How to Fill a Platypus?

[Bernie Bower]

Platypus seems to be the default water carrying system but I have been using a 1/2 gallon Sunny delight bottle. With my Sunny D bottle I can dip it into a pool or pour water though a prfilter into the jug. I can’t figure out how to even fill my platypus from a small pool without a filter pump.

[EndoftheTrail]

Where water is shallow, a platy is usually harder to fill than a rigid bottle. However, thus far, I’ve always managed to fill my platys without problems. I would say “no problems whatsoever 98% of the time” and the other 2%, I was still able to fill to the brim, but just taking a little longer. Even in a very shallow creek, for example, there’s usually some water flow, and by “banking” it a bit, I can fill the platy.

I suppose “worst case scenario” (haven’t encountered yet) — I can either scoop water into the platy with my Snow Peak 600 cup/pot or with my hand…

[John S.]

Zip lock bag or drag it through the water several times.

[Phil Barton]

I learned a multi-use trick right here at BPL to fill my Platypus in shallow water. I use my pot to scoop water and pour into the Platypus’ small opening. This approach has at least 2 advantages — I can fill a Platypus from an otherwise impossibly shallow water source and I can use coffee filters to catch at least the big chunks that I often find in surface water.

[David Bonn]

A three-use item: a small plastic cup that yogurt is sold in. It can be used as a drinking cup, to fill that platypus, and also as a mixing bowl for hummus or salsa.

Cost: about a dollar, yogurt included. Weight: about an ounce.

Brown Cow and Cascadian Farms both use fairly beefy plastic for their small yogurt cups, they can handle boiling water and being crushed in your pack and still be quite usable.

[Bob Bankhead]

Virtually everyone carries a cup – use it to transfer water from the source to the Platy.

Personally, I carry a 1 liter wide mouth soda bottle in addition to my 2 liter platy hoser system inside my pack. I fill the soda bottle, add the aquamira, and hike on while it treats, drinking from the platy system as needed.

At meal stops, or on those very rare occasions when I exhaust the platy before reaching another water source, I refill the platy from the now treated soda bottle, then refill and treat the soda bottle ASAP. Just walk them over, so to speak.

If I know there’s a very long dry stretch ahead or a dry camp between me and the next water source, I’ll fill all or part of both platy bladders (I carry a rolled-up 3 liter bladder for this) and the soda bottle for a total of 6 liters. I can always dump excess water in the morning bfore starting out if I don’t use as much as I thought in camp and overnight. Works every time.

CAVEAT: everyone’s water needs are different over the identical ground. My wife drinks like a sponge when I can go 10 miles on a liter. KNOW YOUR BODY. Listen to it and learn or suffer the consequences. Remember, there is no such thing as a 100% guarenteed water source. Eventually you will reach a planned “year-round dependable: water source only to find it dry or otherwise unuseable.

Survival secret – carry a plastic soda straw. It allows you to drink from a very shallow depression in a rock or from a thin layer of water flowing over a rock.

Wandering Bob

[Miguel Arboleda]

I always carry a very light plastic cup on the outside of my pack so that I can easily fill my Platys or drink directly from the streams or springs (very few mountain water sources in Japan in filtering). I also use the cup for both soups and drinks while eating dinner. I find that simply using only the pot makes it difficult to do anything but eat one thing at a time during meals, so I always have the cup so that I can drink or eat soup while waiting for the pot to boil or while eating. The cup is a simple, 50 gram, 280 ml ¥100 (about $1.00) polypropylene plastic mug, that can take both freezing and boiling temperatures. It may not be the lightest cup around, but I’m much happier now than when I only carried my titanium pot.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Ill with what people have said here about filing platys. In South Australia it i very rare that a water source is deeper than the width of a platy, so we always get out our plastic cups to fill them up.

I also like using a wide mouth gatorade bottle now as I find it easier to fill than a platy, but I always have it in a bottle pocket outside my pack, so I dont need to find my mug to fill a platy.

[Roger B]

Maybe a Wide-Mouth CANTENE (available at BPL) and a Nalgene Wide-Mouth Tubing Accessory (available from Nalgene) is a better option, it is certianly what I prefer to use.

[Dale Wambaugh]

I have more problem staying dry and not losing my Platypus in the current! I use a cup or my pot.

This is a good example– I think you can see the problem :)

[Aussie accent] “Then again, Mate, if you ask how to STUFF a platypus, well, we use bread cubes, olive oil, and as much garlic as you can get in the lil’ fella :) Kills the taste a bit.

[D G]

I carry a small ziplock bag (quart size) with a 1/8th to 1/4 piece of cotton bandana inside and aqua mira in small micro bottles. This package I roll up and keep on me.

The zip lock works very well for collecting water and it pours well. Just grab one corner in one hand and a nice small stream goes into the platy. I use the small section of cotton bandana over the platy neck (after poking my finger in it to form a “funnel”) to act as a prefilter.

Dan

[Roger B]

Then again as you know, the Platypus is protected (by law) and thus bread cubes and olive oil are not an option.

