would allow you to hook the handles on the end of the ammo boxes and pull
them out. 

Other types of cache construction vary from things
as simple as watertight plastic barrels to elaborate marine plywood boxes
(or vaults) that are coated with all kinds of waterproofing. The plastic
barrels may not be strong enough to hold the pressure of the ground around
and over them so many people place them in a box or even a larger steel
barrel. I would have them coated with a thick coat of Polyurethane foam
to give it the added strength. The main emphasis is WATERPROOF with a second
emphasis on being strong enough not to collapse when you remove your cached
items for rotation of stores. 

Follow the guide lines given in an earlier article
for the burial of the cache. 

One thing that helps our cause is that anything buried
18 to 24 inches under the surface maintains a temperature of approximately
the average temperature of the area it is buried in. In other words, even
if the temperature gets into the hundreds the temperature (in most areas
of the U.S.) of the cache will probably remain in the seventies. Also,
if the temperature drops to 10 below it will still remain at the AVERAGE
(yearly) temperature of the location. Building codes realized this many
years ago and it is referred to as the "frost line" or "frost
upheaval line" in most building codes. Check the building department
in the area your cache is in and they will tell you the frost line depth.
Maintain this depth and you have less problems. Since the cache is waterproof
anything in the cache will be in a "dry cool environment" that
is usually recommended for storage of almost everything you would want
to store. Even medications are recommended to be kept in a cool dry place
(the medicine cabinet in your home would not even qualify as a good place
to store medications) and the cache is almost ideal in all ways. 

When burying multiple tubes in a cache I like to use
a pattern and bury them at a prescribed distance apart. That way when you
find one use the pattern and distance to find the others. Having them slightly
separated like this helps protect the rest of your cache if one tube is
accidentally discovered. Use the points of the compass as your pattern.
One at due north of the center tube and one a due south, east, west, however
many tubes you have in the cache. 

Any Questions or comments about these articles, email
them to me. If I get enough I may put a question and answer section to
the home page.