Let's talk about buckets

jdlobb

jdlobb

Adventurer
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Since I'm gonna be spending a lot of time in National Parks here in a few weeks, and have been buying various bits of kit like crazy, my thoughts turned to the ol' requirement to carry an axe, shovel, and bucket, in federally managed wilderness. (i don't know if this is actually law or just best practice)

and while I always have an axe and shovel in the truck anyways, I have never carried a bucket.

So hit me. Do you carry a bucket? What kind? What size? what makes a "good bucket?" What kind of things do you actually DO with your bucket?
 
rnArmy

rnArmy

Adventurer
Buckets come in three basic shapes - round, square, or rectangle plastic buckets. You can also get them round in canvas that will fold flat.


Yes, you can also get them round tapered in metal like pictured in the first post. Those would be my last choice (they dent, odd shape, etc.).

I prefer the rectangle plastic ones. When packing them, there's less wasted space compared to a round one.

We have cats, and their cat liter comes in square or rectangle plastic buckets with a handle. So that's what I use for buckets - rectangle. One nice thing about these are they have a lid that'll clamp shut if that works better for you (I remove the lids). Example:


Usually I've just got stuff stored in the buckets. They also act as dividers in my trailer. I've used them to transport non-drinking water at the campsite.

They sell kits to convert the good-old fashion round 5-gallon buckets into toilets. That might be another option to consider.

www.ratemytoilet.net

Review: The Luggable Loo - Rate My Toilet

When you need something to help you go when you’re on the go, your options are sometimes limited. If you’re on a tight budget, then your options are limited even further because many portable toileting systems cost several hundred dollars at the minimum. What are you going to do? You’re going to...
www.ratemytoilet.net www.ratemytoilet.net
 
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N

NatersXJ6

Explorer
rnArmy said:
Buckets come in three basic shapes - round, square, or rectangle plastic buckets. You can also get them round in canvas that will fold flat.


Yes, you can also get them round tapered in metal like pictured in the first post. Those would be my last choice (they dent, odd shape, etc.).

I prefer the rectangle plastic ones. When packing them, there's less wasted space compared to a round one.

We have cats, and their cat liter comes in rectangle plastic buckets with a handle. So that's what I use for buckets.

Usually I've just got stuff stored in the buckets. They also act as dividers in my trailer. I've used them to transport non-drinking water.

They sell kits to convert the good-old fashion 5-gallon buckets into toilets. That might be another option to consider.

www.ratemytoilet.net

Review: The Luggable Loo - Rate My Toilet

When you need something to help you go when you’re on the go, your options are sometimes limited. If you’re on a tight budget, then your options are limited even further because many portable toileting systems cost several hundred dollars at the minimum. What are you going to do? You’re going to...
www.ratemytoilet.net www.ratemytoilet.net
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As much as the cats annoy me, those litter buckets are brilliant, heavy duty, designed to stack both full and empty. I keep a round basic bucket in my trasheroo too. It holds open and works for stuff like scooping water or dirt, carry firewood, sitting on, emergency drain pan, lots of uses.
 
rnArmy

rnArmy

Adventurer
Here's a shot of some of these cat litter buckets in my trailer.

Buckets.2.jpg

They also get used in my shop. When I built the shelves in my shop, I made sure I had enough space to put these buckets on the floor and under the first shelf. They hold things like ratchet straps, trailer hitch balls and such, etc. They sell cat litter in short and tall buckets; I prefer the tall buckets.

Buckets.1.jpg
 
jdlobb

jdlobb

Adventurer
rnArmy said:
Here's a shot of some of these cat litter buckets in my trailer.

View attachment 614412

They also get used in my shop. When I built the shelves in my shop, I made sure I had enough space to put these buckets on the floor and under the first shelf. They hold things like ratchet straps, trailer hitch balls and such, etc. They sell cat litter in short and tall buckets; I prefer the tall buckets.

View attachment 614413
Click to expand...
those do look useful. I don't have a cat, but I do have one of these lying around, though the handle broke off like 5 minutes after I got it. Might just find a way to put this into my loadout.

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SDDiver5

SDDiver5

Expedition Leader
I use buckets for many things. Mainly holding random pieces of gear since I don't have shelves or drawers, etc in my new truck. Last time I went to the desert I had two. One inside of another and then some gear like a chain, come along, and a few other things inside the top one. The second bucket ended up being used to pick up a bunch of garbage around where I was camping.

Also used one when I was a commercial fisherman in AK doing set net Salmon fishing and didn't have a bathroom. It worked as a toilet and water bailer.

Once time I used a bucket to collect a bunch of sea glass in mexico and then to hold a few rabbits that we snared when I was in college.

Now that I think of it, they're quite handy. I never really thought about it with context.... I've Always just had some buckets laying around.
 
jdlobb

jdlobb

Adventurer
SDDiver5 said:
Now that I think of it, they're quite handy. I never really thought about it with context.... I've Always just had some buckets laying around.
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I do find that buckets are something I rarely have deliberately, i just sort of "have them"
 
workerdrone

workerdrone

Fulltimer
Yeah I always bring either a squareish sterilite tub or a 5 gallon bucket or both when vehicle camping. They weigh almost nothing, are great for holding stuff, function as the sink for washing dishes or sometimes a sponge bath...

And many's the times I've used a 5 gallon bucket with handle to haul water up from the creek to camp
 
Trikebubble

Trikebubble

Adventurer
Always have a collapsible bucket in the camper. I usually fill it and the dogs use it for drinking water, and we satisfy our want to have a fire-put out-water bucket- thingie as well. The collapsible bucket takes up hardly any space, we also use it to wash clothes when we're on the road for longer periods.
 
G

gringo m

Observer
Buckets are always handy. I also have a 3 gal. stainless steel one that I can boil water in or use for other food preps.
 
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