​Potable frozen water containers?

[Guest]

I usually bring a small cooler, especially on no-portage tidal trips. I need to pack in drinking water on those trips as well, and use a 10L dromedary bag, or two. But I also like to have my melted ice water available to extend the potable supply once it reaches Alan Gage tepidity.

Which raises the question, what water container to freeze at home? Which raises the question, which frozen water container packs in the cooler most cheaply and efficiently?

Clean half gallon milk jugs with a screw on lid are my go to in the big hard side Igloo Marine, which only comes on family trips. I reuse smaller plastic water bottles in the DIY daypack dry bag cooler. Both are freebies and can be flattened and trash bagged when empty.

The rectangular milk jug shape better fills the space amongst my provisions (read mostly beer) than yet another cylinder against cylinder shape like a plastic water bottle. Plus I have qualms about AquaFina or Desani BS marketing, and landfill (highway, river) trash.

Short rant. When I first heard about pay cable TV I laughed my arse off at the very concept. But paying a buck for a bottle of tap water from the freaking Pepsi bottling plant in El Paso or Jersey City? Yeah, I’ve regrettably done it when the tripping truck carboy and canteens were empty. Rant over

Friend Chip stopped by the shop yesterday and left me a few gifts, including a new/used coffee mug that needs only a bachelors’ degree in engineering to operate.

He also left me an empty gourmet water bottle. Icelandic Glacial water “8.4 ph, carbon neutral product, Source of an epic life”. Probably gluten free as well.

But a very nice container. Thick, sturdy plastic, 3 inch square by 11 inches tall. 1000 ml.

http://icelandicglacial.com/

Greenland should get in on this action as their pristine glaciers melt. Bottle it before it pours into the sea. “Paleo Water” or somesuch

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/27/world/greenland-is-melting-away.html?_r=0

(I fully expect to see a Canoe & Kayak adventure article about “Paddling Greenland’s Meltwater Rivers” any day now. That trip has probably already happened)

That Icelandic glacial water bottle container is nice though. It was probably designed to fit in the square cup holders of a Subaru, but it will make a dandy center ice core in my dry bag coolers. Thanks Chip, when I get down to my last 1000 ml of water I’ll think of you.

 

[Canotrouge]

Since we travel as a family, and we need a bigger cooler than a solo traveler, we use 2L plastic bottles(2), the one you buy soft drinks in, or carbonated water. They work great and then like you said you end up with potable water when the ice returned to water.

 

[yellowcanoe]

No need to buy a darn thing.. We use 2 or 1 liter plastic bottles. No mess in the cooler ( the ice behaves when it melts). We use the ice bottles as refrigerants for essentially our super cooler refrigerator in our little travel trailer. It can run on propane or electric. But during the day we prefer not to use any external power when travelling. We did 10,500 miles to AZ and NM and back for 44 days using 1 2liter bottle and 2 20 oz bottles..

Now if you can come up with a way to run a battery powered cooler you are golden.

You can't beat 0 Cents.

We don't use them in the Everglades unless they are in a kayak,, The coons know how to open the lid and drink from them. If they are polite.

 

[Cookannapurna]

I have a hipster friend that drinks a bottled water called "Fiji Water". The bottles are square, and heavy duty. He saves them for me just for that purpose.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Don't get me started about bottled water.
We are on a private well fed with an underground aquifer.
Our neighbors believe we have no right to our water. Their name is Poland Spring.
They will gladly sell us our water that they stole.
For that reason alone I will never buy bottled water as someone else is suffering.
Water is not something to make money off of.

We are in a drought.

We have sand now f***ing up our pump. We can sue. Its not a big deal for Nestle. Its a huge deal for us.

 

[flyingbison]

I have a couple of square(ish) 1L bottles that used to hold Pedialyte, which my kid always refused to drink when she was sick. The plastic is much thicker than a 2L soda bottle, though I also use some of those. Also, half gallon bottles of cranberry juice (at least some brands) have flattened sides, and make good ice containers.

