Packing water.... Canteens, bladders and the like.

[MTFalconer]

I hike a good bit and most of the places I go are high elevation with little or no water around. I have been using good ol Plastic desert tan canteens (2 or 3 of them) for ages. I don't like bladders in my pack, never have. I like something I can take out and hold in my hand. I carry purification and life straws for emergency use.

It has come time to replace my old faithful canteens. After about ten years of Gatorade, sweet tea and everything else under the sun they are just not going to clean up anymore....LOL I was looking at the nalgene canteens but honestly they are fairly thin. I am scared if I leave water in one and it freezes it will rupture. I know they are making the thin stainless canteens but I am not sure I like that idea. My rocket stove has a large, almost half gallon, boiler. It's thin stainless and has more dents and dings in it from various things and it's only a couple years old......(snicker). It's about 15 years old....LOL So tell me good people, what's out there now that will take the place of my trusty issue canteens.

 

[usafa77]

I've had lots of Nalgenes freeze, and they never cracked. I've also dropped them 10-20 feet and they survived. People are going to the stainless because of BPA concerns. They weight about the same. The nice thing about something like a Hydroflask is it will maintain water temp. really well. You can throw a couple ice cubes in it, and they could be there at the end of the day.

 

[MTFalconer]

Just for PC. I wanted to add that I carry a "Kelly kettle" with me everywhere when I hike, camp, hunt....whatever. To my knowledge it's the best water purification, heating source, cooking setup out there. It uses a handful of any flammable material to make a fire inside the tower and good to go. No fuels, no cans no hoses no nothing. 100 percent reliable and has zero moving parts. My little Hobo stove fits on top of it and I have used it plenty. Mine looks like it took a turn in a rock tumbler but it has been carried for thousands of miles. It's standard issue in the UK where I purchased mine originally and I swear by it.

 

[pmclaine]

I just replaced one set of Nalgenes for another set of different ones.

I had the clear plastic see through style ones and both developed a crack on the bottom after approximately ten years of use/hanging in my pack holsters. Im sure they were dropped at one point or perhaps they get fragile over time.

My new Nalgenes are the white opaque ones. They seem to have a bit more flex to them and I hope will not exhibit the same issues.

I have had water freeze in my Nalgenes, freeze to slush but not solid.

Why Nalgene?

My MSR water purifying pump screws right on them making it nice and easy to get clear water.

I have pack bladders and they work but the water always tastes like shit. Still shitty tasting water is better than no water.

 

[MTFalconer]

I have always carried two full external and one internal. With the new pack I may go to four instead of two external. The one requirement I have is that they work with a canteen cup. Some of the stainless ones seem easier to clean too....I need that as I put all sorts of shit in those things. Soup to jello....LOL, yes jello.

 

[Black max]

Another vote for Nalgene. I've used them for years and actually freeze one every night for cold water the next day. I've never broken one and they are BPA free not to mention how cheap they are...

 

[MTFalconer]

I've already said, no bladders. I have a hundred reason for that so let it suffice to say...no. I don't trail run and I have never felt water sloshing in a 50-70 pound pack. I'm glad you like them, I don't. Moving on.

Black Max, are you talking about the clear bottles or the opaque more flexible ones? I saw some recently and I need to go find them again. I think they were from some bushcraft website but they were wide mouthed and compatible with lots of accessories. Stainless too I think.

 

[WATERWALKER]

What about the old 2 qt collapsible canteen? I’ve had water freeze in mine too many times to count & it’s still rocking w/ like 23-ish years & counting.

 

[Black max]

I've already said, no bladders. I have a hundred reason for that so let it suffice to say...no. I don't trail run and I have never felt water sloshing in a 50-70 pound pack. I'm glad you like them, I don't. Moving on.

Black Max, are you talking about the clear bottles or the opaque more flexible ones? I saw some recently and I need to go find them again. I think they were from some bushcraft website but they were wide mouthed and compatible with lots of accessories. Stainless too I think.

I have and use both for everything from whiskey to water. I have more of the hard clear plastic variety than the others, they both work equally well. Not sure if you use a water filter or not but they will also thread directly onto the nalgenes.

 

[PDXGS]

Try running a denture cleaning solution through your old canteens- I've used Efferdent
As far a new. I prefer stainless steel. 750 to 1000 ml.
I have several. I prefer to remove any logos with a scrounge pad.
If they get funky I rinse them with hot water, fill them with hot water and drop a piece of lemon rind in them for a few hours.
You can warm the noninsulated, non lined, ones up on an open fire.
There are insulated versions at Costco for about $13 for two 28 oz bottles.
I also use the Klean Canteen single wall units from Amazon or Backcountry Gear.
The single wall cans will allow condensation to happen on the outside of the can. I wrap mine with a piece of shemagh or bandana

 

[MTFalconer]

Quarter an animal, strap it to your load-shelf or pack and see how valuable space and weight become.

Anyway, ya moving on.. apparently you are not really looking for what is the current trend in high- end gear.

Once again, someone types without a clue. I am a guide in Montana. I spend the entire season above 6k ft. I've packed out more animals in one season than most have ever seen in a lifetime. No need to tell me what is needed to move meat around. I'm not interested in current trends. While I see that you are, that's cool. When that current trend fades away and the new one comes along I'll still be using my "Old Tech" gear. THings are standards for a reason.

