Since the majority of cashes will be buried underground they will have to be packaged in a manner that the conditions they will be exposed to will have little or no effect. This generally means waterproofing. One possibility would be to use those plastic totes and tubs made for storage by manufactures such as Rubbermaid. This can also be done using various sized plastic buckets. These buckets are the kinds that are often used to ship large amounts of food product designed for commercial use. Pickle buckets if you will. To increase the sealing of these containers is to place a bead of silicon caulk around the rim before seating the lid. Inside individual items or groups of items can be placed in ziploc type bags or sealed in vacuum packing bags. For even another barrier the container can be lined with trash bags. You could wrap the entire container in an additional trash bag as another layer. One note about the trash bags is that many are impregnated with various chemical compounds. These are meant to control insects or odors. They should not be used in direct contact with food substances. In placing these require a great deal of digging to properly place them. And the attendant clean up to hide the fact the cashe is there.

The best cashe that I have encountered is the double PVC tube cashe. Not only is this one of the better designs for structural integrity. It is the easiest to bury and quickest to retrieve of any other type. The minimum size to be used is dependent upon two things. Diameter of the widest item you intend to put in and length by the longest item. In general the most common size would be a 4 inch inner tube about 3 feet long with a 6 inch pipe long enough to fit the around the inner tube. This is a nice size that would hold an adequate amount of supplies while being small enough to be easily transported without being clumsy also to require too much digging. Of course if you have items that you want to store that would not fit this size adjust the diameter or length as necessary. The only problem with PVC is that it degrades when exposed to UV light. Because it is buried this will not be a problem.

To build this type the first thing is to get the pieces needed. Cut the inner tube to length. The end that will be the bottom will be capped. In PVC this is a domed shape item that is glued over the end. At the other end you glue in place a collar called a clean out plug. This collar has internal threads that accept a screw in plug that will seal the tube. These plugs have a large square block on the outside. This is used to remove the plug. Because of the size the best tool to remove the plug is a strap wrench so it might be nice to carry one with you to open them. But if you don’t have one available there are ways to jury-rig a replacement. A leather belt or strip of webbing can act as the strap. Then a metal bar or even a strong stick can substitute for the handle and supply the leverage. If you are unsure that this plug will adequately seal the threads can be wrapped with plumber’s tape. Load the supplies and cap. The inner tube is ready to be placed in the outer tube. You can place a handle on this tube so that when the outer tube is opened you can pull it out. The outer tube is constructed basically the same way with a couple of minor additions. Added piece one is a small block glued inside the bottom end cap. This block would be about a half to one inch thick. This acts as a standoff so the inner tube does not get stuck to the bottom of the outer tube. It makes life a little easier. The other change is a small tube is glued from top to bottom on the inside of the tube. Steel brake line is ideal for this but any other small-ridged tube would work. The purpose of this is that if the outer tube should leak and fill even part way with water could form a hydraulic lock. The resultant vacuum that could be formed could make it nearly impossible to pull out the inner supply tube. The small tube acts as a vent to allow air into the bottom breaking any possible vacuum.

With the cashe tube assembled and loaded it is time to plant it in a selected location. Once at the spot you need to dig the hole. First cut an area of sod larger than the desired hole. This plug is set aside to be replaced when you are finished to hide the hole. Then place sheets of plastic around the proposed hole. This is to catch the soil dug up. Some will be returned to back fill the hole the rest can be removed for disposal so that it does not reveal the location of the cashe. You then use an auger just large enough to produce a hole the tube will fit into. The auger can be hand powered for quiet if stealth is needed when placing the cashe. Or if noise is no problem you can use a power auger for easier digging. Dig the hole to the depth so that when the tube is in the hole the top is far enough down to avoid detection. If it is in a location where nothing is expected to disturb the earth 6 inches to a foot should be adequate. If it would be in something like a field that could be plowed you would have to go deeper. Once the hole is finished lower the tube into the hole. Back fill with the dirt dug up and tamp it down firmly. The tamping is necessary to prevent the spot from settling as much that could reveal the cashe to the curious. When this is completed replace the sod plug to hide the hole. Cart away any excess dirt. Move on to the next cashe location and repeat.

Why do I consider this a superior type of cashe? With the double tube construction the stored supplies are very well protected. Drilling a hole with an auger is much easier, faster and produces a much smaller footprint than a dug hole for other types. Being vertical even if it contains metal it would be harder to detect with a metal detector. They will be quicker and much easier to recover. Instead of digging out and/or unpacking a conventional cashe you only have to dig down far enough to expose the top. You then unscrew the top grab the handle and pull the inner tube out. At this point you can open the tube and empty it or tuck the tube and scurry away with the whole thing to a better location. One ideal location for this type of cashe is under a preexisting fence post. Pull the post dig the hole deeper place the tube backfill some and replace the post. The fence post will hide the cashe yet act as a marker when you need to recover it. If you do not want to remove a post you can dig beside the post for placement. One nice thing about using fence lines is that even if something happens to a fence other than the complete deliberate removal you should be able to track where a specific post was. This is because of the even spacing of most posts if some remain you can count the missing spaces. I have seen sites that have been abandoned for many years. The fences have decayed away. There will still be some post stumps left and you can pretty much tell where the missing ones were.