[Miguel Arboleda]

Dale, you mean you stand in THAT current and attempt to catch platypuses with a cup?!? No wonder you get wet; must take an awful long time till a platypus comes a’ bobbin’ by!

[Dale Wambaugh]

“Dale, you mean you stand in THAT current and attempt to catch platypuses with a cup?!? No wonder you get wet; must take an awful long time till a platypus comes a’ bobbin’ by!”

Mate! You call that a current? That’s just a little side creek— you should see the RIVERS here :)

I’ve seen the hooks on a real platypus– no thanks!

[Miguel Arboleda]

Mate! You call that a current? That’s just a little side creek— you should see the RIVERS here

I was wondering! Thought you had the patience of a saint, since platypuses would take a bit of time crossing all the way from Australia. I guess the faster currents of the RIVERS bring the platypuses along more frequently, eh? I still think using a platypus is not the most efficient way to fill a cup, though.

As to those spurs, nothing like a good dig in the flanks to ride those waves! Yeehaw! Ride em’ Platy!

[Brett .]

I find that my Platypus bottles take 3 days or more to dry in this humid climate. Even hanging them in the sun, they retain moisture and condensation on the inner surface. Of course I could use a blow-drier or maybe microwave to dry them, but I think high heat would damage the plastic. I don’t want to buy that electric hair-dryer-style drier I see advertised.

I know many of you use Platypus, any clever ways to dry them?
Thanks in advance.

[D G]

I usually just rinse them and throw them in the freezer. This seems to prevent the growth of mildew.

I’ve never tried, but maybe if you placed them in the fridge they might dry out, as the inside of a fridge is very dry.

Dan

[Brett .]

Dan, a zero effort solution; I like it. I’ll store them in the fridge or freezer. [forehead slapping]..why didn’t I think of that.

[David Wills]

Grain alcohol works well. On occasion, i put 3 or 4 shots of everclear in my platty , swish it a round a good bit for at least a minute, then fill the rest with gatorade or whatever fruit drink I fancy. Definatley will kill anything in it, and it’s fun! Plus you get the satisfaction of consuming the little guys that make your gear smell bad. All you have to worry about after that is how to get the fruit juice smell out…

[Brett .]

Everclear- multi-use gear. Thanks David.

[paul johnson]

Brett,

the freezer is an old trick. i’ve tried it and haven’t had problems as my Platys generally don’t remain in the Freezer that long – either i take them out to use them, or my wife finds them an throws them out (i think BPL and GG pay her to do that as they are my two main sources for new Platys).

over a yr ago, IIRC, someone did Post that some type of mildew/fungus or perhaps another microorganism grows over time (IIRC, he said that it was “yellowish” in color). i’ll accept his observations as i know that, while heat will kill little buggers, cold generally doesn’t. cold either slows their growth down to a snail’s pace (actually much slower than a snail’s pace) or will only temporarily make them go dormant until conditions warm up – depending upon the critter involved.

most likely, if the Platy is kept in a “frost-free” freezer, then any buggers in the unsterilized Platy will grow when the “defrost timer” goes off to begin the defrost cycle (typically every 12 hrs in designs i’ve owned and/or repaired) and warm air is blown into the freezer compartment to eliminate frost/ice build-up. So, a little growth can occur with each defrost cycle as the freezer temp warms up a bit. when the timer initiates the much longer cooling cycle, then the freezer will get very cold again and microbial growth will slow down or perhaps go dormant (depending upon the little buggers involved).

EDIT:
this just in: just recalled a Platy drying technique someone mentioned in the Forums quite some time ago.

he uses a new fish aquarium pump and tubing to pump/blow ambient room air into the Platy to dry it out by causing the remaining water in the Platy to more rapidly evaporate and move out of the Platy as air exchange between the Platy and the ambient room air occurs.

[Brett .]

pj, That was great information on the life cycle of ‘microrganisms-I-dont-want-to-drink’. I’ll use the freezer technique plus an occasional boiling/bleach treatment. Congratulations!, that tip earned you one Vlad trading card. (sorry I have no Ryans)

[paul johnson]

B,

i know Vlad is really not Vladimir Putin (i don’t think they have any UL gear in Russia), but do you really think Vlad is in reality R. Lee Ermey? Sorry, gotta’ go, it’s time for “Mail Call”.

oh…i did see this morning the other trading cards in your post in the other Thread. Very funny. I’m shot for the day; they’ll get no work out of me today. But please, next time, use a photo of my “good side” – clue: start at the back of my head and work your way down a couple of feet (yes, i’m that short) and you’ll come to my “good side”.

[Doug Hile]

I have a fish tank air pump that I use to get some small amout of air flow in the bag. I drop the tube in the bag all the way to the bottom and in a hour the bag is dry. This works well hear in AZ, I don’t know how it would work in a humide area.

[Douglas Frick]

>I know many of you use Platypus, any clever ways to dry them?

I’ll second the suggestion of a $4 aquarium air pump. I dry out the Platy hose first, then the bag. Works great for me. (I cut the end of the pump hose at an angle to keep the air flowing if I shove it into the corner of the bag.)

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