Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or more)

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Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or more)

Postby beardless » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 2:24 pm

I am planning a walk in the Flinders Ranges where I will need to carry water for at least three days (probably about 11 litres).

I normally carry water in some water bottles, sawyer water pouches (which came with the filter) and used soda bottles.

Others I walk with will often use a wineskin from a cask. This is lightweight and efficient use of space. However I am concerned a wineskin could punture easily.

I know some people use water bladders but they seem inefficient too and usually too small for close to 10 litres.

I want something that is light, easy to pack, but not likely to puncture.

Should I just go with the wineskin or are there other options?

What do other people recommend?

Thanks
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Moondog55 » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 2:46 pm

I often carry the plastic wine skins and I don't often get punctures but in the Flinders I don't think I would take that chance. But a protective cover need not weigh much or be hard to do. I carry one by S2S made from LW cordura but I used to sew my own. I have used old denim jeans, pack cloth, LW coated nylon and cheap polypro shopping bags at different times
Nothing wrong with using plastic soft drink bottle either and using more than one storage type is a good idea.
Sewing a cover up gives you the opportunity to sew in webbing loops so the wine cask liner can be hung up in shady spot too and doing so is why I once used an old jeans leg as the cover, evaporative cooling helped a lot in summer even tho it meant losing some water. Have you read any of Bonythons books? In one of them he mentions carrying 2 large 20 litre jerrycans and making several leap-frog trips setting up water supply dumps from major water holes onward. Never had to do that myself but I guess that is the only way to get deep into some parts of the Flinders Ranges
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Stew63 » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 2:54 pm

MSR Dromedary - comes in 10l, 6l or 4l. Strong.
Has loops for hanging/carrying.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Lamont » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 3:31 pm

Whatever you take, take multiples (5-6 containers) in case of leak/error. Five times two litres, ten times one etc. Roll up each one as you use it, empty they take up no space and weigh a few grams.
One leak in a big (5-10L) one unnoticed and you are up that creek... with only your barbed wire paddle.
There are lots of excellent options -Platypus and Evernew (Japanese) in 2 litre size are highly thought of and are very tough-bit of a layout of flooce tho' if you don't have them already.
Or five 2 litre wine skins if you want to risk the thinnish skin.
Cheers
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby andrewp » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 4:13 pm

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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby ribuck » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 4:41 pm

I have successfully used the type of water carrier posted by andrewp. They're not as robust as they look, but any pinprick leaks can be patched really easily with a piece of tape.

Also, Woolies sells 10 litre packs of water using a cask/liner that seems stronger than the typical winecask. And no need to wash it ten times to stop the water smelling of wine.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Stew63 » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 6:34 pm

Once again when you 100% have to rely on your own water and its 'water safety' is a high priority - MSR Dromedary.

OK - I personally haven't used a Dromedary however my colleague who's was involved for years in US outdoor leadership (arid outdoor ed) for extended hikes used the same Dromedary for years with no leaks of failures - ever. Said it was the best piece of kit he's ever bought. Sometimes doubled as his pillow.

MSR Dromedary - standard issue for elite US Special Forces inserted in Afganistan/Iraq for extended solo and/or team remote missions in environments with zero water sources. Tough, virtually bulletproof - enough said.
Read all the reviews - 4.8/5.

I have both the Platypus and Evernew in 2l - nice bits of gear - I use them (not in arid/desert conditions) but I certainly wouldn't call them robust. And relying on micro thin wine skins in the arid Flinders Ranges or desert - pfffft - disaster waiting to happen.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Gadgetgeek » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 7:39 pm

I have some dromys because I'm in the buy-once-cry-once camp on most things. They do a great job. I'd also look at the platy or similar 1L thin plastic bottles. Even the cheap ones would work if you are careful, and the redundancy is your safety margin. With the soft plastic bottles, they do wear out, and can pop if too much pressure is put on them. I've been able to get a couple years of daily carry out of a 0.5L platy bottle. It turns out that the thing that does kill them is repeated freezing. I'd go with 1-2L size, as the 0.5l ones would start to really add up in bag weight.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby vagrom » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 7:53 pm

