Topic

Water hauling strategy?


Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Home Forums Scouting Philmont Water hauling strategy?

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #3449601
    Chuck C.
    BPL Member

    @ccanode

    Locale: Phoenix

    The Philmont packing list suggests 2-3.5 gallon containers for water hauling,  We have a crew of 11, and I was thinking about requiring each person bring a 2L Platy bottle for this purpose. These bottles are light, collapsible, and durable.  This would give us 22L of extra water and we could spread out the weight. Also, the boys could use them on other trips after Philmont.  Are there any problems with this strategy?  Anybody have a better suggestion?

    #3449604
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    If any of the crew has extra volume or large side pockets, you can’t get cheaper water storage than 2-liter soda bottles from the recycling center.  Other sizes: 335-ml, 500-ml, and 1-liter are also commonly available (and for free).

    The Platy is great in that it gets smaller in volume when you aren’t using all of its capacity.  But if there’s a time when all your food and all your water has to be carried, volume will only get less from there.

    Depending on pack volume, I actually like having some fluffy stuff.  Weight carries easier when it is higher in your pack (you don’t have to bend so far forward to position it over your feet) so I pack empty water bottle or food containers low in pack and against the rear (furtherest from me) of the pack to keep the weight high and close to me.

    #3449609
    James Marco
    BPL Member

    @jamesdmarco

    Locale: Finger Lakes

    2L is not 2gal. Assuming you have at least one dry camp, or tainted water, that means about 24-36 hours without a potable water source. Four, 2 liter Platy’s <bold>per person</bold> are enough for most conditions, but if it is hot and dry you might need more. However, you will also be carrying about 17-27 pounds of weight. Water is heavy.

    #3449683
    Nick Gatel
    BPL Member

    @ngatel

    Locale: Southern California

    In deserts I use 2 liter platys for “extra” water because they collapse when empty. But my main water carrying containers for these trips are two 64 ounce Gatorade bottle. They’re tough and have a wider mouth. Plus my desert packs have side pockets designed to carry these 64 ounce bottles. I’ve never had a Platy fail, and have retired a few, but the thought is always in the back of my mind.

    Another option are the wide mouth soft bottles sold by Nalgene. If you thing a wide moth will better suit the needs of your crew you might want to check them out.

     

    #3449693
    Chuck C.
    BPL Member

    @ccanode

    Locale: Phoenix

    Thanks David! The 2-Liter soda bottle idea is great and very cheap. However, I am a bit concerned with all the bulky gear that Philmont requires. That’s where the Platy bottle shines since it takes up little volume when it is empty and its volume is a somewhat flexible when full compared to a hard-sided bottle.  I’ll have to see how tight space is once we are closer to doing the shakedowns.

    James, I’m assuming everyone will carry 2-3L of personal water. The Platy bottle would be for dry camps where we need additional water for cooking and cleaning. If all 11 of us has one, that’s 5.8 gallons. Philmont recommends 2-3   2.5 Gallon containers, so 11 Platy’s more than meets the minimum. However, I admit, If our itinerary involves several dry camps, that might not be enough.

     

     

     

    #3449710
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    Only a partial solution, but one used in the military and on more successful Himalayan expeditions:  You order them to drink and check that they have – “Drain this pint or quart water bottle” –  before you leave your last water source.  Some are probably a bit dehydrated.  If not, they’ll just piss it away.  And a pound in your stomach carries easier than another pound on your back.

    I use that approach on my hikes and it works especially well with UV treatment: no extra pound-miles waiting for chlorine or iodine to work.

    With some UL packs that really don’t carry 20+ pounds very well, I’ve brought gallon water jugs.  The drinking water ones (99 cents at the grocery store) are kind of flimsy, so I throughly clean the washer-fluid gallon jugs that are a little thicker walled.  Still not collapsable, although you can cut into little bits after your last dry camp.

    I just tried some unsuccessful Googling, but I’ve long had a water hauler that is a plastic liner, with a wine-in-a-box nipple/spigot on it within a slightly smaller nylon bag.  The nylon bag has a nylon strap to carry and hang it from.  Maybe 4 ounces empty.  Holds 2.5 gallons.  Makes a nice air (or water) pillow, too.  When A-16 first introduced them in 1984, I immediately thought “Grand Canyon” and have used it there many times.  I’ve replaced the spigot twice in the last 32 years (free, off a box of Gallo), and still use the original liner.

    Oh, and here’s an option which is definitely available off the shelf: That 3-pack of Outdoor Recreation dry bags at Walmart for $10.  I’m estimating, 3 liters, 6 liters and 12 liters in volume.  Roll the necks down really well, pack them upright, and they’ll be fine.  And unlike a Platy which only ever hauls water, a dry bag hauls water in the summer AND keeps your stuff dry the other 3 seasons.

