One of the key pieces of kit you need is an apparatus to carry your water. Without water, you become dehydrated. If you have no way to disinfect your water, you run the risk of becoming sick, which will in turn lead to dehydration. If you go long enough without water, you run the risk of death.
I typically steer away from hydration bladders. I’ve used them in the past and personally don’t really like them for the following reasons:
- They are prone to being punctured.
- They are not easy to clean.
- They are not easy to fill on the go and typically lack a way to disinfect the water.
I prefer water bottles or the classic military-style canteen. Let’s take a look at the Gerber Gear Bear Grylls Canteen.
The canteen itself is made very well, is extremely durable and easy to handle with either wet or cold hands. I removed the ugly orange piece that held the cap when twisted off and replaced that with a short length of bank line. I also duct-taped two water purification tabs to the backside of the canteen. This is a tip I picked up from the military. This way, I always know where they are.
The cup that comes with the canteen is equally impressive. It is made from aluminum which is not as strong as the old school stainless steel military canteen cups, but it’s still going strong. I made some modifications to the cup itself to suit my personal preferences. The first thing I did was to remove the rubber material from the handles of the canteen cup as it would have melted off in the fire.
The second modification was to spray paint the exterior of the cup with a few coats of high temp black spray paint. This is the same paint used for grills. Being that this cup is aluminum I wanted to spray on a few coats to help prolong the life of the aluminum and to also help with cleaning the cup off after use. Having this paint on makes it easier to remove sticky resin after setting the cup in a camp fire to boil water. You can see from the following pictures that this cup has seen some use and is still going strong.
Honestly, this has been my go-to water container for many hikes and outdoor activities. I’ve beat the crap out of it and it has never failed me. I’ve had the aluminum cup in the fire several times to boil water.
Many laugh at the Bear Grylls products as most of them are pretty gimmicky, but the canteen and cup set is bombproof. Available on Amazon for around $32.
