What goes wrong

It leaked in the pack

On this page11

The soap got into the food The liner was never specified There was too much headspace It flew in a hold It was on its side, warm, for a week The flip top opened in the pack The spice jars were identical The powder caked The treatment chemical stained everything Test it as a trip References

The cost of the failure is not the cost of the contents.

The soap got into the food

Which is the worst version and the commonest. A 60 mL decant of concentrated soap ruins a food bag, and the bottle cost a dollar.

The liner was never specified

A cap with the wrong liner weeps under a pressure cycle. The thread was tight and the contents left anyway, which is the failure people blame on the bottle.

There was too much headspace

Air expands and liquid does not. A half-full decant has more pressure to push with than a full one, and filling it properly is free.

It flew in a hold

Which is a pressure cycle most bench testing never applies. A decant that has never been on a plane has not been tested.

It was on its side, warm, for a week

A pack is horizontal and a tent in the sun is hot. Side-plus-warm finds closures that pass an upright pressure test.

The flip top opened in the pack

A moving part pressed against a pack wall. One of the reasons the plain cap shelf here is not the loss it looks like.

The spice jars were identical

Six white jars, handwritten labels, at dusk. Salt in the tea is a minor version and a wrong supplement dose is not.

The powder caked

An electrolyte or protein powder with a loose cap, through a humid week. It will not pour and it will not dissolve properly after.

The treatment chemical stained everything

Iodine against the wrong liner, or an oxidizer against a plastic that could not take it. Glass and a phenolic cap is the answer and it travels wrapped.

Test it as a trip

Filled, sealed, bagged, flown or altitude-cycled, carried on its side, left warm for a week, opened with cold hands. Every failure here appears in that and none appear on a bench.

References

The archetype behind this shelf is store-liquid-decant: 15 to 120 mL, narrow mouth, flip top or disc top or lotion pump or fine mist, PET and HDPE, cold fill, thin, aqueous, poured, with "travel decant, leakproof under pressure change is the whole requirement" as its stated reason. All seven leaves sit on it, including fuel decant and fire starter, which are neither aqueous nor cold.

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 18 October 2026. The camping and backpacking shelf is 979 rows: 453 containers and 526 closures. 15 mL to 500 mL with a median of 177; 8 containers at 15 mL or under, 27 at 30 or under, 86 at 60 or under, 189 at 120 or under, 394 at a pint or under. 201 PET, 126 HDPE, 76 PP, 50 glass. 221 bottles, 218 jars, 12 tubs and pails, 1 jug, 1 tube. 134 white, 114 clear, 66 natural, 52 amber. Closures: 369 continuous thread, 26 dome lids, 26 spouted, 19 flip top, 19 lug and twist, 18 child resistant, 11 liners and sealing discs, 9 phenolic, 7 spice caps, 7 buttress, 6 round tubs, and no disc tops, lotion pumps or fine mist sprayers.

Written from 40 CFR 152.500 and from the catalog as it stood on 18 October 2026. No log-reduction performance figures appear anywhere in this property, because the commonly cited numbers come from an EPA guide standard rather than a codified rule. Forest and park food storage orders are issued locally and are not summarized. Nothing here is a fuel bottle or a bear-resistant container.