Bottles 1.25 litre Soda Water ... ( this time ? )
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby vagrom » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 8:15 pm

The bottles can be deformed while preparing them to be pushed down vertically into your pack stuff. Any plastic stressing's not an issue as they're single use.
Schweppes make a good, bullet shaped bottle and they're a solid name.
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The bottles can be deformed safely while pushing them vertically into your pack. And they're single use so repeated crushings aren't an issue.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby nq111 » Sun 24 Feb, 2019 8:55 pm

The soda bottles are indestructible and what I normally use. But for larger volumes the bladders do pack better. I've carried up to 13 litres and use only bladders (or bladders and one bottle, as the bottle is easier to fill in shallow water pools).

I don't know how tough you need but the sea to summit pack taps are reasonable (double wine bladder with a nylon shell). I also have a 10 litre MSR dromedary - the material is super tough. It does taint the taste of the water a bit but I still find it is more than fine to drink. But I only use the MSR for kayaking as prefer several bladders for walking (for redundancy).
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Orion » Mon 25 Feb, 2019 4:33 am

nq111 wrote:The soda bottles are indestructible and what I normally use. But for larger volumes the bladders do pack better.


I agree with this. It takes a lot of work to damage a soda bottle. I used to crush and uncrush/reuse 2L bottles when I used them for carrying water up multiday walls. Eventually creases will result in failure but it takes a fair number of cycles. Similarly they are very resistant to abrasion, like scraping against rock repeatedly while dangling from a climbing harness. I've used the same bottle that way for years at a time. In fact I think that soda bottles are a bit overkill for carrying water while bushwalking.

The Platypus bladders are somewhat less resistant to damage. They will age, crack, and leak with time. More expensive too. But, yes, more convenient for packing and lighter for the water volume. That's what I've used to carry ~10L in my pack on an occasion or two.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby wildwanderer » Mon 25 Feb, 2019 7:11 am

Check out 'Evernew"

They come in 2L (40 grams) and 3L(70 grams). Ive had a 2L for several years, they are very tough and dont leak. (i havent tried the 3L which a different design)

Much less weight that the dromedary bags which are 200g for a 4L.

https://www.tiergear.com.au/shop/kitche ... 08-evernew
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ebanyu-EVERNEW ... =210513910

They also roll up nicely and the cap is attached with shockcord so you cant lose it.

The only thing you need to watch a bit is the corners, they are rounded but still hard plastic, so you dont want a corner (with a potentialy several kg of water force behind it) pressed up against something delicate

EDIT - Just read a counter review here. Two people claiming theirs leaked.. no issues with mine across doezens of uses in the bush but worth bearing in mind.
https://www.trailspace.com/gear/evernew/water-carry/
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Huntsman247 » Mon 25 Feb, 2019 12:16 pm

https://hydrapak.com/shop/water-storage/

What about the hydrapak range?
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby beardless » Mon 25 Feb, 2019 6:51 pm

Thank you for all the options and thoughtful discussion. I am convinced not to go the wineskin (okay for a short walk up to a high camp but not as the main water storage for three days in rough terrain). I will weigh up the other options. Dromedary sounded good but not keen on the taint to the taste.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Moondog55 » Mon 25 Feb, 2019 9:05 pm

You might consider taking along a couple of wine skins tho as just in case spares, you would use the water in the wine skins first saving the water in the PET bottles for the later days but mainly because they take up such a small volume when squashed down.
Just a comment on the strength of the PET bottle, when I had my old truck and spent a lot of time away from the bitumen I had a stash of emergency stabilised water under the back seat, I used 2 litre bottles and just a stiff cardboard box, I never needed to use them and when I sold my truck I removed them, 7 or 8 years of rubbing together and bouncing around in an old Toyota Dyna and no splits, no leaks and very little scuffing, so they are very strong for the weight, their only failing is the bulk when empty as I couldn't see myself trusting them once rolled and squashed up. Looking forward to reading this particular trip report when you get back.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Hallu » Tue 26 Feb, 2019 12:48 am