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-Recreation-Group-Set-of-3-Ultimate-Dry-Sacks/10928125

    #3449715
    Jay L
    BPL Member

    @jjlash

    Chuck –

    Your ranger will almost certainly not let you leave camp with less than 3L per person capacity.  On both of my treks they required each person to have 4L capacity plus something for reserve.

    If you do it right, you wont have any cooking or clean up at dry camps.  Most people (including me) recommend you swap lunch and dinner when you’re heading into a dry camp.  Stop at a campsite with water and eat your dinner for lunch so you can cook and clean up.  Then have your trail lunch for dinner at the dry camp.  Be sure to look ahead to know if you have one of the few cooked breakfasts on a morning you’re in a dry camp and swap it for another day.

    Last summer my crew of 12 carried 2 extra containers for our dry camp.  One was a 3L soft side nalgene.  The other was the 10L clean-water bag from our gravity filter.  These worked great.

    10L Boli Water Bag: https://smile.amazon.com/Boli-Litres-Collapsible-Container-Carrier/dp/B00L8JEXNW

     

     

     

     

     

    #3450040
    Nate Ward
    BPL Member

    @tdaward

    Locale: The woods of the South

    If you do some reading in this forum there are a couple threads that discuss this….We carried these gallon bags from Sonic and some from Taco Casa this past summer.  Do some talking and you can get ones that haven’t been filled with the smellable stuff.  They worked wonderful!  Each of us carried one and never filled more than half of them at a time.  We got all twelve for WAY less than on Platy.

    #3450068
    Steve G
    BPL Member

    @groversan

    Locale: Middle East-Levant

    Love the Sonic idea! That sounds like a great solution.

    I heartily second Jay Lash’s post that all crew members carry 4L water when they leave camp / water source (unless you know for sure that you are only 2-3 hours from a staffed camp or similar with guaranteed water — in that case you could go with 2L / person).  Jay nailed the dry-camp-meal-swap strategy… Makes life much easier.

     

    #3450172
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    4 L per person? Blimey, what a load! Sounds a bit extreme to me.

    We use 1.25 L rocket-based fizzy water bottles. The caps are bomb proof. If it is not mid-summer we are happy with ONE of those bottle while walking all day between the two of us. Half of the bottle goes on mid-morning tea and coffee: one of the best times of the day.

    If deliberately planning for a dry camp (like on top of a rocky mountain), I have carried a 6 L wine cask liner in a nylon cover. Exactly the same as David T I think. That’s enough for PM tea, dinner, breakfast and AM tea, and a wash before dinner for the two of us.

    I understand the problem Philmont has, but I can’t help thinking that they may be a little retro these days.

    Cheers

    #3450179
    Jay L
    BPL Member

    @jjlash

    To be clear – the ranger insisted we have 4L _capacity_ each but the only time we actually carried 4L (or more) was leaving the river heading up to Shaffers Peak (our dry camp).  Otherwise, it was usually 1 full and one partial because we had enough camps along the way to refill when necessary.

     

    David Thomas says:

    Oh, and here’s an option which is definitely available off the shelf: That 3-pack of Outdoor Recreation dry bags at Walmart for $10.  I’m estimating, 3 liters, 6 liters and 12 liters in volume.  Roll the necks down really well, pack them upright, and they’ll be fine.  And unlike a Platy which only ever hauls water, a dry bag hauls water in the summer AND keeps your stuff dry the other 3 seasons

    I would not recommend this.  I use the largest bag from that kit as the dirty-water bag for my gravity filter.  Yes, it holds water but it does “sweat” through just hanging in the tree so you’d definitely want to put it outside your pack liner.

     

     

    #3450358
    ed dzierzak
    BPL Member

    @dzierzak

    Locale: SE

    I wish Philmont would get away from specifying the 2.5 GALLON (10 liter) water bags. We did that ONCE. Every trek thereafter we brought 6-8 1 gallon water bags (found on Ebay). They roll up and take very little space vs the harder-sided water jugs. Nothing says you have to fill the bags completely, just make sure you have a water plan for any dry camps. It may be that you won’t have any dry camps on your itinerary, though you’ll have to wait to find out.

    Have a great trek!


    @rcaffin
    Philmont is a bit retro. You do have to consider that in the 22,000 or so trekkers that go through every summer, you’ve got everyone from experienced backpackers to the “this is my first time out” newbees. They’d like to be sure everyone comes back alive ;)

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Get the Newsletter

Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light!

Gear Research & Discovery Tools


Loading...