HHH's Geocache of the Day: Emergency Geocache Repair Kit

Today's Geocache of the Day deals with the situation of geocache repair and what you can do to help. Read on fellow cacher.

If you are a geocacher that takes geocaching seriously then you most likely have learned to take certain necessities with you just about every time you venture out. Things like food, water, extra clothes and first aid kits are a good start. What I am suggesting is another necessity that you should consider and that is the EGRK or Emergency Geocache Repair Kit. As your number of finds grow you increase the odds of coming upon a geocache that has been damaged and needs repair. Sure you can just sent a note to the geocache owner and have them deal with it but wouldn't it be better for everybody if you just fix the issue right then and there? I'm not talking complete replacement but there are some common repairs that any community friendly geocacher would take upon themselves to fix. For example:

Wet logs, happens all the time. A seal breaks or a top was not put on correctly and the next thing you know the log book is goo. Having some pre-printed log books in your EGRK could make this situation a quick fix.

Baggies, those nice little baggies only have a finite number of open and closes per bag before the seal is shot. Keeping a few of these extra in your EGRK would help keep logs out in the wild a bit drier for a bit longer. They only cost pennies and the help to the geocaching community is greatly appreciated.

Duck Tape (Duct Tape), Every once in a while a geocacher accidentally pokes a hole in the top or side of a plastic geocache. Using some good ole duck tape would help temporarily keep a geocaches precious trinkets away from the elements before the geocache owner can replace the container. An EGRK staple in my book.

I have made a GeoSnippits tutorial video about making your own EGRK. If you are interested you can see the video by clicking this link:
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/2010/08/geosnippits-making-your-own-emergency.html

Oh and why did I call it the Emergency Geocache Repair Kit instead of the Geocache Emergency Repair Kit.. Well who wants to make a GERK? Looked to much like jerk to me ;)

Until tomorrow's next geocaching adventure...

-HHH

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
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GeoSnippits: Making Your Own Emergency Geocaching Repair Kit - EGRK

It happens in geocaching, when you walk up to a geocache and find it in need of repair. If you are like me you hate to see swag, log books, travel bugs and geocoins getting damaged because the geocache they reside in is allowing the elements to get in. Wouldn't it be great to have a self made kit that contains items where you could fix the geocache until the owner could come out and replace it? The GeoSnippits video below shows you just how you can do that.

If you cannot see the viewer above, click this link and it will play on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUOMdW4JzFc

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Twitter me at
@headhardhat

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
http://www.geosnippits.com

How is Your Geocaching "EGRK"?

When I go geocaching I always carry with me my "pouch o' stuff". If you watch many of my GeoSnippits videos you can see it. All army green and after several years of geocaching it is showing it's battle scars. Come to think of it so am I but that is another story. The point is among my geocaching thing-a-ma-bobs is what I call my "Emergency Geocache Repair Kit". It's not for my personal geocaches but for ones that I come across that need maintenance. Think about it, how many times have you come across a geocache where the log book is so soaked no one can write on it? Wouldn't it be nice if someone had the hindsight to bring with them a maintenance repair kit to fix that little issue so other geocachers can enjoy the find? I think that would be an extremely nice jesture. So Mr./Mrs. Good Samaritan, what would you need to do to accomplish this?

It takes very little effort and the impact is huge. All you need is some or all of the following:

Emergency Geocaching Repair Kit

- Pint sized zip lock bag
- Some pre printed log sheets of different sizes (you can get them here) http://www.techblazer.com/geocaching-log-sheets/
- Small jewelry baggies
- Large jewelry baggies
- Duct Tape
- Gorilla Glue

I am sure you can come up with other goodies to keep in your EGRK but this is a good start.

The pint sized zip lock bag is to hold the EGRK components together. The whole thing will take up very little space in your geocaching pouch.

The pre-printed log sheets are a huge bonus to have because you come across soggy log books all the time. They come in all shapes and sizes needed and techblazer's website does a great job providing all that you will ever need. Simply replace the log book if it really is in that bad of shape or add a sheet or two if it is full. You might want to get in touch with the geocache owner to see if they want said logbook of goo. Most times they are just grateful that it was replaced.

The small and large jewelry baggies are also helpful for geocaches that use them. After so many opens and closes the seal breaks and a new baggie is needed. Replacing a logbook baggie will help keep the log book dryer longer. Always a cool thing to do.

Duct tape is the universal fixer of just about anything. Many times geocaches get damaged from walking sticks poking through the top. A temporary fix would be to fix said damaged lid with some duct tape and then notify the geocache owner that the cache needs to be fixed. The duct tape will help temporarily keep the cache contents from damage.

I don't care what type of adhesive bonding you use a magnet and plastic is never going to hold forever and things break. Taking a couple of minutes and fixing a broken geocache with gorilla glue is again a fine way of helping another geocacher out. It takes a couple of minutes of effort and is greatly appreciated within the geocaching population.

So there you have it. The EGRK is a simple and highly needed piece of equipment all serious geocachers need to have on them. If everybody took a couple extra minutes to fix some of these troubled geocaches we find the game would be a whole lot less... gooey.

See you out on the trails,

-HHH


GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------
Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com/