Winter water bottle

PETE bottles (Gatoraid, SmartWater, Avian, soda bottles) are fine to freeze, but don’t do well with boiling water.

HDPE containers are fine with boiling water (and good to below -70C).  And it’s completely dishwasher safe, so you can get them really clean before and between uses.  I root around in the #2 Plastic bin at the recycling center and try to score ones with a liquid-tight lid.  Narrow mouth, but sturdy, are hydrogen peroxide HDPE bottles.  Lots of shampoo bottles are HDPE.  Gallon milk jugs are, too, but are far too flimsy.  But gallon jugs of windshield-washer fluid are more substantial.  If I was filling one with boiling water, I’d bring a funnel along.

Or a classic Nalgene bottle, not the transparent ones but the milky white HDPE ones, are very water-tight, good to well above boiling, down to crazy-low temps, wide-mouthed and dishwasher safe.  Like this: https://www.rei.com/product/402049/nalgene-ultralite-wide-mouth-water-bottle-32-fl-oz  Not UL, but bomber.  And if you’re bringing a liter of hot water into your sleeping bag, you REALLY don’t want it to leak.

I use the HDPE Nalgene branded bottles for all the reasons David mentioned.  The 1 L weighs 3.8 oz. and the .5 L weighs 2.5 oz., so they’re not quite UL, but I know I can trust these in winter.  To prevent the lid from freezing I carry them upside down in the outside pocket of my pack.

. HUNERDORF BOTTLES AND BOTTLE BOOT .

. SECTION HIKER REVIEW Forty Below’s Winter Water Bottle Insulation System .

Never heard of the German bottles. Website clearly says “warm water” which doesn’t mean you can pour boiling water into it!

I have SIGG water bottles and Stainless steel clones thereoff. Not much heavier than Nalgene and well able to take boiling water. Lately I have been using a couple of 375ml PET vodka flasks as ready drink carries as these flat “hip” flasks fit neatly into the napoleon pockets on my winter parkas

the Hunerdorf is rated for 158 degree water and HERE is a chart for Temperature ratings on Nalgene® products and other information

+1 on Nalgene… but only when it’s gong to be sub-freezing. I even still use an old-fashioned insulated pocket to keep it in, hung from my waistbelt. Don’t forget to store the bottle u[side down so when it freezes you can still drink from it.

@moondog55 Modern Sigg aluminum bottles have some sort of plastic liner. I don’t think the older ones did. Would be nice to be able to boil in the bottles.

I use (2) Klean Kanteens 27oz for water storage. Outdoor research makes water bottle parkas that fit. The metal transfers heat well, so I take advantage and “dry” my hiking socks while warming my sleeping bag. The bottles fit into the socks without too much stretching.

I try to keep the spirit of ultralight hiking during the winter, but more consumables, warmer clothes and appropriate gear make me less inclined to worry about it. I’m not trying to win a trophy after all.

My “winter water bottle” is a high quality wine bota I bought from a head shop back in the late ’70s. Far out…

I installed a QR plastic buckle on a narrow nylon webbing sling so I could put it on and off W/O having to take my parka off. Cosmic…

So it’s easy to carry and stays warm. Groovy…

Plus I can slip a bit of stash between the nice leather cover (not suede) and the heavy duty plastic liner bag. Right on, right on, right on…

And it still works just fine all these decades later. Heavy, man…

@ Brad. Mine is blue and about 40 YO, perhaps the very first run of dedicated SIGG water bottles. Didn’t purchase, it was a found object and the owner never claimed it back.
Definitely no plastic lining. Similar story with the SS bottle
I usually use plastic bottles in summer or wine sacks.
Unfortunately there are a lot of Chinese knock-offs around at the moment that look like the SIGG but are not

+3 on the HDPE/UVPE nalgene bottles.  They make great hot water bottles. as previously mentioned. I use them year-round though, not just for winter. They add quite a bit of extra temperature range to my sleep system no matter what season.  If you are able to use a wood stove for boilingwater, there is no weight penalty for boiling to make a hot water bottle and that “heavy” nalgene ends up saving weight from extra clothes and/or sleeping bag insulation.

I used to hike with smart water bottles or the like, but a few failures led me back to a nalgene.  Fill up your UL water bottle sometime and drop it cap first on your driveway a few times to test its reliabilty.

from fall through spring- the good, old HPDE Nalgene- tough, nice wide mouth (which rules a ton of bottles out- you don’t want a narrow mouth bottle to freeze shut) and not too bad a weight hit for what you get

I have 16, 32 and 48 oz bottles- depending on the trip and availability of water (or lack thereof)

It’s the only bottle I trust to put in my down bag with me