gmwhipple

frog fanny, another commercial porduct, is closer to fumed silica (which can be bought in bulk ) it is very finely divided material. i can't imagine that a coffee grinder will get it into suitable small pieces, but try it and see if it works.

i put down some expanded carpet padding under an oasis fly tying stattion, and clamp my vice onto that as it sits on the roll top desk top PM me if you'd like a foto g

I own a manual inflate belt type unit. This past summer, several of my fishing buds and I did an experiment. I wadered up, strapped on my pfd, tied on a safety tether rope, and went swimming in a deep pool on our home river. We did this with two waist belts ( as Simms recommends) , one waist belt, and no waist belt, and then with the pfd inflated. I was able to stay afloat and swim after a fashion in all four scenarios. I am now looking for an over the head, manually trigggered CO2 inflatable pfd because of that summer experience. I found that the belt version could not be enticed over my head once it was inflated. I struggled even on the dry land to complete that task. You can use it kind of like a kick board and lay on it, but it is no longer as safe to use if it doesn't go over your head HTH. garthman

please be sure you know what has been in the barrel and how it was cleaned if you are going to use it for potable water or water for your garden? some of the materials transported in drums can be very nasty.