Folks,

what the general consensus on carrying water when out bikepacking ??

Its something I'm quite weary of these days after doing what I had always done and drink from a fast flowing source of water that is odourless, but I got after a huge dose of the squirts a while back from bad water. and over the last few years camping its been with a canoe so you just brought 3 gallons of clean water with no problem.

On the bike..mmm might not work as well.

I like the idea of these filtration systems, not a fan of the chemical systems, tried it once, can still taste the chlorine...

so whats out there, what do people use, any recommendations

cheers
All the best for 2015
Roddy

I've used / tried umpteen things over the years and I think the best system when you take everything into account (price, ease of use, weight, size, filter life, etc) is the Sawyer Mini. Available on-line for less than £30 and should last years with the occasional clean.

Yeah I agree with getting the sawyer mini, it will go in line on a bladder can drink straight from the source via the included straw or fill the pouch and drink directly, or sometimes I will decant filtered water into a couple of water bottles

i use chlorine and neutralizers, i know you have to wait but tastes alright to me

Heard the sawyer doesn't get everything out, just some of the nasties

I use a drinksafe filter, had it for a while. Built into a cycling water bottle

Just get a sawyer, its a magnificent thing thats just about perfect

+1 on the Sawyer mini. Aquamira tabs as backup.

Greetz

S.

Another happy Sawyer mini user here.

Where it does not filter out heavy metals or any nasties smaller than 0.2um they should not really be a concern when drinking free flowing water in the wild in 1st world countries (unless there is a dead animal a couple of feet up stream from you).

I have used it to filter water from lochs and rivers around Scotland with no issues : )

Heard the sawyer doesn't get everything out, just some of the nasties

As Lughnasadh says, what it won't filter out shouldn't be a concern unless you're going to some far flung destination.

(unless there is a dead animal a couple of feet up stream from you)

I did this ^ last summer in the dark ... no ill effects but I wouldn't really fancy trying it again.

Happy new year folks :0)

Thanks for the pointers folks, looks like the Sawyer mini is the way to go, quick look on Amazon, they seem to come in at 20 ish quid for the squeeze bag version, I assume they're pretty much the same just different bits that come with the filter itself

I assume they're pretty much the same just different bits that come with the filter itself

Pretty much. I recall the mini comes with a 0.5L squeeze bag, other sizes are available but the filter will screw straight onto a Platypus bag (which seems stronger than the Sawyer ones).

I used a Sawyer Mini on last years WRT. I found the squeeze bottle that came with it quite hard to fill and ended up using a standard sprite bottle and just squeezing hard. Are the platypus bottles better? What size would you recommend?

Are the platypus bottles better?

They're very good but given the small opening on all the 'bottles' nothing is really easy to fill. I use a 2L one so even if I can only get it half full there'll be a decent amount of water in there.

Mine's the older version of this:

Is it possible to run the filter on a camlebak pipe to fill/drink from it?

Is it possible to run the filter on a camlebak pipe to fill/drink from it?

Came across this a while back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnSdvxQgfB0

Richpips wrote:

Is it possible to run the filter on a camlebak pipe to fill/drink from it?

Came across this a while back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnSdvxQgfB0

Good video is there any need for the carbon filter really? Looks bulky

Do you need to put the water to be cleaned under pressure for this system to work ?

or could you hang it somewhere an let gravity do its thing if you were in no rush

cheers

Good video is there any need for the carbon filter really? Looks bulky

In the UK in upland areas, probably not.

or could you hang it somewhere an let gravity do its thing if you were in no rush

Yep.

Richpips wrote:

Good video is there any need for the carbon filter really? Looks bulky

In the UK in upland areas, probably not.

In the UK uplands would you bother with any of this?

ScotRoutes wrote:

Richpips wrote:

Good video is there any need for the carbon filter really? Looks bulky

In the UK in upland areas, probably not.

In the UK uplands would you bother with any of this?

By 'uplands' do you mean North of Gretna?

In the UK uplands would you bother with any of this?

I've never filtered water in the UK, and have not been ill thus far.

I've been dying to try out a LifeStraw. Cheap, and claims to filter out all the important nasties. Giardia and Cryptosporidium are the major ones I worry about here in the states. The LifeStraw-Go looks great, just fill a water bottle and roll. Anyone have any experience with their products?

I've never filtered water in the UK, and have not been ill thus far.

In fairness Rich I never bothered ... then I got caught out, was sick on the hour, every hour for a whole day and lost 8lb in 2 days

ScotRoutes wrote:

Richpips wrote:

Good video is there any need for the carbon filter really? Looks bulky

In the UK in upland areas, probably not.

In the UK uplands would you bother with any of this?

The general rule used to be: "if you were above human habitation and the water was free running then it would be fine". With more and more people wild camping/bikepacking/just being in the hills this might not be so relevant. My rule of thumb is that if it's free running water above paths and camping areas and I can't see a dead animal in the immediate upstream then it's fine. At a camping spot I'd boil the water, particularly if it's relatively popular site.

I'll add a caveat to that: I grew up on a Lakeland farm with an untreated water supply (very few hill farms have mains or even treated water) and our current house also has an untreated water supply so I'm used to it. If all you've ever drunk is corporation pop then it might be a different matter.

I've not heard of any cases of the real nasties like Giardia being attributed to upland water in the UK, I don't know if the parasite is endemic in the UK wild animal population.

To a certain extent it's a matter of luck: a beck could be unsafe for just half an hour or so while the contaminant passes.

s8tannorm wrote:

I've never filtered water in the UK, and have not been ill thus far.

In fairness Rich I never bothered ... then I got caught out, was sick on the hour, every hour for a whole day and lost 8lb in 2 days

Had a similar experience hence my original question, even though I followed the general rules Whitestone made in his post, maybe I was just unlucky an it'll never happen again, but I dont wish to take that chance especially if I can carry a wee device that'll take the roulette chance out of the situation