Using a Sawyer Squeeze with 42mm Hydrapak Seeker Water Bags

Nice!

Perhaps a simpler but less innovative solution would be using a CNOC 2 liter bag with your Sawyer Squeeze. The CNOC is durable, easy to fill from a water source, and pairs readily with your filter.

Hi Robert,

I looked into those CNOC water bags and didn’t love the common complaints about the threaded male portion of the bags being to flexible so as to possibly get bent out of shape when mating with a Squeeze. I think CNOC may be trying to fix this, but I heard it was an issue.

More importantly though, the backside zip opening is useless to me. I would never use it, since I vastly prefer a water scoop I made from an old Smartwater bottle. So much easier to use to collect water from very small sources like the ones we commonly have here in Southern California.

I quite like having only one entry point in my water bags and I want that point to be decently sized. The 42mm openings of the Hydrapak Seeker bags fit the bill. It’s just much easier for me to hold the bag up by the mouth, pour dirty water in with my scoop. Set the scoop down once it’s full, and with that hand just immediately attach the water filter onto it.

Also, the alternate idea of keeping a Sawyer Squeeze permanently attached to the bottom of a CNOC bag as you full it up with dirty water from the zip side seems like a perfect scenario for dripping dirty water onto the outlet mouthpiece of the Squeeze. That’s a recipe made in heaven for contamination.

With all that said, I agree that the CNOC bags are probably the more reasonable solution for most people.

Nevertheless, I suspect there are many people out there with a slow/forgotten about BeFree sitting around that could be out to good use if they like the Hydrapak Seeker bags and the Sawyer Squeeze as well! :)

Very nice adaptation Derek. I’d probably be all over that if I hadn’t moved to (and love) a DIY gravity system which also uses either an original squeeze or the black filter from the Sawyer filter bottle.

The plug-n-play cap ( https://hydrapak.com/collections/accessories/products/plug-n-play-42mm-cap ), a short (5cm) tube and the usual sawyer connectors is another option. I use plug n play type connectors in a gravity system (hydrapak-filter-split drink tube-platy hoser – I split the tube with a quick connect about 15cm from the bite valve, removing the bite valve section when I want to fill up. I get enough head pressure from the system to fill the platy while it remains ‘upside down’ in my pack’s reservoir sheath)

NB. The new hydrapak flux is, in my use thus far, a better squeeze bottle for filtration than a seeker – the more rounded profile seems less prone to microleaks than the seekers’ sharper angles. It’s also far easier to fill at small streams as it keeps its shape better.

I have to say, though, that since I started to apply an occasional dilute vinegar soak, the befree has been uber reliable and very quick. I did 122 days/3300km of Te Araroa (New Zealand), mostly in drought conditions, with the hydrapak-befree-hoser gravity setup just recently. The weak point was the seeker, but that was solved by replacing it with a flux

Brad,
I’ve never heard of vinegar restoring the BeFree’s flow.  I’ll keep that in mind if I ever go back to one; though I must admit that after being burned by them slowing down to a crawl on two separate trips, I’m not eager to return to using a BeFree in my system.

I am interested in learning more about your gravity system.  Do you have picture of the setup?

Also, the Flux does look more durable, but it is also 2-3x heavier per unit of volume held.  More importantly for me though is the fact that it’s only holds 1 liter.  That’s a real deal breaker, since filling the water bag and screwing on the filtering system to it is one of the major pains when filtering.  I try to minimize the amount of times I have to fill the dirty water bag at each water source, and the Flux would definitely not align with this mindset.    Nice to know it exists though!

Lastly, once you carry a cutoff plastic water bottle scoop (which I do) then you no longer worry about how easy or difficult a dirty water container is to fill from a small source.  I’m actually shocked that everyone doesn’t carry one at only a 0.25oz to 0.5oz weight penalty, but oh well, HYOH and all that…

Sure! I know hydration reservoirs aren’t fashionable for ultralight but I just don’t drink enough unless I have ease of access. I go through a lot of water, and I’ve had giardia before so don’t skimp on treatment (I sometimes use chlorox tabs then filter and even in our roof-fed huts, I at the least filter the water). In the pics…

The quick connect is an Osprey; the bite valve is an Osprey too. There are lighter options but I like that the Osprey quick connects auto seal when a plug is removed and that the bite valve can be turned off.

