View Full Version : VIDEO: How To Fill A Sawyer Squeeze Bag In Standing Water
12trysomething
06-04-2015, 13:50
The Sawyer Squeeze water filters (regular or mini) are a great, inexpensive, lightweight solution for filtering water while on backpacking trips, I love mine. However, the one small frustration with the supplied bags is when you don't have moving water that easily flows into the small opening. I have seen people bring cut off water bottles to fill their bag with as well as many other techniques. In this video I show a simple solution, utilizing something already in my pack, to quickly and easily fill the Sawyer bag. This footage was shot while on my 8 day Long Trail trip in May 2015.
I hope this helps.
Thank you for watching,
Rob
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pGfi4kg9xk
bemental
06-04-2015, 14:36
Thanks for the video Rob.
I was recently at the The Hemlocks Shelter in Massachusetts (http://www.bemental.me/trail-journal/2015/5/28/65nwvykkmga2syrzw6rf1hfgwsx3f6), and had to fill my sawyer bags with my tarp, catching the rain coming off the shelter roof. Took me a good hour plus, but I was able to supplement the night's water with the rain, filtering about 2L of water all said and done.
Just another piece of ingenuity that makes trail life oh-so much fun.
I keep my filter in a one pint freezer bag - which also functions perfectly as a water scoop, without silting out a pit/spring box, like a much bigger bag might. Lets ya easily sleep with your filter on nights where the temps drop below freezing too. I didn't think doing this was anything new...
u.w.
I cut one of my squeeze bags to use as a scoop much like people use a cut water bottle. An advantage is it rolls up nicely around my sawyer and inside my squeeze bag.
iAmKrzys
06-04-2015, 21:41
Much to my dismay I discovered that filling up a Sawyer water bag may not be easy in small body of standing water during the first hike I used it. Luckily for me it was just a weekend run before a longer trip, so afterwards I decided to bring a small empty 8-oz water bottle for filling up the pouch and this worked out ok.
squeezebox
06-05-2015, 08:48
I cut down a kitchen funnel on my table saw. Much lighter, much smaller. Maybe 4 X the opening size. works well.
12trysomething
06-05-2015, 10:15
Thanks for the video Rob.
I was recently at the The Hemlocks Shelter in Massachusetts (http://www.bemental.me/trail-journal/2015/5/28/65nwvykkmga2syrzw6rf1hfgwsx3f6), and had to fill my sawyer bags with my tarp, catching the rain coming off the shelter roof. Took me a good hour plus, but I was able to supplement the night's water with the rain, filtering about 2L of water all said and done.
Just another piece of ingenuity that makes trail life oh-so much fun.
I have done the rain on the tarp trick as well - I was shocked at how quickly you can capture a bunch of water that way. Thanks for the note.
I keep my filter in a one pint freezer bag - which also functions perfectly as a water scoop, without silting out a pit/spring box, like a much bigger bag might. Lets ya easily sleep with your filter on nights where the temps drop below freezing too. I didn't think doing this was anything new...
u.w.
It is good to have a system that works.
I cut one of my squeeze bags to use as a scoop much like people use a cut water bottle. An advantage is it rolls up nicely around my sawyer and inside my squeeze bag.
A few people have shared that idea, which I really like. One has taken it the next level with a paper hole punch and some zing-it, making a gravity system. Thanks for sharing.
Much to my dismay I discovered that filling up a Sawyer water bag may not be easy in small body of standing water during the first hike I used it. Luckily for me it was just a weekend run before a longer trip, so afterwards I decided to bring a small empty 8-oz water bottle for filling up the pouch and this worked out ok.
standing water and a Sawyer bag will frustrate the best of us :) I have seen that approach as well.
I cut down a kitchen funnel on my table saw. Much lighter, much smaller. Maybe 4 X the opening size. works well.
This is a new idea I hadn't heard of, good thinking! Thanks for the note.
Odd Man Out
06-05-2015, 11:03
One trick I've used when you have a shallow stream of flowing water is to blow into the Sawyer bag to inflate it. Then only partially submerge the bag so water pressure doesn't collapse it. Having the bag expanded allows water to flow into it easier.
The collecting rain water story reminds me of a time when I was in Boy Scouts. A group of 4 scouts were on an overnight trip. We were supposed to hike to a campsite with a pump for water. But the directions were poor and we couldn't find the pump. Since it was getting dark and the weather looked bad, we stopped looking and set up camp. When it started to rain, one of us tied the 4 corners of his poncho to 4 trees. It acted like a giant funnel with water pouring through the hole in middle and collecting in the hood. We collected gallons of water in no time and the guy was dry sitting under the poncho. We ate and retreated to our tents warm and dry and well fed (although dinner did taste a little bit like poncho plastic).
similarly we use a small ziploc to get the water, then a small 50 cent kitchen funnel for easier pouring into the sawyer bag.
Those little 8 oz Poland Springs bottles work for me and they squeeze down real flat and then can be blown out again.
Started using a gallon bag halfway through my trip! Wish I would have seen this sooner.
Another Kevin
08-12-2015, 18:53
One trick I've used when you have a shallow stream of flowing water is to blow into the Sawyer bag to inflate it. Then only partially submerge the bag so water pressure doesn't collapse it. Having the bag expanded allows water to flow into it easier.
The collecting rain water story reminds me of a time when I was in Boy Scouts. A group of 4 scouts were on an overnight trip. We were supposed to hike to a campsite with a pump for water. But the directions were poor and we couldn't find the pump. Since it was getting dark and the weather looked bad, we stopped looking and set up camp. When it started to rain, one of us tied the 4 corners of his poncho to 4 trees. It acted like a giant funnel with water pouring through the hole in middle and collecting in the hood. We collected gallons of water in no time and the guy was dry sitting under the poncho. We ate and retreated to our tents warm and dry and well fed (although dinner did taste a little bit like poncho plastic).
Somebody (Hennessy?) makes a funnel thingy that fits a Sawyer or Platypus thread and attaches to a tarp's tieout line. You go to bed in the rain and have a couple of bottles of water in the morning. I've never tried it. It seems like a gimmick to me, and besides, if I brought such devices, overnight is the only time that it wouldn't rain.
A little off topic, but would you always filter water from a spring source that is so contained
Well, my experience most of the time about collecting water from those small shallow pits, is that disturbing the bottom stirs up mud. So I use a small scoop, though it does take s little longer.
Makes sense, I normally hike at altitude in the central Rockies and wouldn't see a need to filter a spring were I can see it's source. However they are normally a rock basin with little particulate matter.