Water storage, and cleaning your water containers

[globalpassenger]

Hi all,

I haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory water solution for my upcoming camping/road trip.

The trip is supposed to last for two to three months with no home base at all in between. We will be going from CT to the West coast in a roundabout manner catching as many wonderful parks and forests as we can. Sometimes we will be camping for fun and leisure for a few nights, other times it will be overnight stays purely for a place to sleep on our way to the next point of interest. We will stay in every kind of camp site imaginable (national, state, private etc), but 95%+ of the trip will be car camping, and that is what my question is about.

The next post I write will be more about the trip as a whole to get some opinions there, but for now I would like to focus this thread on water

Here are the options I am considering:

1) 2x hard plastic 3-gallon water containers (~$12/each at amazon).
Six gallons of water seems like a good operating amount, and two identical containers means it will be easy to balance them to hoof them from the water source back to my campsite.

Pros: Environmentally sound; Sturdy; Cheap
Cons: Difficult to clean; Opaque (so hard to assess cleanliness); Useless without a water source!

2) Purchasing large water containers from grocery stores (~$1/gallon but varies greatly) and hopefully refilling them a time or two before they fall apart.

Pros: They come with water; Don't have to worry about cleaning.
Cons: Expensive; Wasteful use of plastic.

Option 1 is my preferred solution, but my girlfriend prefers option 2 mainly due to the difficulty of cleaning the containers.

I am assuming that there are places I can fill up 3 gallon containers at most campsites, so please let me know if that is an incorrect assumption.

I would love to hear your opinions and solutions for water storage. I would also like to hear about any tricks or tips for cleaning somewhat ungainly shaped water containers.

Thank you!

[Bigdog57]

Re: Water storage, and cleaning your water containers

Any good campsite will have water spigots, but some are down low to the ground. You may want to carry a short length of garden hose to use in that case.
Cleaning the water containers shouldn't really be a problem, as the water won't be sitting in them long enough to grow nasties. Once filled you could add a few drops of chlorine bleach (straight bleach, NOT scented, two drops per quart), let sit for an hour and you'll have no problem. A good idea as you never know what the water quality is like away from home.

Sounds like an interesting trip you have coming up! :cool:

[renodesertfox]

Re: Water storage, and cleaning your water containers

Water is weight and takes up too much room in any vehicle. We use the Platypus water purification system and have never had a problem. Any lake, stream, creek or even a mud puddle will do. Sometimes we might fill our reserve clean water container with tap water(4 liters) but once it's gone then mother nature is our resource and we never have had a problem with this system. Here check it out: http://cascadedesigns.com/platypus

[renodesertfox]

Re: Water storage, and cleaning your water containers

The reason I chose a Platypus water filtration system over the Berkey was that is was less expensive, not a hand pumped system, and smaller in size. The most use the Platypus system has gotten so far was a straight 21 days dispersed camping trip I did into the remote area of the Desert National Wildlife Preserve north of Las Vegas during the spring of 2009. 62 miles 4x4 rock strewn road just to get there. There was a small mountain trickle that was my only source for the entire time. Don't get me wrong, I would love a Berkey system, I think it's the best out there. But for me at that time I purchased a Platypus because that was all I could afford and I still love mine. If I had more space to pack water I would but as everyone knows that camps in a WJ(Jeep Grand Cherokee) space can become limited easily.

[familycamper]

Re: Water storage, and cleaning your water containers

I use the Sawyer 2 liter, gravity system. They also have a 4L. I got the 2L because I can use the bladder in my Camlebak.
http://www.rei.com/product/786393/sa...system-2-liter

http://www.rei.com/product/778044/sa...system-4-liter

[tplife]

Re: Water storage, and cleaning your water containers

Walmart sells tall and narrow 6-gallon jugs for around $10 that will fit nicely behind the seats of my compact car, and provide enough water in a dry-camping site for the weekend for a group of four, including short SolarShowers. I prefer them over the old square 5-gallon jugs that took up too much space. We use the SolarShower 2.5g device for a water supply for washing hands and dishes when not in use as a shower.

[globalpassenger]

Re: Water storage, and cleaning your water containers

Thank you all for your replies. I really hadn't given the water issue due consideration and your responses have given me food for thought.

As much as I wish I could afford to get a gravity filter, it really is out of the budget at this time. We have a Steripen that we picked up on sale a couple of months ago which will be adequate for hikes and overnight camping away from the car.

I think at the campsites we will rely on them having potable water and fill all of our water bottles and a big container at each campsite. The drinking hose is a great idea I hadn't thought of. I also like the sound of those jugs from Walmart. If we end up doing a lot more dispersed camping we can always pick up another jug or two on the road.

One of our goals for the next week is to do a trial pack to see just how full the car is!

Thanks again everybody. Very useful discussion