Flux at left; seeker at right.

On the seeker, there is my befree + quick connect. To its right is the plug-n-play cap and some of the other bits I’d take to connect a sawyer – I no longer have the sawyer because, well, micro sawyer… endless frustration

These days, I take the seeker bikepacking and the flux thruhiking… and I never use the sawyer – just the befree, cleaning it out with 1:2 water to vinegar soak every so often (about 20mins seems to be optimal). I don’t need to do that while thruhiking as, in my experience, the biofilm gunking only happens when its been put in storage for a while (and that happens even after careful drying).

Usually, the flux or seeker is propped up on a branch, boulder or – if at a hut – a bench, with the tube running through my pack’s hydration outlet to the platy hoser (in pack sleeve), with the pack upright. It’s definitely slower if you do this because the platy is upside down… but it’s like 40s/L vs 25s/L so still way quicker than it was with a sawyer.  I squeeze the hydrapak for a couple of seconds until there’s flow, then gravity/vacuum takes over.

On the seeker, you might just see a Leyzene bike tube patch. I’ve done 100+ days with the flux and had no holes, but the seekers pop a microjet every 1-2 weeks before that becomes unmanageable. Yes – a 1L seeker is about 2/3 the weight of a flux, but the flux: is stronger; easier to stand up; has a better lid to drink from; is an easier shape to drink from; is easier to store full or empty in a pack’s side pocket. I like having a 1L flux and a 2L seeker for different purposes, but if taking only one on a thruhike I take the flux. If accessing water is tricky, I just squeeze the flux straight into the platy at the water source, but even that is quick.

If you don’t have any befree filters then you can buy these 2 items and it should work

https://hydrapak.com/collections/accessories/products/plug-n-play-42mm-cap

https://hydrapak.com/products/filter-adapter-28-mm

Btw anyone with an extra bad befree I’ll take it!

Btw cnoc now has a bottle similar to the hydrapak

https://cnocoutdoors.com/collections/hydration/products/vesica-1l-collapsible-bottle?variant=32264902344793

If anyone goes from a cnoc 28mm to sawyer to 42mm bottle I made a diy connecter

I personally only use my cnoc for dirty water. I like the big opening to fill easier and faster.  I keep the small end closed fill via big, close big, turn upside down open small and attach sawyer keeping my clean clean.

I’ve even added a small section of hose and can get 1L water filtered in 1min via gravity feed,  no squeezing!

Cnoc is great if you don’t plan to carry water in it. It imparts a horrible plastic taste when water is stored for any length of time.

Hi Josh, that’s exactly what I need! I want to use a seeker with the BeFree filter (which, ironically, screws right into a Sawyer) and then go into a Hydrapack Ultraflask which has the 42mm opening. Can you explain how you constructed that adapter? Thanks!

NM someone already mentioned the adapter

This is awesome. Like the OP, I discovered that I have a preference for the Sawyer filters and the Hydropak bags and couldn’t find an adapter. I used two sets of pliers to separate the threaded portion of the BeFree from the filter and it works like a champ! Thank you Derek! You save me a lot of time searching for an adapter.

I just looked up hydropack bags

$24, 2 liters, 2.7 ounces

Compared to Platypus bag – $35, 2 liters, 2.2 ounces

Evernew – $15, 2 liters, 1.5 ounces

In 2024, is there not a UL commercially available 42mm to 28mm adapter? I love the wide mouth Befree bags and would be great to be able to use my Squeeze on one.

I use Cnoc with Sawyer original filter and drain directly in to 3L Hyrapak seeker with the quick connector lid.  It works great and because its a closed system I can just hang it somewhere and do something else while it filters.

That’s nice for gravity. I was hoping for something for quick on the go filtering. Figured someone would have made a decent UL adapter by now.

Is this not what the original post created? Here is mine.. i can use the Sawyer on a be free bottle or the hydropack

It is, with the donor Befree filter which I don’t have.