Building a better gravity filter, need help.

After depleting my water this weekend during my first overnight hike I decided to rethink my hydration kit.

I am used to having a 2L camelbak bladder, purification drops, and a 1L wide mouth bottle for scooping water mixing the drops with water and transferring to my camelbak. But removing the bladder to fill it and reinserting it into my pack (osprey Atmos) requires unpacking a lot of gear. I currently have no particle filtration other than a bandanna. And I want to add a lightweight filter so I can gravity feed right into the camelbak.

I really like the ideas for building cheap and light kits found here. But I am having trouble picking a filter.

Attachment 16654Photo by Chris Chastain

The above photo looks ideal but he used a Frontier Pro™ Portable Water Filter System, the 50 gallon rating is too low for the price, and the porous plastic filtration does nothing for viruses.

So I looked at the Aquaguard Micro 3 in 1 plus. It seems like a better in-line filter but I can't find it for sale in the U.S.

I know its popular to use the katadyn cartridge but I prefer the inline filter for a number of reasons such as takes less water to start filtering, and can be used as a straw in a survival situation.

Can anyone recommend a good filter for this project that you would trust out in the woods?

Oops, the picture should be Attachment 16655

I have a sawyer squeeze and love it. It can be used in many different ways and is mad light. I ran into a few thru hikers and section hikers with the squeeze on my recent section hike thru part of NY. So far everyone I've come across has liked them. I filtered from a rather nasty source after screening first and you'd never know after filtering it where I got it from. Tasted really good! No cartridges and rated for something like a million gallons. Comes with a syringe to backfilter it to clean as needed. Worth a look to see if it would work in your case. Can be used as a gravity filter, squeezed into your camelbak for a faster filter job, drank straight from the bags it comes with or just straight from a water bottle like a soda bottle or smart water bottle.

I have the old ULA filter that works like your DIY link with a Katadyn filter in a sylnlon bag. It just has a hose fitting that goes through the bag and connects to the filter outlet. But the system has a flaw in that the easiest way to fill the bag is to just dip it in the water. But when you do that, you have to leave the outlet hose attached or you will contaminate the clean water outlet fitting. But then you also have to keep the clean end of the hose from getting contaminated when filling the bag. This can be tricky. I decided that and in-line filter would be better because. You don't have to worry about contaminating the outlet fitting when filling the bag since the since the filter is downstream in the hose. You would disconnect the hose from the bag and clamp it off (or use a quick connect). There is no way to contaminate the clean end since it never gets near the water source. Haul the water in the bag back to camp and then connect the hose with the in-line filter. The Sawyer Squeeze would seem to be an ideal filter for this. REI has hose adapters for the squeeze. http://www.rei.com/product/837889/sa...er-connections so you can connect to hoses. The system gets lots of praise, but some sites have negative reviews of the bladder quality. With the sylnylon water bag and gravity, you wouldn't have to worry about your bladder failing. Plus a sylnylon water bag is very lightr. Only 0.6 oz for 1 gal bag from Antigravity Gear http://www.antigravitygear.com/antig...water-bag.html but you would have to fit it with a hose fitting for the water outlet. Sawyer also makes a filter that seems to be just like the squeeze, but with quick connect hose fittings http://www.rei.com/product/801824/sa...e-water-filter Being able to disconnect the filter would be nice so you could put in in your pocket or sleeping bag at night to keep it from freezing, if hiking in cold weather.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Corporal_Dusty

I have a sawyer squeeze and love it. ... Can be used as a gravity filter, squeezed into your camelbak for a faster filter job, drank straight from the bags it comes with or just straight from a water bottle like a soda bottle or smart water bottle.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Odd Man Out

... I decided that and in-line filter would be better because. You don't have to worry about contaminating the outlet fitting when filling the bag since the since the filter is downstream in the hose. You would disconnect the hose from the bag and clamp it off (or use a quick connect). There is no way to contaminate the clean end since it never gets near the water source. Haul the water in the bag back to camp and then connect the hose with the in-line filter. The Sawyer Squeeze would seem to be an ideal filter for this....

---

Thank you both, seems the squeeze is the trusted way to go. And the cross contamination tip is good to know, another point for inline.

I'll get started by ordering the 3-way kit. I believe that will come with almost all the quick connects I may need for making my own dirty bag and connecting to a 3L camelbak hose.

I'm a fan of building one's own gravity setup at this point. Neither Sawyer nor Platypus have a kit that I really like (though I love both filters).

For around $55 you could get the platypus gravity works filter with a weight of 1.8oz I think it will be your lightest option: http://www.backcountryedge.com/platy...utm_medium=cpc

Here's Sawyers inline filter in a bottle for $36.86. I suspect that's going to be the cheapest option http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sawyer-Inl...Bottle/8283710

Either way you'll need some tubing a water bladder and the quick connects.

What Brown Chicken and I did for our thru hike last year was to get the sawyer 3 way: http://www.rei.com/product/801824/sa...e-water-filter

Looting quick connects off the faucet attachment and the double male adapter gave us enough for the dirty bag and both of us. We used a platypus 3 liter bladder for our dirty bag and enjoyed that setup http://www.rei.com/product/767111/pl...voir-100-fl-oz

We upgraded with a bit of elastic tubing and clamp that we found in a hiker box at the Doyle http://www.rei.com/product/813801/pl...tream-hose-kit

The clamp certainly isn't necessary but it's a nice, convenient feature to have.