Water Bladders vs Nalgene

Water Bladder or Water Bottle


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TRICER

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Dec 20, 2014
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So like most so cal guys I run a water bladder for my backcountry water. It’s kind of ingrained into me I remember back in the 90s getting the early camelback and wearing them all over the desert on my dirt bike. They have always served me well. But this year I am making a switch to nalgenes.

Bladders have always served me well and I actually have never had one fail to severely in the backcountry asides from a mouth piece falling off and draining out on me. Luckily I was packing 2 gallons of water to cache so I was able to refil and cached the other gallon.

Bladders offer easy access to water while your on the go but they do have their limitations. They are awkward in any pack, they are not the best for making mountain house, the hoses freeze which is never fun, they can be kind of a pain to refill with a filter, and it’s easy to not ration them since they are tucked away. We have all sucked a few dry 2 miles before we got backtrack o the truck.

I always carry a 3 liter bladder. The southwest is hot and I never want to run out of water.
This year for my arid hunts I am going to be carrying 2 48oz nalgenes, one on each side of my pack. This will equal roughly 3 liters. Where water is available even in D16 I will either carry 1-32 or 1-48oz nalgene and I will filter with my MSR microfilter or use potable aqua tablets. BTW lots of water in the 16 this year I do think a lot of streams will make it through the fall. But please be sure where you are going still has water just because it is there in September doesn’t mean it will be there during the General season.

Water is heavy and when water is readily available I am going to start filtering more and carrying less. I am more than likely going to spike camp on my x9b Hunt this year. Meaning my whole camp on my back for a lot of the hunt so I need to be light.

One fluid ounce of water at 62 degrees F weighs 1.04 dry ounces (133.44/128). *This means that for every 16 fluid ounces of water at 62 degrees F, it will weigh 1.04 pounds.
So a 32oz nalgene will weighs roughly 2.25lbs compared to a 3 liter bladder coming in at right about 7lbs.

Keep in mind I will also have a filter but that is always a constant in my pack weighing 14oz. So one 32oz Nalgene and a filter and you are saving 4lbs of pack weight. If you use potable aqua tabs you are saving almost 5lbs but I am not that brave with our so cal static water supplies. If you carry a filter with your full bladder you save 5lbs no matter what.

Last year in AZ we had no known water source and had to carry in 3gallons of water each. Plus full bladders. That is 32lbs of water. The last day we found a stream and a stagnet water spice in a abandoned mine. My gosh not having to carry 32lbs UP into that hell hole would have been incredible. It would still be debatable if we would make the water source our base camp but knowing that option is there is really reassuring. Even if I carried in a gallon and then refilled a few days in that would have been a huge difference.

Lastly I am tired of my bladder taking up an entire side sleeve on my pack. It’s only a matter of time before I have a catastrophic failure. I bush wack way to much and have gotten real lucky that one of the D16 manzanita haven’t punctured my bladder yet. The nalgenes just pack better in my opinion.

Below are some links to show you what I will be running. Depending on the situation. The MSR Hyperflow can filter 3 liters a minute do filtering water really isn’t that time consuming anymore.

MSR HyperFlow Microfilter Compact Backpacking Water Filter


Nalgene 48-Ounce Silo Tritan Wide Mouth Water Bottle (Blue)

Nalgene Tritan Wide Mouth BPA-Free Water Bottle, Lollipop Red, 32 oz

Potable Aqua Water Purification Tablets with PA Plus neutralizing tablets - Portable Drinking Water Treatment for Camping, Emergency Preparedness, Hurricanes, Storms, Survival, and Travel (50 Tablets)
 
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I don’t trust bladders. Have had my own hoses freeze and seen hoses leak many times with friends. It’s just not worth it to me. I usually carry three 32 oz bottles. For your hunts in X9B take a look at the MSR Dromedary bags. I have a 6L bag, they make them in various sizes. You may or may not be able to camp very close to water. If you can’t camp close to a creek it’s nice to be able to fill up the bag in the evening, have enough for dinner and breakfast and for your bottles the next day. Pumps are pretty efficient these days but don’t expect to get the advertised filter rate.
 
This is what I use to filter water in the back country. No pumping necessary. Let gravity do the work for you. Also, I generally use both a hard bottle (Nalgene) AND a bladder. The bladder for convenience and on the go hydration, the hard bottle as back up in case of bladder failure (that sounds like a personal problem!) and to mix drinks (gatoraide, etc.). In my mind they both serve a purpose and there is no need to select one over the other.

39769
 
I USED to put the 3-liter bag in the side-sleeve. But it's too noisy when in there, the 3 main tightening straps on my pack would apply pressure to it somehow in such a way that it would often creek with each footstep.

