Painting Cache Containers

[the Monkey King]

Sorry if this has already been addressed in the forum, but a quick search didn't turn up any results that I could see.

I have some sistema boxes and I was wondering what is the best type of paint to use to camouflage them.

Is it better to cam them or leave them as it? or is this down to personal preference?

I have enough boxes for four small and two standard sized caches.

[CraigRat]

I rough mine up with a wire brush, use some primer and then a matt black finish.

After all these years I find that simple matt black works best in most situations for me

[Zalgariath]

I have found over here in Ireland nearly every cache I find is covered in this stuff rather then painted... probably because it is so wet paint wont last long... Ive never seen in in Australia, but its a great idea! CAMO DUCT TAPE!

[pprass]

... Ive never seen in in Australia, but its a great idea! CAMO DUCT TAPE!

Bring some home or send some to us

...what is the best type of paint to use to camouflage them.....Is it better to cam them or leave them as it?

I don't think the "type" of paint matters a great deal, but rather the preparation of the surface. You need to chemically etch the surface of the Sistima plastic so that the paint bonds to it. Or as CraigRat does - rough it up in some way. If you just paint the container unprepared, the paint will flake off easily - especially if you are placing the container in and around rocks.

Having said that, I read somewhere on the Groundspeak site that it is recomended not to paint the containers at all, but to leave them clear so that officials can see what is in them without having to blow them up in case of a public scare

I have seen a compomise which work very well. The Cash Man paints the containers matt black all over except for the top of the lid, where he leaves a "window" into which you can see what is inside the container. He also places a Geocaching Site sticker to clearly state that it is not a bomb!

[the Monkey King]

many thanks for the advice

I suppose another option is hide the thing properly in the first place so it wont need painting.

[SuperMoosie]

I have some sistema boxes and I was wondering what is the best type of paint to use to camouflage them.

Sistema boxes are a pain as the blue clip gets worn with the pressure when opening and closing. It defeat the camo job if the paint peels off here and exposes the bright blue. When you do paint them you end up with a square black box that the paint starts to peel of after a few months. Also people tend to hide them by placing them in the usual unnatural pile of stones.


With my caches I try to make them blend it to the environment more. I have had people log that they looked directly at the cache but thought it was a rock or a lump of concrete.

I rough up the plastic with sandpaper and wire brushes so it sticks, coat with a Easy Surface Prep (ESP) just to make sure the paint will stick to the plastic.

Then add some blobs of expanding foam to get it away from a square box and more rock like.

Paint over with a number of layers of oil based under coat to give the whole thing more strength, just slop it on, let it dry and slop some more on.

Then paint with camo colours depending on where you are going to hide it. green/ brown for in the bush, light yellows for sand stone cave/ rocks etc.

I also add some spray adhesive and roll it in sand/ soil/pine needles/ to give it some more texture. Repeat a few times.

I do this all with the container lid on, when all dried use a knife to help open it.

A few minutes work a day over a week and you have a great cache container.

[Papa Bear_Left]

If you're going for matt black (and I agree that it's often better camo than trying to match the surroundings), try using black duct tape, the cloth tape type.

It's tougher than paint, quicker to apply, and seems to weather well unless it's in direct UV (which is unlikely for most hides!)

[Philipp]

... or just go for an ammo can. In Anaconda or Aussie Disposals the small ones are just under ten bucks. The large ones are only $30 which is a good price for over 20L

[Richary]

For painting them I was originally put onto a primer product called ESP (Easy Surface Preparation). It reckons it allows paint to stick to just about anything and seems to work pretty well.

[blossom*]

... or just go for an ammo can. In Anaconda or Aussie Disposals the small ones are just under ten bucks. The large ones are only $30 which is a good price for over 20L

My favourite hiding mechanism is a sistema inside an ammo can. The ammo can is tough, waterproof, and already cammo-ed. The sistema can just be lifted out and this makes it easy to look at all the contents, find the log book etc and also keeps things nice and clean.

But I like the natural-looking rock idea