 

[Fred @ Bison Tactical]

First off - not trying to hijack your thread, but since there are lots of people reading here, I figured I would add my comments !

I favor light weight over a lot of other things so my preferences might be pretty different from other guys. I hike primarily in the western US at 7000' - 14K', and I typically am doing 10-25 mile hike, sometimes doing team competitions where I hike 45-60 miles in 36 hours. For the competitions each team member was required to carry a minimum of 3 liters of H20 and the team was required to carry a purification method. Since water on the event was from 100% natural sources, we needed to use the purification method often (cow watering troughs, springs, drainage ditches, lakes and ponds). Just as an aside, we each drank around 22 liters over 36 hours during competition.

I second the cleaning option above - personally I use HydraPak bladders when I hike, and after a season of running Skratch Labs hydration mix in one of them they got really funky. I used the Kroger brand denture cleaner, and it seemed to clean the bladder well enough, but didn't remove the staining. I haven't tried the Bottle Bright cleaner HydraPak sells, but I hear its actually better than the denture cleaners, the denture cleaner worked well enough for me, and I got a new bladder so I didn't try Bottle Bright.

I have been using the MSR HyperFlow filter - it is very light weight, very fast to fill a bladder - and connects directly to a Nalgene bottle like another pointed out above. I will say I think it is a bit fragile, and you have to backflush it frequently to keep the flow high. However when spending a lot of time at high altitude, and going up and down peaks, I have been very happy with it. I have a heavy duty metal water filter I use once in a while, but it is so heavy, I don't take it for most of my trips.

For water purification, I ran the Sawyer filters but they were such a PITA to use that after a few tries, we switched over to a pump system even though the weight was higher - it was absolutely worth the extra weight instead of having to squeeze water through the filters.

For smaller duration trips, I also prefer a water bottle, and normally use the wide mouth nalgenes. That way I can mix anything I want inside, or throw frozen fruit into it (blueberries work great) in the summer.

For a stove, for the longest time I ran the MSR Whisper Light stove with a pump bottle, but when I hiked the Continental Divide this past summer, I switched since i wanted a lighter system. I switched to the Snow Peak LiteMax stove which uses the disposable butane cannisters. since it is much lighter.

For cooking and things that aren't sealable, I have been using titanium since you can heat it up and its very light weight. I think if I wanted something like a canteen, but with light weight I might go with this titanium version:

https://www.heavycoverinc.com/heavy...udes-tritan-plastic-and-titanium-canteen-cap/

 

[MTFalconer]

How else would I know what the current fad/trend was that I was missing out on?

 

[powdahound76]

MT.
I use either kind if Nalgene hard side bottle. I like the "white opaque" HDPE bottles because they are $4 cheaper than the others.
For hardsided Nalgene in extended cold, OR makes an insulated holder that keeps them from freezing which you may find useful. I dont really use them in CO as I havent had a bottle freeze solid during day outings. If it was going to be below 15 for days I probably would use them. I have also made one from a cheap blue closed cell foam pad from walmart and duct tape. I have a couple of the OR from when I was in AK as they were key up there. Havent used em in years.
I also do like the Nalgene canteens that are soft with a regular Nalgene lid. I stumbled across a box for $2 each once and bought several. They work and havent had any trouble with them inside a pack. I do underfill a bit in below freezing just in case but havent had one freeze below freezing for 10+ hrs in my pack.
I also like the platypus "bottles". They are tougher to fill with a filter or from a pot with melted snow in cold weather with cold hands and they are nicer to drink from with the small mouth that lessens the chance of spillage.

I too hate bladders and sucky tubes except for mtn biking, then they can be handy.

 

[MTFalconer]

I am not sure what your saying or why in the hell you'd be offended because I recommended bottles that stow flat when empty, while 3 saving you about 1.25LBS in base weight.. Great if they are not for you, Sure they will not last 15 years, so what; but that doesn't mean I typed anything without a clue..

Dude let it go....

 

[TripleBull]

I've had lots of Nalgenes freeze, and they never cracked. I've also dropped them 10-20 feet and they survive.

I dropped a full nalgene bottle over 400 feet down a rock climb and found it at the bottom, still full. Scuffed, but full. Not my fault, honest.

 

[Luke]

I use a somewhat modular approach. I use a Nalgene for drinking throughout the day, and MSR Dromedary bladder for extra water storage. Those MSR bags are super tough, and fold flat when empty. The MSR bags do have a little bit of a plastic taste, but it's not too bad. For the occasional trip though, don't discount the cheapo 1-liter bottled water from the gas station or wherever. Those bottles are surprisingly tough, and you can compress them when empty. We hauled those bottles all over Iraq & Afghanistan and I don't recall a single one springing a leak from normal rucking around. FWIW

 

[TripleBull]

The MSR bags do have a little bit of a plastic taste, but it's not too bad.

Fill the bag up with water and put it in a window that gets full sun for a full day. Dump, rinse, repeat. It took a few cookings to get the taste out of mine.

 

[Luke]

Good tip! Thanks!

 

[powdahound76]

The dromedary bags are nice. I have never carried water in one In my pack though.
I have a 10L i will take backpacking if setting up a camp for a couple days. Then I just have to pump water once a day.....

as for filters. I like the Sawyer Mini for weight, just need a stream as filling the small playtypus mouth sized bottles is a beyotch. Looking for one with a ziplock opening on the other end for when only a lake or puddle is available.