Carbon Fiber Bear Canister

[joseph peterson]

Any updates? I am interested, and know many others not on the forum will be too

[Roleigh Martin]

Somebody is designing an expandable bear canister already and is going through the testing process, I forget it's name but it is cool, it can either be 600 cubic inches or 1000 cubic inches or something like that, and it's far cheaper than the Bearikade model. It's kind of like a plastic egg shape.

The main issue is that in many places, the canister you make, even if it works, can't be legally used unless it is on the list of approved canisters by the park authorities, such as Yosemite, SEKI, etc. And the problem now is that their has been a decentralization of authority on approving bear canisters. Their used to be a group something called SIBBG or something that approved the bear canisters, now it's done by individual parks/national forests. A real headache.

Last, whatever you design and sell can't be in violation of somebody else's patent on the design. I don't know if Bearikade (Wild-ideas.net) has patented their canister or applied for such.

[Roleigh Martin]

I found a link.

http://www.trailspace.com/blog/2011/01/21/outdoor-retailer-bearier-700.html

And in its base form, it is 700 cubic inches, expanded form 1000 cubic inches.

Web page of pre-seller is here:

http://www.camp4outdoors.com/products.html

[Roleigh Martin]

More about the Bearier Canister – http://www.camp4outdoors.com/about.html

When will the Bearier be available?

We hope to start shipping sometime in May. If you'd like to receive one of the first units, please contact us to be placed on our pre-order list.

How much will it cost?

The Bearier 700 will have an MSRP of $109.95, and the GrubHub will have an MSRP of around $50-60.

How much does it weigh?

While exact the weight of our production units is still a secret, we anticipate the Bearier to weigh less than 2 pounds. This low weight is due to our unique spherical shape, which results in a superb surface area (and thus material) to volume ratio while providing excellent structural strength.

[Bob Gross]

I would love to watch and photograph the test of it with the zoo bear.

I wonder what kind of bear bait they would need to put inside it to really get the bear going. I suggest about two pounds of fresh cat food with oil of anise over it.

"The Bearier is made from a custom blend of polycarbonate"
That does not sound like Carbon Fiber.

–B.G.–

[Roleigh Martin]

Bob, you are right about that, but I thought the intent was to make a canister about as light as the Bearikade for about half the cost. Yes I know the proposed methodology was carbon fiber and the Bearier uses a polycarbonate. Perhaps the next approach is a Carbon Fiber egg shape canister? But I doubt it would be half the cost.

[Bob Gross]

The problem with the Bearier canister is that you can't buy them.

1. There is no fixed price.
2. There is no delivery date.
3. There is no known weight to the thing. "Less than two pounds" is not much to go on.
4. There are no field reviews.
5. There is no idea on how it will be accepted by the authorities, or even by the test bear, for that matter.

In the world of computer software, that would be called Vaporware.

–B.G.–

[Roleigh Martin]

Well, the month of May is not that far away. We should soon see. Let's resume this critique of them June 1st. Their difficulties involve the headache of dealing with NPS authorities. They know they'd be stupid to go into significant manufacturing prior to getting certified approval.

[James Wyse]

It puzzles me also why Bearikade doesn't just offer a 12" version as a standard item. I too had them make a 12" up for me as a custom order, which was pretty easy (they were very accommodating). That was five or six years ago. I find it will carry 5-6 days' food for two people if you pack it carefully. For solo use, I imagine the 10" Weekender model would be fine. Then again, 12" is a pretty good height for a stool.

[Bob Gross]

I have to figure out how to tip one of those on its side and make a rocking chair out of it.

–B.G.–

[Rick Dreher]

"I would love to watch and photograph the test of it with the zoo bear."

Sad to report Fisher, the official SIBBG tester bear at the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary, has passed on to the big Jellystone Park in the sky. I'd always hoped for a photo op.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fisher_the_Bear.jpg

Fisher was reknowned for being curious and relentless.

Rick

[Bob Gross]

I'm sorry to hear of the demise of the bear. I wonder what was the cause of death. Maybe a chunk of carbon fiber got stuck in its throat.

–B.G.–

[joseph peterson]

I don't care if it approved or not. I would still like to own a carbon fiber canister.

Rangers are concerned with hard sided canisters, and the approval process has been deconstructed. The bearikade is not on the list, yet they sell them in SEKI at the foothill station. Edit: It is listed as approved on Yosemite's site http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/containers.htm

Rangers want to see a hard sided canister, with solid locking mechanisms. Proven designs are out there, and finding data on strength tests of the materials is easily avaliable. An engineer could design one pretty easily. It may not be approved, but any ranger with half a brain isn't going to blink an eye at a solid, legit slippery cylinder shaped. I have yet to even be asked to show a canister, and you can still backpack without a canister as long as you store your food in a bear box, as per a yosemite ranger June 2010, and I confirmed that with a SEKI ranger in Aug 2010.

If a problem did occur with a back country ranger and a non approved canister, the worse that would happen is you would need to hike to a bear box. Usually where there is a ranger, a bear box is close by.

A non approved canister is just fine where they are not required, and there is plenty of fine back country without regulations.

I would love a CF canister approved or not approved.

[Bob Gross]

It is a little more complicated than that.

I've had Yosemite rangers specifically ask to inspect each bear canister as they were writing the wilderness permit. So, if it is locked in the trunk of your car a mile away, that might slow down the process. In Yosemite, most of the permit stations have a photo list, and as long as your canister appears on the photo list, then that is good enough. If they are in a big rush, and if you say you have a BearVault 450 or something familiar, then they may possibly just issue the permit and let it slide on the visual inspection. If you tell them some model that they do not recognize, then they are likely to inspect it. They've seen too many fools with Rubbermaid DIY food boxes. When I told them a new model that they didn't recognize, they needed to see it first.

As long as the ranger has some kind of evidence of a valid bear canister, then they don't have to deal with it anymore. But, being typical federal civil servants, they don't want to be caught issuing a permit for something that isn't correct.

In Kings Canyon, some backpackers have been escorted out/off the trail when they had nothing. If you had some newfangled contraption that they could not recognize, the rangers might feel the need to err on the side of caution. Not every ranger has a mechanical aptitude sufficient to evaluate some new contraption in the field. In some parts of those parks, there are a few bear boxes. If you are dependent on a bear box, that forces you to camp pretty close to the bear box, and that concentrates human use and harms the experience for everybody.

The whole approval process is in a state of flux now, and I would hate to drop hundred or two on some high-tech canister that is later determined to have some flaw and is therefore banned.

–B.G.–

[joseph peterson]

I am 100% confident in carbon fiber. Engineering one is not a feat, and is actually quite simple. And I am also confident I could talk any manufactured hard sided carbon fiber canister into Yosemite. If not, no loss, because I am never going to pay over 200$ for a bear canister. I will have a canister for everywhere else except yosemite…..its too crowded there anyway heh

[Bryce]

Was researching bear cans for upcoming ADK trip. Thx.

[Author]

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