I kind of got away from hard PSK cases after a horse used me for a lawn dart.. and I had a perfect Altoids shaped bruse for weeks.

I really love these products:
http://usstore.aquapac.net/explore-produ...ase-uss348.html

In a pocket, on a belt, with a neck lanyard. Never had a leak or puncture (though anything I put inside it has sharp edges padded. I know it keeps contents dry after submersion: a whitewater raft tried to drown me once, and a trout stream suddenly grew a hole just where I was walking. In both situation I was in and under the water for a while. And everything stayed dry. Around water I wear this around my neck but UNDER a t-shirt: one time it was on my belt and hung me up while trying to get back in a raft.

The only thing inside which could be broken (and might argue for a hard case) is a compass... which is in its own hard case.
I put everything in a lightweight plastic bag inside the Aquapac so I can use the Aquapac as a water carrier if needed.

I think people are exaggerating and over reacting.

I took an empty altoid tin, wrapped electrical tape once around the seam, and dunked it in a bucket of water for close to an hour, and as you can see there isn't much water intrusion at all. If I wrap it a few more times I'd venture to say there wouldn't be any.

So while taking an altoid tin with your diving wouldn't be the best idea, just splashing or raining will be perfectly fine.

jzmtl - I admit, It may have been that I was using the wrong type of tape for the job. I have moved on to other projects now so to speak, but the electrical tape may have been the key.

Could also be the fact I was moving around so much the can could have bent, twisted, shifted or something. Placing a can in a bucket of water isn't really the same kind of test as getting in and out of a kayak for two days either. Throw the tin in a vest and do some real world stuff to compare with your bucket test and see if the results are the same.

Even a slight ingress was unacceptable to me. Something is either waterproof or it isn't. Even a drop of water could be a problem if left sitting there unnoticed for too long.



How exactly? Please explain

I'm sorry if the bucket isn't real world enough for you, but I'm not motivated enough to do a well planned experiment for an internet argument.

But frankly if you go kayaking with the bare tin which is never meant to be water resistant much less proof in your pocket, you really should rethink your common sense, at least put it in a small freezer bag for instance.




Go back and read your own title and 1st post?

I guess I see your point.

Was a bit of a rant there.

Wow, we certainly have a different idea of "perfectly fine". Maybe a foot deep for an hour and it's got that much water in it? Betcha the cheapest zip-lock baggie wouldn't have that much moisture in it... Now, assuming we had our PSK goods in that tin: what would they be like the next time we opened the tin? Remember that this is a PSK, not a container for daily-use items. Could be a month, could be a few years, really no usual need to open except to upgrade/add. I guess the rule is to open a dunked Altoids PSK.

Just saying. I agree people may be over-reacting a bit. Cheap and handy vs "expensive" and built to do the required job. I used to use pipe tobacco tins and they sealed VERY tightly as found, you needed a coin to open them. Typically a bit of a gasket on the lid too.

Okay, I vote this for "best ETS zinger of the year."

If you had read my entire post instead of picking one sentence out of context you would have seen my point is just one wrap with tape makes it relatively water resistant in submersion scenario, do it a few times carefully it will be perfectly fine if it gets splashed on, which is much less stringent on watertightness requirement.

And if kept going you would also have seen me advocating put it in a freezer bag if water encounter is expected.

I think it is safe to say that Altoid tins can be recycled for further use as handy containers (thereby saving the planet - reducing use of landfills and conserving metal). They serve quite well for that purpose, although some things don't fit well into them. They are a useful component in a thoughtful EDC scheme that will be useful in a lot of tough situations.

They aren't waterproof, per se. If you need to waterproof items, you will have to modify them carefully or go to something else.

Speaking of waterproofing, back in the days when I was scuba diving off the Channel Islands (California) regularly, I played around with the notion of carrying some sort of minimal survival kit that would serve if I ever wound up on an island beach (We almost always dove off of vessels). Dives were routinely down to 60-70 feet and sometimes as deep as 120'. Never came up with a good solution. Any ideas??

Treeseeker, DS came across one of those at the store the other day, and he recognized it's potential as a survival kit container and wanted to test it out (usual disclaimers apply). Unfortunately, we haven't had an opportunity to test it or any of the others I've mentioned, what with school having started back, and football, and scouts, and getting the house ready for DS's birthday sleepover this weekend. All our schedules are crammed pretty tight atm.

On a somewhat related note, it looks like our choice of survival kit container (or the lack thereof) is just like any other piece of survival gear. There's lots of different options available, each with it's own unique capabilities and shortfalls. And just like any other piece of survival gear, each of us will test and evaluate them and pick the one best suited for our own individual needs based on our personal experiences and where our adventures take us.