Reliance Nylon Collapsible Water Container

Very durable, easy to pack and use, with none of the fuss of rigid containers. Non-sloshing water storage without having to deal with bulky rigid containers. Built in HD handle. Can be hung anywhere.

I love to go camping with my son. We'll take off at the drop of a hat and spend 3-5 days in the Great Outdoors and between us have enough gear to almost consider it "glamping." We rabidly adhere to the Leave No Trace philosophy and often leave our campsites in better shape than when we arrived. So on a recent trip to a location where we know there is no potable water (It's BLM land), the question arose of how to port in enough water for two grown men for four days of activity.

I have several Platypus 4- and 6-liter Water Tanks, and we both have 1-liter S/S water bottles, but that would be too many items to carry and would still not meet our "gallon per day, per person" needs. 12 and 16 ounce-disposable water bottles were not an option due to the waste and weight. So I turned to Reliance Products, who are known for water storage containers, for my answer.

I bought two Reliance Products 5 Gallon Collapsible water containers, and could not have made a better choice. Made of heavy duty nylon, durable, and nearly indestructible, at 5 gallons apiece our water needs were met. True, they're are a bit heavy when full (+42 lbs. each), and the handles are not padded, but when considering the importance of water in the survival "Rule of 3's" (3 minutes without air, 3 hours without thermoregulation, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food), we decided to "gut it out."

Our campsite had a fire pit and a concrete picnic table, so we made an impromptu "tree hanger" near our site and left one bag on the table for use. The flat bottom of the container made this very convenient, and let the spigot hang over the side. One slight drawback to this container is its rather slow flow rate. But Reliance sells replacement spigots that have a better flow rate, and I'm continually told that "patience is a virtue."

As we drained one of the containers, I was able to roll up the empty container and place it in my pack, and moved the other container to the table top for use. Another advantage of this product is that overnight, the bags cooled substantially and when left in the shade, we consistently had cool water to drink during the day.

When we left the site after four days, I used the remaining water to fill our personal bottles and douse our coals, rolled up our last container, and returned the site back to its original condition.

I can not more highly recommend this product for its durability, portability, and ease of use.

Background

I've used these once, but am an avid camper and have used every kind of water container (rigid, flexible, S/S, Nalgene, etc.) out there on multiple occasions.
Used in summer (+90 F) at BLM camping site w/o potable water.