Hydration bladder for a survival bag

What type of bag is this going to be? A 24-72 hour get home bag (GHB)? Is it an INCH bag? What's the purpose?

You're talking about five liters of water. That's a lot of weight. I recommend building a BOB/GHB for yourself and then a small one for your child. I recommend two liters in your bag if you have an adequate skill for finding water, three if you're less confident in find water. Then one liter for the child. Both bags should have something like a Sawyer Mini water filtration straw.

My blog is www.FreeAmericanNational.blogspot.com and the blog entry dated for December 23, 2013 is all about bug out bags and how to build a "main" bag, additional "adult" bags and additional "child" bags without spending an arm and a leg. Let me know if you visit that entry and let me know if it helps at all. You'll notice that the list of items for the bag is very long, but most people will be able to eliminate many items that they have no need for. For example, a man and his child will have no need for tampons in a BOB, so scratch that off. The list I made on my blog is meant to be a guide and should be heavily tweaked for your needs. I would never recommend someone packing every item on that list in a BOB because it would be very heavy.

homunculus2 said:

That's great! My doughter has the strength but still lacks the discipline (expects me to carry everything). As I said she's 4. Maybe I should put more attention into training her, I thought she was too young for it.

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my 3 year old loves to carry a camelbak backpack. He loves to load it with snacks and for some reason loves to drink out of a tube. We just went hiking about a mile this weekend.

The two things I would add would be

1) the universal silicock key that lets you open any commercial water spigot (on schools etc)

like this one https://www.amazon.com/Jones-Stephe...1476631489&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=silicock+key


2) change out the nalgene for a sawyer water bottle filter. like this one

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Produ...476631592&sr=8-1&keywords=sawyer+water+bottle

or an inline sawyer mini/point one that you can plug into the line of your camelbak to fill it

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Produ...45&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=sawyer+mini+camelbak

I use a 32oz Nalgene and Renovo 3 stage water filter for my GHB




On the BOB I have a Source WXP 3L with bite valve... and the UTA + QMT + Storm Upgrade Kit.

I like my Camelbak 3L. If it's too heavy, you don't have to fill it all the way. OTOH, if you have a smaller bladder, you won't be able to put 3L into it if you need/want to. Only put clean (filtered/purified as needed) water in the bladder. I don't put ice in mine, but if you do, make sure the ice is made from clean water and the container it was in was washed with clean water. Get the cleaning/drying kit with the hanger for your bladder. Very important to take care of the bladder to prevent mold/mildew/bacterial growth and avoid nasty tastes/odors. Also the patch kit, 'cuz SH.

Some packs have a separate compartment for the water bladder so there is separation from everything else in the pack. Very important to only put the bladder in the special compartment.

Anything that could hurt the bladder could also hurt your pack. Or you if you fall on it. Plan ahead how you pack. Keep hard items separated from breakable or tearable items. First to use, last into your pack. Example: when I set up camp, the tent is first. So the tent is on top of the pack on the outside and is packed last when I break camp.

Do you intend to treat water on-the-go, or only at a stop?

Platypus Gravityworks has a set-up with a bag for clean and a bag for dirty (labeled, even) so you filter from dirty to clean and don't make a mistake. This can be used with the Sawyer other posters have recommended. It's convenient to have a water filtration set-up with enough capacity to fill all of your clean water containers. At least the dirty water because you can fill the clean water containers as you filter and it'll save you extra trips to the source and reduce fatigue/time for hauling and possible danger/exposure collecting water. You can carry a collapsible bag or pail to put dirty (untreated) water in, although it's difficult to go long distances carrying a sloshing pail (the bag can be closed and carried in/on a pack).

I also like having a couple more liters of water in hard containers for carrying on the belt or outside of the pack. At least one should be uninsulated stainless so it can be used to boil water. Or include another appropriate container for boiling water. One of my hard containers is a Camelbak UV, but I keep it hidden and well padded, so I don't count it as part of my water load/capacity...

homunculus2 said:

Thanks.
It's about a 72 hour bag.
The child is 4yo and I can't count on her carrying a bag in such a scenario.

So you are saying 3 liters in total would be enough?
If so, that would be no problem for me to carry in my own bag.
For 5 liters you're right, it's probably too much.

