Water storage with a balloon or condom - idea

M

Michael Bennett

Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
666
My kit includes a stainless steel cup as well as a canteen. I've been thinking about minimizing weight & bulk and the idea of putting a balloon or condom in the minikit for water procurement seems to be popular.

But I've been thinking, how do you get the balloon to expand? In school we were taught to inflate the balloon and then place it over the mouth of a bottle of water. The bottle gets tipped and the air in the balloon is displaced with the water. Voila! Water balloon.

In a survival situation, if you don't have the bottle, you can only store the volume of water that is represented by the unexpanded balloon, right? Or is there another method for filling an expanded balloon? If you have a bottle, you don't need the balloon.

I suppose you could fill it with ice or snow if that is available, but in a situation where there is no snow and you have no bottle, you're limited to just the uninflated balloon, unless I've missed something.

So I've supplemented the balloon idea with a plain 1-gallon ziplock bag. The bag has 1-quart hash marks drawn on it with a Sharpie indelible pen so know when I have 1 quart and when to add my water purification tablet.

I've also set up a 1" chunk of drinking straw that I've sealed and filled with bleach. This when squeezed comes out in drops. FEMA recommends bleach for water purificationm, so this could make a handy eye dropper and can be used to purify the water, but I still need to work a few kinks out.

What do you think?

Mike
 
Sounds good to me Michael. I like the ideal of bleach in a straw for water purification. Of course I assuming the straw is plastic as opposed to paper. My own experience has shown that on a hot day these bags tend to leak as the seals around the plastic weaken from the pressure and weight of the water if left for a period of time in the sun or if they simply get too hot. I wonder if double bagging would correct or stay-off the deterioration of weight, seals and hot sun? Have you tested the effects of bleach or purification tablets as that material touched the bag seals and is left for a period of time?

I sure agree with you about the condom/baloon being difficult or impossible to fill with water beyond it given space. I suppose if one could fashion a siphon to displace air and force water into the bladder it would work in a "have no cup" situation.

I use condoms regularly for a lot of storage/water proofing events in the wilds. When leaving my current source of water and heading into the unknown, I store water in the comdoms to the extent allowed by a canteen, cup, etc. and take it with me. I have not experienced any leakage, but with high heat the bladder will expand and requires support.

I like ziplock bags and hope you find that whatever "bugs" they might contain will be worked-out under your capeable hands. Get back to us. OK?
 
I use a punching ballons, the type that kids hit. They are thicker and hold about 1 quart of water with out expanding. They roll up into about 3/4" diameter x 4 " long package.

The water container I like the best is made of using vacuum sealer food bags. Just seal the bottom and you have 3 side sealed with an open top. The bag is approx. 10" wide x 12" tall. It holds over 1-1/2 quarts of water. Best of all the bags are very strong and fold up into about a 3" x 4" square thats about 1/8" thick and fits inside my mini kit.
 
Fill your mouth with water and "blow" it into the balloon, thereby expanding it. So you get some backwash, but who cares if it's for your own use?
 
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