Surveyor's tape Carrier

Talking with a memeber of the local SAR unit today He showed me a great idea they use for carrying "marker" tape.
They take a normal film canister(like we use for so many things) Cut a vertical slit in the body of the canister. Roll up the surveyors tape off a normal roll until you get enough to fill the canister, then feed the leading edge of the tape thru the slit. Put the lid on the canister and presto!.. you have a surveyors tape dispenser. I thought it was a great idea for those of you who carry the tape..

Great idea for the dispenser..........

I typically carry some for my outings. Never considering it for a long term solution ,but I do occasionally use it for trail marking/site marking, etc........and now I think i may go with the film cansiter idea and just toss a roll in my pack every time!

Thanks

Fantastic idea. It's just like a rope bag...no doubt that's where the idea came from since SAR folks use those all the time.

What is this 'film canister' of which you speak?



A

It is just an ordinary plastic film container w/lid designed originally to carry 35mm film.

That's how I carry jute twine for fire starting and various simple knot tying. A small hole in the top of the container and the twine wound up neatly on the inside. You just pull the amount of twine you need up through the top and cut it.

I usually carry marking tape as well, but that I just have wrapped around a pen or whatever, since I don't carry or use a lot of it. I think I'll do the same thing with the marking tape and keep them together.

Not bad. I have often wondered if a normal smallish roll would fit into one of those hard sided snuff can carriers. Make a slit, same thing...

LOL.. In that case I probably shouldnt mention the cameras that had the rotaing square flash bulb on top that was good for 4 flashes then you had to replace it. I think I just dated myself?!

Say what? Where am I supposed to find this if I don't want the roll of film?

Great idea by the way. I would go further and make two tiny holes, one in the cap, and one in the bottom, and run a small piece of brass wire through it to be able to suspend it. No, wait, even better : glue a closed zip-tie onto the cap using Loctite so you can just suspend the small canister off a piece of paracord or something.

Any store that still develops 35mm film usually has plenty of empty canisters lying around that they are happy to give, if you just ask.

SARbound, Thats exactly how this SAR member had it attatched to his web gear, a small hole thru the top and bottom with a piece of tie wire hooking it to his "H" harness... You SAR guys are all alike.. ha ha

LOL! I guess you're right...

I guess I'm just a lazy b@st@rd. I take a whole spool and run a pack strap through it. That gets used like that until it is almost gone, then the spool is replaced. It is out of the way but handy to grab and tear. Then I let go and don't think about it until it is time for the next marker.

That's worked for me for decades so I never thought further about it until your post. Very clever. I wonder if a chewing tobacco tin carrier might be wide enough for a partial spool to fit in.