Anyhow, do you think the hydration bladder as a container is good for a 72hr bag?
I've never owned one. Do they break easily (so that a shock on the bag would have it break)? Do they leak easily?

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I would think 3 liters would be plenty. But I guess that depends on your area; if you live in a desert climate, probably not. I live in a province with over 100,000 lakes, most of them where I live; so I'm not worried about finding water.

I think hydration bags are good, some are strong; others are not. Buy quality. I've liked the 4 out of 5, that I have owned. The 5th one, was one I ordered off of amazon; it was a cheap chinese one, I bought it for the carrier. The hydration bag leaked as soon as I put water in it.

homunculus2 said:

That's great! My doughter has the strength but still lacks the discipline (expects me to carry everything). As I said she's 4. Maybe I should put more attention into training her, I thought she was too young for it.

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Fill up a bag, with the necessaries; include some small comfort items/toys and say here, carry your own stuff.

My son has never had a problem with carrying his own gear, he's being doing it for 8 months now. He knows when we start getting dressed to go outside, to grab his bag and put it on. He picks up on things really quickly though, we didn't have to train/teach him.

txprep said:

my 3 year old loves to carry a camelbak backpack. He loves to load it with snacks and for some reason loves to drink out of a tube. We just went hiking about a mile this weekend.

The two things I would add would be

1) the universal silicock key that lets you open any commercial water spigot (on schools etc)

like this one https://www.amazon.com/Jones-Stephe...1476631489&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=silicock+key


2) change out the nalgene for a sawyer water bottle filter. like this one

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Produ...476631592&sr=8-1&keywords=sawyer+water+bottle

or an inline sawyer mini/point one that you can plug into the line of your camelbak to fill it

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Produ...45&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=sawyer+mini+camelbak

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^This is some real good advice.

I carry a 1qt stainless canteen, with the cook cup/lid; as well as a 2 liter hydration bag (sometimes) and have a sawyer mini, along with some water purifying tablets.

Also, kids love drinking from hydration bladders; I think they think it's cool. My son likes to use mine all the time.

JBryan314 said:

I like the hard bottles myself because my GHB is constantly being moved from the car to the house back to the Jeep and back inside, etc. I've got a Platypus that was nearly puncture simply from constantly being moved and shifted and smashed. Plus, my canteen has a metal cup for boiling.

Stopping to drink also gives you a chance to pause and observe surroundings and listen for sounds. It's important to stop if possible every so often for at least five minutes. Most adversarial entities will not go a full five minutes without moving or making noise. So if you can pause and stay fairly quiet for at least five minutes at a time, dangerous situations can be seen or heard ahead of time.

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^This is the same with me, I like my stainless canteen a lot and my sawyer screws right on it. Mine also has a cup, that I use to cook with as well. Multi-purpose items, are the best items.

I carry my GHB, as my EDC. It could even serve as my BOB, if need be.

souldier66 said:

You can keep a water bladder filled for awhile, I've been told up to a year as long as the original water is relatively clean. Just make sure to clean the bladder with some water/bleach before you fill it and don't drink from it prior to storage as bacteria from your mouth will be the main culprit of making your water bad.

Source hydration makes some very strong bladders, someone linked the one I have above. It's a bit more expensive then camelback, but worth it imo.

I use mine all the time, but if I didn't I'd probably clean and fill it every 4-6 months and just keep it in the bag. It can take a beating, but I would avoid putting a lot of weight on it unnecessarily, especially if it's just sitting in your closet or the back of a vehicle.

As a backup I keep some iodine crystals in my bag to purify water.

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Yup, I keep mine filled as well. But I also use it a lot, nearly every day.

I carry nalgenes and a gsi stainless canteen cup. A mini sawyer filter. Plus spare 1liter platypus bladders. They take up no space when not filled. I don't mind hydration bladders, I will use them on occasion usually for day hikes. Usually a 2 liter. And loses the nalgenes. I just prefer the abuse the nalgenes can take. I've left them on the roof of my vehicles and launched them off down the street stopping. Not a leak. Definitely worth the money for them. This is my edc bottle and the pictures don't show half of the damage but no leaking ever.