How much water do you carry at one time.

Wed 21 Mar, 2012 10:25 pm

I was thinking maybe 2 liters in separate bottles, would be enough for me, more than enough for two meals a day plus drinking water, and I will be only camping near water so you don't really need to carry much water when your close to water, just filter or treat it when needed and top up your bottles.

Just like to know what your water regime is

Cheers.

Wed 21 Mar, 2012 11:42 pm

Depends on environment, temps and availability of water.

I've carried as much as 5 litres.

The time I carried 5 litres it was a very hot humid day, only had 12km to hike, I went through 4 litres by the time I got into camp.

Water is one thing I don't limit.

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Thu 22 Mar, 2012 9:01 am

How long is a piece of string?

1.5L is my "standard compliment", if there is such a thing. That's just because a 750ml Mizone bottle in each bottle holder of my OP pack works a treat and their easier to get in and out than 1 or 1.5L bottles.

Most places in Tassie in winter 600ml is enough for me (refilling possible everywhere, really no water is ample). In summer, on a harder walk, with no re-fills and a long day 3.0L min. for me, plus more for cooking etc. Have carried 7L for an overnighter without re-fill, but it's *&%$#! heavy stuff!

Last edited by sthughes on Thu 22 Mar, 2012 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 9:22 am

Yeah water is so heavy.

Lightweight water. with this day and technology, why has no one invented light weight water? :lol:

Where suppose to be such a smart community. :idea:

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 9:41 am

When I get my dehydrator, I'll dehydrate some water and see how well it dehydrates, I am hoping to get 1 litre down to 100 grams

Cheers.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 9:46 am

In Tassie (OT etc.) I carry 2.5L. I know you can normally fill up during the day, but I prefer not to pull my water bladder out to refill all the time.

Plus, the more you carry, the more likely you are to drink water during the first couple of hours to get the weight down... which prevents dehydration. If you wait until you feel thirsty, too late!

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 9:55 am

3L bladder plus a 750ml bottle. I draw off the bladder during the day, as covered above

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 10:04 am

Yeah I have a 3 litre Platypus bladder in my bag, I put in there so if I needed it would be there if I ever needed to fill it up if I was away from water for a period of time.

Cheers.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 10:36 am

Interesting responses above. Especially considering how much money some people are will to spend to save 500grams in their pack.

For me, depends where i am. But probably on average around 2 litres on the basis that i can refill at some stage towards the end of the day.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 10:54 am

I seem to be different..

genrally I walk where there is regular water, so .5L would be my normal carry.

Mark.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 10:59 am

i have a 1.5 litre and a 3 litre bladder. which i use depends on the particular trip (topography, environment[water availibility] and/or temperature)

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 11:21 am

I have carried between 0 to 8 liters, mostly 600ml to 3 liters.

Steve Tremont and Barry Higgins when doing the Great Divide carried up to 22 liters of water at times.

Interesting responses above. Especially considering how much money some people are will to spend to save 500grams in their pack.

I would prefer to carry 5 liters of water with a pack weighing 8 kg than I would with a pack weighing 20 kg.

Tony

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 12:05 pm

Phillipsart wrote:Yeah water is so heavy.

Lightweight water. with this day and technology, why has no one invented light weight water?

Where suppose to be such a smart community.

Oxygen-15 would result in a lighter form of water, although not by a whole lot (about 5% lighter). And aside from the difficulty of producing it in the first place it would have annoying property of decaying to something that is NOT water after only a couple of minutes. There might be some issue with radioactive exposure as well.

As has been stated, it depends.
That said, I usually carry something between 0.5L and 1.0L, but I've gone with as little as nothing and hauled as much as 34L.

In his book about Australia, Bill Bryson mentions something about drinking your own urine. Maybe that's the answer to saving those grams.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 12:27 pm

I usually carry none. But if I'm not confident of finding good water regularly, I'll carry between one and two litres. I've have run out when carrying two litres a couple of times when the weather was very hot. I always carry a yabbie straw and I've not yet found anywhere (in Tassie) where two litres and a yabbie straw wasn't enough (I know there are places in Tassie where more, or march files, would be required but I've not been there yet).

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 12:32 pm

Normally in the 2-3L range. (2Nalgenes for the cold or 1 Nalgene + bladder for not so cold, ie won't freeze the bladder) esp if no stove on me to melt snow. That said it's normally not enough for me for a 'day'.

Depends how fit I am, as I normally prefer to carry a bit more than lose sleep time melting snow for the day ahead esp if there's already not enough sleep time to begin with.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 1:27 pm

Depends on the situation. In NZ I carried only a 750ml bottle. In Aust I have carried up to 3lt.

Thu 22 Mar, 2012 4:23 pm

Every chance that I have posted in this thread already, but i will post again anyway :p

I drink 2.5 to 3 litres of water a day normally anyway, so I like to make sure I get at least 2.5 in while walking, plus whatever I drink of a morning/evening.
I have found that if I have bottles, I don't touch them while walking, and if my bladder runs out, i rarely fill it until I get to camp. As such, I try to make sure that I have my 3l bladder virtually full at the start of each day. In summer it is usually empty an hour before camp, winter has a couple hundred mill left...

