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Seattle Sports Pocket Bucket
Long Term Report
Biography
Name: Matt Mauceri
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Height: 5'7 (170cm)
Weight: 140 (64kg)
Email address: dirtyhippieboy(at)yahoo(dot)com
City, State, Country: Holland, Pa, USA
Date: 10/15/04
Backpacking Background: I’ve been backpacking now for ten years. I’m usually a quick escape artist who often has a pack waiting in the car for the minute I’m done work and will have a day or two off. I try to keep my pack weight to a minimum, and I’ve upgraded parts of my gear list, but I’m not yet an ultra light guy, just someone who is getting there slowly.
Product Information
Manufacturer: Seattle Sports
Year Manufactured: 2004
Manufacturer’s Website: http://www.seattlesportsco.com/
Listed Weight: 4.5 oz (125 g)
Actual Weight Measured: 2.8 oz (79 g)
Listed Height: 10.5 in (26.7 cm)
Actual Height Measured: 10.5 in (26.7 cm)
Listed Diameter: 9.5 in (24.1 cm)
Actual Diameter Measured: 9.5 in (24.1 cm)
Testing Conditions
I have had the opportunity to test my bucket during quite a few trips. All of these trips were in the same type of terrain, with elevations around 2000 ft (610 m). The areas were rocky with lots of tree cover, most of the water sources came from small mountain springs or creeks, and the only exception was an overnight canoe trip on Catfish Pond where I got to test the bucket in standing water.
The temperatures on these trips have ranged from 40° F (4.44° C) to 100° F (37.78° C).
Eastatoe Creek Trail - Blue Ridge Mountains, South Carolina
Black Forest Trail - Slate Run, Pennsylvania
Old Loggers Path – Masten, Pennsylvania
Hickory Run State Park – White Haven, Pennsylvania
Pinchot Trail System – Thornhurst, Pennsylvania
Catfish Pond canoe outing – Blairstown, New Jersey
Testing
The Seattle Sports Pocket Bucket has joined me on all of my outdoor activities during the last six months. During the time I have spent testing this bucket, it has proven to be well worth the extra weight that it added to my pack. Tipping the scales at 2.8 oz (79 g) the extra weight was really not an issue at all, as I hardly knew it was there.
The Pocket Bucket remains in great condition after the last six months of testing. There has been no degradation in the nylon coating on the material, and all seams used for construction
are showing no wear. The bucket still holds water, and does not leak. I have cared for this bucket by washing it out after every outing with soap and water, using a dish sponge to scrub it down, and then air
drying the bucket completely before storing it away.
While the Pocket Bucket’s intended use was always to carry water, I like to see everything I put into my pack serve more than one purpose. I put the Pocket Bucket to use long before reaching a waterway by using it as a hydration sleeve that protected by
pack's contents from condensation forming on my water bladder. I have a pack that did not come equipped with a built in sleeve for my bladder, and having the pocket bucket to slip my bladder into and serve the same purpose as the sleeve made me very happy to be testing this item.
While acting as a protective cover for my water bladder made for a great start to my tests, the real purpose of this bucket is to make camp life and Leave No Trace (LNT) techniques easier. During the last six months my Pocket Bucket has stood filled with water in the cooking area of my campsites on every trip. Having a bucket full of water ready at the campsite made life simpler and easier on the trail. Cooking was great because I could just pour some water
from the bucket into a pot and bring it to a boil. Before I had the Pocket
Bucket, I used to fill my pot at the water source, then try not to spill any
water out as I walked back to my camp. After dinner was done cleanup was much easier with a bucket. I always try to practice LNT techniques on the trail, and washing dishes away from water is sometimes hard, since I don’t carry extra containers to use to carry clean rinse water in. Now I just fill my bucket and hike 200 ft (61 m) away from the water source and wash my pots and spoon without making extra trips for clean rinse water.
On my longer trips I’ve used the Pocket Bucket to clean my clothes and take a LNT bath. I’ve filled the bucket up about halfway, put a couple of drops of biodegradable soap in it and been able to clean myself and do my laundry without impacting the water source I was camping near. Doing my laundry was easy with the Pocket Bucket, and made my hiking partners a lot happier because I wasn’t washing my dirty socks in our only cook pot anymore. Once I finished cleaning up, I would rinse and scrub down the bucket a few times and it was ready to be filled up again for its next task.
So far on all of my trips the best use the Pocket Bucket has been put to has been making the filtering of water for drinking a lot more comfortable and easier. I carry a water filter for most trips and have always dreaded crouching next to a creek or lake to filter water into hydration bladders for 15 minutes. With the Pocket Bucket I simply fill the bucket with enough water to fill the containers I need to, and carry it someplace more comfortable to sit and pump for a while. This is particularly nice in the mornings before hiking because I can sit on a rock or log next to my stove and pump my water while my coffee is being made. This way I get started hiking earlier and my knees don’t feel as bad at the end of the day.
Most of the trips I have taken the Pocket Bucket on, the only water sources were small mountain creeks generally no bigger than 6 ft (1.83 m) wide and 2 ft (0.61 m) deep. Getting the bucket filled to its full capacity was difficult to do without getting wet, because the current would pull the bag downstream and would pull on the handle making the volume of the bucket smaller. However I never found a real need for having the bucket filled to the brim. It was very easy to fill the bucket halfway, which was an ample amount of water for most tasks. In fact the current of the water usually made filling the bucket very quick and easy. I took the Pocket Bucket with me on an overnight canoe outing on Catfish Pond at the Mohican Outdoor Center in New Jersey. On this trip I was able to fill the bucket to the brim in the pond. I was using the bucket to haul water to our campsite, which was about 300 ft (91 m) away from the pond. I found that carrying a full bucket over rocky terrain for this distance was not the easiest thing to do without spilling. Since I was carrying this water to be used to extinguish a campfire later I wanted to have as much water as possible to save me from another trip later when it was dark. I made it to camp with an almost full bucket of water, but once I set it down on a pretty flat spot it tipped over and emptied itself. I forgot that when full the Pocket Bucket doesn’t like to stand up very well on its own. I made a “sink” of rocks that I could put the bucket into, and went back to the pond to fill it up again. This time it didn’t tip over, and I had plenty of water to put out my fire completely when I was ready for bed. The stability in the field is great up to the halfway point, which is all the water I really needed to carry. When filling the bucket up for tasks such as laundry, bathing, and washing dishes, I only fill the bucket up ¼ of the way because it’s all I need and won’t ever spill.
Final Thoughts
After using the Pocket Bucket for six months I can honestly say that this piece of equipment will join me for every trip I’ll be taking. The way that it has made life more enjoyable once I’ve gotten to camp, earned its way into my pack forever. While its function might be simple, the time and energy it saves in the campsite make it a great addition to
my gear list.
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