How to transport bottles?

[Hladnopivo]

I've been wondering exactly how I should transport bottles home from a site. I've tried a couple of different methods of carrying bottles (duffel bag or backpack wrapped in newspaper or rags etc.), but I dig sites way in the woods, and there are waaay too many bottles to bring back even a fraction of them.

How do YOU transport bottles home safely?
I mean, what kind of bag do you carry them in and what do you wrap them in to avoid scratches or breaks? All advice is greatly appreciated, as I've had some real problems carrying bottles on these long nocturnal hikes home!

 

[hemihampton]

I like to use a wine or champagne Box. these have dividers or separators in them & usually hold like 12 bottles. Leon.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

I've been wondering exactly how I should transport bottles home from a site. I've tried a couple of different methods of carrying bottles (duffel bag or backpack wrapped in newspaper or rags etc.), but I dig sites way in the woods, and there are waaay too many bottles to bring back even a fraction of them.

How do YOU transport bottles home safely?
I mean, what kind of bag do you carry them in and what do you wrap them in to avoid scratches or breaks? All advice is greatly appreciated, as I've had some real problems carrying bottles on these long nocturnal hikes home!

I agree with Hemihampton on the use of divided liquor boxes; further, if you could get ahold of some of those older-style plastic soda-pop crates, they'd be pretty useful as well. I'd also like to mention ways of shipping bottles to a buyer or to have a bottle tumbled. I've heard more than a few horror stories about buyers receiving purchased items that were broken upon delivery. Recently, I shipped 2 rare bottles, one for a minor repair & one for tumbling. In each case, I used a piece of pvc pipe. I use pipe of a suitable inside diameter, then cut it about 2" longer than the bottle; I then wrap the bottle in bubble wrap so that it fits snugly into the pipe piece. I then pack the ends of the pipe with more bubble wrap and duct tape the pipe from end to end / over the ends, to insure the bottle remains stationary. I then wrap the pipe in more bubble wrap & fit it into an appropriate sized, sturdy cardboard box. With all that, it should survive the rigours of transport, unless it's run over by a steam-roller!

 

[Hladnopivo]

I like to use a wine or champagne Box. these have dividers or separators in them & usually hold like 12 bottles. Leon.

Now, are you talkin wooden boxes or cardboard. I worked in a bar, so I know those cardboard ones quite well. But I'm not sure how many times they can be reused.

 

[hemihampton]

cardboard, re use over & over a 100 times. Leon.

 

[Hladnopivo]

I agree with Hemihampton on the use of divided liquor boxes; further, if you could get ahold of some of those older-style plastic soda-pop crates, they'd be pretty useful as well. I'd also like to mention ways of shipping bottles to a buyer or to have a bottle tumbled. I've heard more than a few horror stories about buyers receiving purchased items that were broken upon delivery. Recently, I shipped 2 rare bottles, one for a minor repair & one for tumbling. In each case, I used a piece of pvc pipe. I use pipe of a suitable inside diameter, then cut it about 2" longer than the bottle; I then wrap the bottle in bubble wrap so that it fits snugly into the pipe piece. I then pack the ends of the pipe with more bubble wrap and duct tape the pipe from end to end / over the ends, to insure the bottle remains stationary. I then wrap the pipe in more bubble wrap & fit it into an appropriate sized, sturdy cardboard box. With all that, it should survive the rigours of transport, unless it's run over by a steam-roller!

Thanks alot! That's a great system. I'm finding all shapes of bottles, so it's really gotta be a solution like that. I guess it has to be both immobilized to protect it from any shearing or bending-force, cushioned from scratching and shielded from impacts.

 

[timeandabottle]

i always just use a military thick canvas duffle bag. I've never broken a bottle using that method and you can carefully load it up with alot of bottles. If I have one that I think is quite valuable, that gets wrapped up differently and is handled with more care. If you use boxes and only get twelve in a box you'll be making lot's of back and forth trips. Use your best judgement is all. Congrats on finding a site with that many bottles!

 

[Sitcoms]

I agree with Hemihampton on the use of divided liquor boxes; further, if you could get ahold of some of those older-style plastic soda-pop crates, they'd be pretty useful as well. I'd also like to mention ways of shipping bottles to a buyer or to have a bottle tumbled. I've heard more than a few horror stories about buyers receiving purchased items that were broken upon delivery. Recently, I shipped 2 rare bottles, one for a minor repair & one for tumbling. In each case, I used a piece of pvc pipe. I use pipe of a suitable inside diameter, then cut it about 2" longer than the bottle; I then wrap the bottle in bubble wrap so that it fits snugly into the pipe piece. I then pack the ends of the pipe with more bubble wrap and duct tape the pipe from end to end / over the ends, to insure the bottle remains stationary. I then wrap the pipe in more bubble wrap & fit it into an appropriate sized, sturdy cardboard box. With all that, it should survive the rigours of transport, unless it's run over by a steam-roller!

With the way the postal service (and private companies alike) treat some packages you'd think they were run over by a steam roller. If I was shipping anything of particular value - either for sale or repair - I'd certainly go through lengths like this!

 

[JOVE]

I use old socks. Flexible enough where most bottle sizes fit inside them.