I prefer 1.5 l water bottles, they're tough as nails, and find their space in my backpack easily. I find it more practical in order to balance my pack, a bottle here, another there... Plus they're deformable enough that they can hold freezing water. So the day before setting off, I put a bottle in fridge, the rest in the freezer. That way I have cold water at least for a full day, practical in summer. If it's in winter and it freezes at night, they can take it. Something you might have to consider if you're going to the Flinders in july/august.I once had -4° in June in Little Desert in Victoria so you never know.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Flipper Hands » Tue 26 Feb, 2019 10:43 am

beardless wrote:Thank you for all the options and thoughtful discussion. I am convinced not to go the wineskin (okay for a short walk up to a high camp but not as the main water storage for three days in rough terrain). I will weigh up the other options. Dromedary sounded good but not keen on the taint to the taste.


I can second (third/fourth?) the use of the MSR Dromedary. I have had a 4l bag I've used often, and harshly. I can just fit it in the hydration area down the back of my 74l Osprey Aether, MSR sell a sturdy hydration hose for them. It is my go to for any trip other than an overnight with guaranteed (tank) water. I now fill it every time I come cross a water source. I once hiked till 10PM to get to water (4l over 13 hours, in Summer), because expected water sources were dry, never again.

I use it in tandem with the MSR gravity filter (now the AutoFlow™ XL Gravity Filter 10 L). Mine is only 4L compared to the new one. In tandem I can easily carry 4l low down and close to my back, and another 4l on top of my pack. You can mix and match capacities obviously. The upsides are pretty obvious. You have a system that is extremely fast at filtering, very robust, very reliable and serves multiple uses. The downside of it is that it's a heavier that other filter systems where you are not regularly carrying large amounts of water.

In a place like the Flinders Ranges, I doubt there is a system that will rival it.

The taste was an extremely minor problem for me, but it faded pretty quickly. I have the older red bags.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Gadgetgeek » Tue 26 Feb, 2019 6:40 pm

I have a couple of the new style bags, not tried yet, but I expect they will be good. The red bags had less taste than the black ones, a soaking for a day with a bicarb solution will help for a week or so. I also think I have a higher tolerance for water flavor, lots of week old 2-liter soda bottles on the back of the quad bike as a kid.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby mert99 » Wed 20 Mar, 2019 5:45 pm

If you haven't yet been on the walk... I've had good experiences using Hydrapak 2l and 3l Seeker containers, walking with 9l of water

Pros:
- the tubular shape makes them easy to pack inside or attach outside a backpack
- they seem strong enough
- cheaper and lighter than an MSR dromedary

Cons:
- they are a bit awkward to drink or pour out of, the 3l especially, I use it for carrying only and decant into a another bottle for drinking/cooking

They do come with a terrible taste, but I found it goes away completely. I soaked mine for about an hour with bicarb and then washed them out with lukewarm water a few times and that seemed to do it.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby wayno » Thu 21 Mar, 2019 4:09 am

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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby ChrisJHC » Thu 21 Mar, 2019 12:14 pm

I bought a couple of extra 2L Sawyer bags just for this purpose. Being Mylar they weigh almost nothing until you fill them up. Then I filter them as needed into my 2 x 1L water bottles that I use on the go.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Moondog55 » Thu 16 May, 2019 11:24 am

Any feedback on your trip and the water carrying beardless?
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby sasfish » Wed 19 Jun, 2019 10:28 am

Msr dromedary
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby beardless » Fri 21 Jun, 2019 10:50 am

Moondog55 wrote:Any feedback on your trip and the water carrying beardless?


The trip is planned for 2020.
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Re: Best way to carry large volumes of water (10 litres or m

Postby Moza » Tue 02 Jul, 2019 11:45 am

Beardless, whereabouts in the flinders are you hiking and at what time of year?
I've done a few trips in the area, especially on Mawson plateau, and rather than carry large volumes of water we maintained 5l and had fallback supplies we could detour to if we didn't find water on our planned route. Many of the gorges had usable pools in late March and we didn't have to use any detours.
Arkaroola 4x4 tours are often happy to do water drops if you supply the jerry cans. This is only useful if you can cross their routes at some point.
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