Having gottentired of long paddles with a couple gallons of water in my boat (Hydrate or Die in the desert!)
I switched to a gallon of water in recycled flat bottles with a Katadyne Hiker purifier as a back-up to my canteens.
BUT, I don’t trust technology or the stupidity of a butter bar lt. (ask me someday about that patrol in the desert)
So I an looking into a back-up to my Katadyn to put in my emergency ditch kit and came across two possibles, the Aquamira Frontier Emergency and the Aquamira Frontier Pro.
The Frontier costs about $10 and filters 20 gallons.
The Frontier Pro is much better built and filters 50 gallons for $10.
Keep in mind that for day-trips i will rely on my canteen and for more than an overnight, add the Katadyn to suppliment the canteen so this will be an emergency use only or if my katadyn breaks down.
Anyone use these or have an opinion?
Aquamira
those look good for individual use, but if your primary filter clogs up then another filter likely will too -- so how about the pocketsize Aquamira drops kit? that's what I got as a supplement to my MSR filter, and I can treat a gallon or two of water at a time when needed, instead of a sip at a time.
and if the water source is cloudy/silty you can prefilter it through a common paper coffee filter and use a few extra treatment drops. that's a cheap way to make any water taste better and make your pump filter last longer.
Just about any water . . .
. . . you are likely to paddle in can be made safe to dring by treating with iodine or chlorine. I have (drunk, drank . . . pick one) hundreds of gallons of water treated with issue iodine tablets some of it really nasty. I now carry a little bottle household bleach that has a dropper nozzle in addition to the Katadyn Pocket filter. I use the filter to make it taste better and the bleach to kill any critters.
aquamira
aquamira drops work very well. This is what most of the scouts in my troop use when we’re backpacking. Using drops, unlike a filter, will leave all the crud in the water. We use either our bandanas to filter or some type of backpacking water bucket to allow the dirt in water to settle down to the bottom. Then pour into your water bottles and treat with the aquamira. (caution: if you pour untreated water into your water bottle, know that the rim of your water bottle can have nasty critters on it. Make sure after treating with the aquamire drops that you turn your water bottle upside down and gently unscrew top and allow a little bit of “treated” water to run over the lip of bottle) Using the water bucket is also a great way to also use your pump/filter as most of the crud is at the bottom and your filter doesn’t get clogged as fast.
iodine better than chlorine for giardia
I favor that if I were you. And, household bleach often contains surfactants which can, at the very least cause stomach or intestinal discomfort.
Actually . . .
. . . the opposite is true if you believe the online sources. Household bleach doesn’t contain enough surficant to do any harm in the dose used to treat water, 1-2 drops per pint.
SODIS
http://www.sodis.ch/files/SODIS_Manual_english.pdf
set a clear bottle of untreated water in the sun for 6 hours…
cooking
1)filter the water with a cheap (paper)coffeefilter.
2)cook it.
3)filter it again.
simpel, cheap and no chemicals
“*set a clear bottle of untreated water
"set a clear bottle of untreated water in the sun for 6 hours…”
When do I get to paddle?
SODIS
While not particularly usefut to paddlers, the SODIS technique really impresses me. What a great way for third-world peoples to obtain cheap potable water! The folks who developed this should get teh Nobel Prize.
Jim
.02 microns rating for filtration
is the particle size that filters all critters and giardia. Previous post advice about coffee filters to pre-filter is excellent. I carry a few in my backpack. rubber band a filter around the intake of my MSR and extend filter life greatly.
Under the rigging on the deck
WHILE you paddle…