Hey folks, I finally got around to taking pictures of the other items I got at that yard sale where I got that SVEA with the Taiwan tourist kit. The first picture is of all three items together. Keep in mind, the seller was an Eagle Scout and knew I was looking for camping items for my son’s Cub Scout pack. Also, he only asked $15 for all 3 but I gave him $20 and told him thanks and to keep the change! Here are some pictures of just the Coleman 425B stove; and yes, it works great! It just needs a good cleaning. Finally, here is the story behind the yellow box. His story was he got this from his daughter. She worked in a local Mall and the box was used as a store display for Havana Joe shoes. When the store took down the display, she asked if she could have the box and they gave it to her for free! When I saw it at the yard sale, I thought it would make a great food box for camping. It is made out of aluminum, has a rubber seal in the lid to make it air tight, and it can be locked to keep the raccoons out! After I got it home, I found out it was made in Germany by a company called ZARGES. (see the last picture) When I looked them up on the internet and got the measurements of the box, I found out the company still makes this box. Its part number is 40568 and it would cost $247.15 plus shipping and of course it wouldn’t come with the yellow paint or cool Havana Joe decals. Anyway, I can’t wait to use these at future camping trips with my son and the rest of his pack. Don’t worry; I’ll post pictures after I do! 8) Enjoy, Art
I was wrong! The remaining $10 of your investment was even more astoundingly good value than the first $5. Now I'm sure you are of Irish descent! Enjoy your lucky finds and please do post some pictures of them in use at a cub camp. Regards John
Very nice haul! I know most folk around here aren't all that into coleman stuff, but a 425 is a tough stove to beat for car camping, so long as you don't want to use the coleman oven. They're surprisingly powerful as well!
Total score! I like the 425. Get it setup to run propane too. The yellow box is really something. Very nice indeed.
Nice Yellow boot box, it would be ideal for raccoons if you find a way to lock it lest they bring the lock picking tool kit. I wouldn't risk matching the box with a bear otherwise you would have a flattened Havana Joe box.
Excuse my ignorance here but is the bear's sense of smell so keen that normal foodstuffs would attract them even with the rubber seal that this box has? I don't think it will ever happen because of the cost but one day I'd like to take a bunch of scouts to the Rockies but if bears are that much of a threat I'm not sure it would ever get past a risk assessment in this ever more litigious world that we live in. Enjoy your finds Art. Best regards John
Even if the bears can't smell the food inside the box, they will smell the food smells transferred from your hands to the box when you pack it up and put it away. If you are going back country camping in the National Parks of the Rockies in Canada, they always provide hanging caches you can attach your food containers to which you then hoist up a dozen or so feet above the ground via the cables and pulleys. Just don't make the mistake of leaving your slightly greasy stove or slightly dirty dishes in your tent when you go for a short hike for a couple of hours, or you may find a shredded tent when you return. Stan
Yes, bears will definitely smell the food inside a sealed box. Even dogs, whose sense of smell is only a fraction of that of a bear, will easily identify which of a long row of sealed packages is the one that contains their "target" - typically drugs or explosives. Yonadav
Another bit of advise; don't put the clothing you cook and eat in inside the tent with you while you are sleeping. There are lots of Do's and Dont's associated with traveling in bear county. I am not an expert, nor even experienced with bears invading my camp...maybe I am pretty good! Point is, do everything you can to avoid attracting them to your camp and you "should" be fine. Be safe
Mandatory in National Parks now, I believe- At least I know they are in RMNP- Bear Canisters At the least you should learn how to hang a bear bag if you are camping in bear country. PCT method of bag hanging
Hanging food stuffs is fine, but it still attracts the bears. Came back to camp a few years ago to find a pair of black bears pondering how to get to my stuff ) From my point of veiw, just do your best to keep a clean camp. I aviod stuff that seems to smell too yummy ie bacon chicken hamburger etc. I try to be anal about NOT wiping my hands on my clothes. Then I just have faith that the odds are with me. Have been hiking in bear country a long time and have nothing even close to a scary story to tell, knock on wood... Keith
All good suggestions, especially the semi-bear proof canisters. (Nothing plastic will resist a determined bear imho) I'm however, talking about the National Park backcountry campgrounds where there are several campsites with toilets etc. where everyone SHOULD be camping. These places have wire cable hanging aparatuses (sp??) which ARE bear proof and freely available to backpacking campers to hang food or even a full backpack if they need to. The bottom line is that no matter how smart or diligent you are when backcountry camping, you are at the mercy of the last idiots who thought it was cute to attract a bunch of bears with their bacon grease when they were there the week before you. When in Canada's National parks you are not allowed to simply find a nice spot and pitch your tent, as everyone else will probably find that a nice spot too and eventually it gets to be an "urban oasis" in a National Park. Stan
Black bears aren't all that dangerous. Sure, more people are killed by black bears than any other, but there are twice as many black bears than all other kinds of bears combined. It's like saying more people are killed by cars than by howitzers. Keep food smell away from where you sleep, make enough noise to not surprise them and you'll probably never even see one, they aren't looking for a fight. If you really want to keep them out of your stuff soak a sock in white gas and put it with your stuff. Bears hate that smell! Kept 'em out of my trash anyhow.
Most black bear attacks up here in Canada are predatory, done by human habituated bears. Making noise and keeping food out of reach doesn't help in those cases. I talked to an old trapper who live 70 miles outside Dawson Creek in Northern BC a few years ago and he told me that the black bears changed suddenly in the 60's and started challenging him instead of fleeing. He attributed it to change in the hunting regulations which taught many of the bears to look at humans as prey, rather than predators. There's only 2 kinds of animals to a bear, predators and prey. Interesting!
To Art; Sorry to have hijacked your attempt to show us your good fortune. I seem to have found out how to take a thread completely off topic in one simple step....... Ask a seemingly innocent question! To those of you that have offered your advice re keeping food away from "Ursus americanus"; Thank you for all of your input. I think I'm going to have to wait for a new less risk averse district commissioner before I raise the possibility of taking my scouts over. (It'll take that long to raise the funds anyway.... you've all just doubled the insurance premiums). The paperwork involved under the current leadership team is probably too much to contemplate. Thanks and best regards John
No problem John, I'm use to having one topic branch off in different directions. I kind of enjoy seeing what people come up with. Thanks for everyone's advice on bears, but where I live and take my Cub Scouts, the biggest threats are raccoons, skunks, snakes, spiders and ticks. Still, I always stress to the parents and the boys to keep our camp clean and never store food in their tents! My reason for starting these threads in the first place was just to let people know that there are still some good people out there and that you can still find some great deals at yard sales! I went to a lot of yard sales this year and I bought a ton of camping gear at a fraction of the price for new gear or even what you can find on epay! As for my Cub Scout pack, we haven't decided when we will do our first fall camp out, but I will post pictures of all my gear, and I've got a lot, in action after we go. And sorry, it will include pictures of Coleman 413s, 425s, and maybe even my 502! It's hard to cook breakfast for 20 on a SVEA 123! Enjoy your stoves and keep looking for more! Art