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Sat 31 Mar, 2012 9:05 pm

Depends on:
Length of Walk
Availability of water
Need water for a meal?
etc.

5L should be enough for one day, including breakfast and meals. 2L for an average length day walk of 8hrs or so, more in heat. I usually only carry 1L and fill up from sources as I find them, there have been exceptions though where I've carried all my water for the day (at least 2L) on a day walk.

The yabbie tube is great in the south west, not so great in the reserve. On a recent trip to Cuvier and Manfred I carried less than a litre like I usually do, relying on small pools and yabbie holes and ended up finding only very muddy holes.

Mon 02 Apr, 2012 3:36 pm

For a day hike I take 4-6 litres depending on the temperature, the hotter the weather the more I go through here in Sydney in summer.

Overnighters I try to take 6-8 litres depending on water sources. I generally either Boil or use Iodine tablets to treat the water.

I also either take a 600ml bottle of Gatorade per day or the powder form if going for more than a couple of days.

Mon 02 Apr, 2012 4:32 pm

Phillipsart wrote:Yeah water is so heavy.

Lightweight water. with this day and technology, why has no one invented light weight water?

Where suppose to be such a smart community.

It exists, and I'll sell you some if you like. Just send me your empty containers plus return postage and $2.60 per litre, and I will fill them with dehydrated water. A very reasonable price, don't you think?
To save some time and printing costs, I will post the instructions here:
Dehydrated Water
Directions: Add water.

Back on subject, it varies based on conditions. I really dislike being without water. We will normally be carrying a litre each, and fill them at regular intervals or as opportunities arise.
On a hot (+30) day I have carried an additional 3 litres, and have used it all in two thirds of a day. A water source was close so we got to it with just a little left.
Normally I carry more than I need, I do not hesitate to. Beats not having enough.

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Mon 02 Apr, 2012 5:03 pm

But, I will need water to rehydrate it.

If any of you hikers come up to QLD make sure you carry a lot more water than what you would down in Tasmania.

Mon 02 Apr, 2012 5:35 pm

NZ depends on the season. and how much water is around, theres usually water unless your on a ridge top all day.
3 litres max in summer but often 1 or two litres unless theres no water around.... in winter , a one to one and a half litres....
but some days youre going throgh so many streams or following a river all you need is a cup, theres not too many areas the water is unsafe.

Mon 02 Apr, 2012 5:38 pm

Phillipsart wrote:But, I will need water to rehydrate it.

Yep, as with anything else dehydrated (it's a joke, my boredom creeping into posts again).

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Mon 02 Apr, 2012 6:39 pm

tasadam wrote:
Phillipsart wrote:But, I will need water to rehydrate it.
Yep, as with anything else dehydrated (it's a joke, my boredom creeping into posts again).

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What, you mean I can't order the dehydrated water?

Should try it myself with my Aldi 39.00 dehydrator. :lol:

I dehydrated 1 litre of water down to 100 mills. Problem I found it taken 900 mills of water to rehydrate it back to one litre of water.

Mon 02 Apr, 2012 9:34 pm

I wonder how much volume one litre of water would be if it were steam, and therefore how big a balloon to transport it.
And I wonder how to energize this balloon with lightweight solar panels or something, so that the contents can be kept in steam form by harnessing of the sun's energy, thus the balloon it is stored in be carried weightlessly, like a helium balloon until needed, where you simply remove the sun so it cools and condenses. Branches, strong wind, and cloudy weather could foil the plan though. Rain also would foil the plan, but then you have your water if it's raining.
Why do I always have to be the one with the good ideas... :-)

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Mon 02 Apr, 2012 9:56 pm

1l of water can create a variable volume of steam, as it is dependent on how close the water molecules are and if there are any other molecules between the water ones... so you could have 5l of steam or 500l of steam, all from the 1l of liquefied water...

Mon 02 Apr, 2012 10:04 pm

But as long as it's still hot, and it's still vapour, it would weigh the same, right?

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Mon 02 Apr, 2012 10:05 pm

Wish I knew to do more smileys on this phone so people know I'm joking...

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Thu 19 Apr, 2012 5:49 pm

12lt is the most I have been through in one day. It was 42deg with a radient road heat of +55deg, I walked 39km pulling a 50kg cart. In temps between 30 and 40deg walking up to 30km pulling a 50kg trekking cart will mean 6-10lt days for me personally.
In that kind of environment I carry lots of water, up to 20lts.
Usually i will carry up to 10lts for up to 20kms in summer, 5lts in winter
Multi day walks depends entirely on where and how reliable water sources are on the track.

Sun 29 Apr, 2012 8:49 pm

Does anyone here carry water in one of those round military canteens, I want to get a canteen cup and place the water bottle in it, and us that as my emergency water and cooking kit, which will include all my emegency gear in it's pockets, it would be placed on my belt, so if i loose my pack, i am good to go, well at least I will have somthing to survive.

Anyone have a kit like this ???

Cheers.

How much water do you carry at one time.

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