Bearikade Intro: What is a Bearikade ?
The Bearikade is a bear resistant container made of a lightweight composite sandwich. The Bearikade is easily opened by a human using the edge of a coin or other flat object such as a screwdriver blade. Animals, on the other hand, find it virtually impossible to open. The Bearikade is available in two sizes; the Weekender MKII, which will hold about 6 person days of food (2 people for 3 days) and weighs 1 pound 15 ounces or the Expedition MKII which holds about 9 person days of food and weighs 2 pounds 5 ounces. For some common questions you might have, please check out our Bearikade FAQs.

The Bearikade can be easily carried in all pack-types.

Overview:
Enjoying and sharing the wilderness with permanent lodgers such as Black Bears requires the diligent backpacker to plan how to keep food, toiletries and other items with odors safely secured from these intelligent, inquisitive and strong neighbors. The Bearikade food canister was introduced in the 1999 season and is currently used by Rangers in Gates of the Arctic, ANWR, Olympic, Mt. Rainier, North Cascades, Yosemite, Kings Canyon/Sequoia and Inyo. It is the lightest weight food canister approved for use in the Sierra.

When a long day hiking is over, take your pack off. Relax - use it as a camp chair.

New Features:
The Bearikade food canister introduced the use of the highest strength-to-weight ratio materials developed to meet aerospace requirements. The design geometry was chosen after reviewing thousands of questionnaires submitted to Park Officials by backpackers. The large opening answered the number one complaint that existing products had too small an opening. The external diameter is dictated by the design goal to keep Grizzly Bears from getting a jaw lock on the canister. O-ring seals make the unit moisture resistant and limit the broadcast of odor to a much smaller area. A lanyard is included in order to keep the hatch from being under foot or lost. The use of automotive/aircraft/watercraft quarter turn fasteners simplifies hatch removal without special tools (coin or washer is all it takes).

The Bearikade is handcrafted by aerospace engineer backcountry enthusiasts.

Construction:
The heart of the Bearikade food canister is the composite carbon fiber cylinder that is created using an offset seam, table rolling technique with proprietary consolidation materials. A long tooling mandrel holds the cylinder raw stock while curing in an autoclave at elevated temperature and pressure. Individual cylinders are then trimmed according to desired standard lengths of 10" or 14". Custom cylinder lengths as short as 8" are available upon request.

High strength aircraft aluminum alloy 6061-T6 is used for the three metal parts: endcap (not removable), locking collar (receives the removable hatch) and the cover or hatch. A combination of automatic cutoff saws, Blanchart grinders, CNC milling machines and CNC lathes complete the desired geometry. The parts are then tumbled in a container with glass beads to remove all sharp edges.

High strength, two part adhesive epoxy is used to join the endcap and locking collar to the composite cylinder. Extreme care is taken in cleansing prior to bonding and all bonds are performed within hours of part cleaning. Service temperature of this structural adhesive is –67F to 180F.

High quality quarter turn fasteners are captured in the hatch with an E-clip to prevent loose hardware. A sealing o-ring is placed under the head of each quarter turn fastener. In addition, a large o-ring is rolled into a narrow groove on the top side of the locking collar. The canister is moisture resistant, but one should realize that Grizzly and Black Bears have a well developed olfactory system and can likely smell molecules that escape through the seals. The four seals work together to minimize the broadcast of odor outside the canister

Spring wire receptacles are riveted to the locking collar in position to mate with the fastener’s locking ramp for a positive locking feel. A lanyard and its sheath are anchored to the locking collar and hatch in order to keep the hatch from falling under foot.

The Bearikade design improves the two most commonly described shortfalls of the competitor canisters: 1) Opening too small; and 2) Too heavy. The opening is 50% larger and the weight for similar volume is a full pound less than the low cost alternative.

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