Soo... I bought two simple carabiners and attached them to the lil MOLLE attachment points inside the main compartment and the water bag conveniently has two holes in the plastic part you slide back onto the top opening. And it already had a specific slit at the top of the main compartment to feed the tube through. Nice and quiet now.

If I have to take a lot of water, like 6-7 Liters, I learned to pair like 2 3-Liters. (One with a drinking tube and one without) OR 3-liter with 2 other separate 1-Liter Vapur bags and then 1 hard-bottle 1-Liter.

I've had a CamelBak bag fail on me at the bottom where the tube meets the bag. You're hiking along then "What The??" That wet cold feeling down your "backside". I'd have been screwed if I didn't also bring more in other separate bags! I already had cached water back up in there, so that saved it for me.

I also learned the hard way NOT to click the Vapur bag just onto your belt if you're going to be walking anywhere near Buckthorn. (Oops)

I like the bags because they pack much better and make more efficient use of the space within your pack. The carabiner hangers on the tops are great to keep the weight up higher in the pack so it's not pressing on my tailbone injury. And... as you drink you get your space back within your pack. Which just seems to make sense in terms of when being successful and packing out.

The Sawyer Mini Filter didn't seem too bad to me. It works, and I'm sure there are perhaps faster options out there, but it doesn't weigh hardly anything which is great!
 
I have never had the need to carry big amounts of water on me. Usually I carry a bladder and a 2 gallon jug in my truck.
Now, what you guys are sharing with us is important and make total sense.
It made me think and decide to start carrying my hydration bladder, a filter ( which I also always carry) and a Nalgene.
Good post to make us think about it Truduct.
 
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Also, having the 1-liter bags available to you can help with "rationing" your water like Truduct eluded to.

My rule now is... if I hit the half-way mark in terms of amount of water I'm carrying? Bump That! I ain't going in any deeper. At least not THAT day.

Running out of water can be extremely scary. I Never Ever Ever want to run out of water again for the rest of my natural life!

Nowadays... the way I look at it is... carrying around the extra water is just gonna help you for when the day comes that you have to packout an animal, right? I figure I already don't get enough exercise/activity as it is, so figure that bit of extra weight will only help me for when the moment of truth comes around again.

And I mean... if you have to... or want to.. when you pack the animal out... if you indeed are carrying more water than you'll need then at that moment, you can always either cache it out there (if it's still in a sealed container), or just dump it if you really need to.

It's sorta like the runners from Kenya... spend all their lives growing up training in high altitude with less oxygen... so their bodies get really damn good at aerobic respiration. Then, when those guys participate in runs at normal altitudes... it's like this WooHoo oxygen rich environment for them... so they smoke the other runners left and right. That's why nowadays you got all these guys (even in other sprt disciplines) training wearing those masks which impede their breathing slightly to create more effort for it, to encourage their bodies to work on enhancing their lung capacity.

I'm just saying I look at carrying extra water weight as sort of the same thing. Thinking it's something that should make packing out an animal be slightly easier that it would be if I was being all uber weight conscious with it all the time.
 
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Typical day trips (~6-9 miles of hiking) I only run a 3L blatter.

Backpacking / multiday trips, high temp (90+), or long hikes I throw in a nalgene that I use for water storage / treating water / emergency.

Temps below freezing I only run a nalgene.
 
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The Nalgene bottle are fine as long as they are completely full of water. Once you start drinking out of them and the water starts sloshing around. They don’t cut it. To much noise.
That’s the advantage of the bladder.
Is getting all the air out of the bladder so there isn’t any sloshing noise.
I wouldn’t have any problems carrying the bottles completely full to keep them quiet. Then use them to filter water into and replenishing the bladder.
 
The real noisy stuff are water bottles ugggg. You know . I don't remember have problems with nalgene.
O ya I like to carry Stainless steel bottles. Boil water, scoop up water and treat. You know. But .....
 
I WISH I was hunting with others so I could bring Ambien with me for sleeping out there! Hehe... but probably even with the Breathe Right Strips my snoring would probably scare the bleep out of any other creature in the vicinity in the night time, HA!
 
I WISH I was hunting with others so I could bring Ambien with me for sleeping out there! Hehe... but probably even with the Breathe Right Strips my snoring would probably scare the bleep out of any other creature in the vicinity in the night time, HA!
You may attract nocturnal predators too!!! I would do it and I would set a couple of trail cameras to see what happens LOL
 
Oh I know MtnLions go by where I camp. Not really by where my tent is. But in the area we'll say. Like around 2a-3a seen 'em on the cams before. Which is why I can't take won't take any of those meds Ambien/Xanax when out Solo. Figure I need to be on point just in case. It's hard too because it's super hard for me to go to sleep in any new location.
 
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