 

[Guest]

No need to buy a darn thing

For folks willing to drop $300 on a Yeti hard side this pricey product may have value.

https://coolermateinsert.com/

Ok, I admit, that is a great concept. A fully freezeable-at-home cooler-sized plastic container. With a screw on mouth, wide enough to dump additional ice cubes into along the way. And a tap on the bottom to drain meltwater/potable water.

I’m not sure I really believe the purported “convection cooling” aspect, but it can’t hurt, and the CoolerMate at least provides two L surfaces to stack the better-kept-really-cold stuff against inside the cooler. (Think cheap beer).

But $60 for a hollow plastic container? I don’t know industrial plastic molding costs, but I expect there is no more than $10 in materials and production expense in that CoolerMate.

Still, for folks who travel with an (unrefrigerated) cooler box in a camper shell or trailer it might be worth it in the long run.

It is a great concept. The $20 Chinese knock-offs, produced in the same factory, will be available at WalMart by next April.

 

[Conk]

I never trip with a cooler unless I am working out of my vehicle. My truck camping, super cooler, is a cheap plastic Coleman job that fits into a DIY lightweight plywood box that is lined with an additional 2" of polystyrene insulation. The lid of the exterior box has a foam gasket that seals tight with the aid of a rubber bungee. I've learned that a good seal is important, just look at the seal on a Yeti.

The shape and size of a frozen water container would depend on how well it fits within ones cooler. I too, prefer a square jug for efficiency. The best container I have found for the task was the jug they gave me to mix the cathartical concoction for evacuating my bowels prior to my last colonoscopy. It had very square corners and maximized all of the vertical space of my cooler. It held up to eight years of freezing and thawing before developing a leak. Not eager to expedite my next colonoscopy appointment, I was off to the grocery store in search of a new jug. The best I could find was the gallon sized container of Hawaiian Punch.

 

[Will Derness]

For folks willing to drop $300 on a Yeti hard side this pricey product may have value.

https://coolermateinsert.com/

And a tap on the bottom to drain meltwater/potable

Not a tap on the bottom. Rather a siphon hose on the top that lets you empty melted, potable water while the container is in the cooler. That's one of the beauties of this design. Once you place your food stuffs on the cold container, no need to move them again to deal with melted water. Siphon the water for drinking and refill with cubes.

Frozen solid I got 3 days before it all reverted to liquid. Cooler in shade, day- mid 80s highs, nite high 60s

And cold water being denser, the coldest water will be on the long, horizontal bottom. Think dam release temps on a micro scale.

 

[southcove]

By the end of summer, I will have collected a nice shelf of gatorade bottles and Lori's ice tea bottles, both of which fit my cooler/soft side just right and unlike Conk's (hilarious, I had to reread it just to make sure I had the details down pat...) repurposing, I can safely consume the beverage or water once it gets more liquidy.
I also use them during the hard water season in my wanigan (w a CCF & Reflectix lined interior) so I always have at least a quart or two of liquid water (nothing worse than melting snow or ice while hot coffee or tea is calling your name) to start the day off.

 

[Guest]

Not a tap on the bottom. Rather a siphon hose on the top that lets you empty melted, potable water while the container is in the cooler. That's one of the beauties of this design. Once you place your food stuffs on the cold container, no need to move them again to deal with melted water. Siphon the water for drinking and refill with cubes.

I am trying to envision this siphon hose on the top. If I am picturing this correctly there is an attached hose long enough to pull out and position below the bottom of the cooler so that meltwater can be siphon drained?

How do you start the siphon? Is there a little pump on the hose or ?

More importantly, how does the meltwater from the CoolerMate taste?

 

[Will Derness]

If I am picturing this correctly there is an attached hose long enough to pull out and position below the bottom of the cooler so that meltwater can be siphon drained?

How do you start the siphon? Is there a little pump on the hose or ?

More importantly, how does the meltwater from the CoolerMate taste?

Siphoned water tastes fine.

Container comes with a siphon hose long enough to get the job done. Hose is stored by having the hose come up through one of the two holes on top and then the loose end placed in the other hole.

Kind of hard to explain, but they provide a link to a YouTube video. Getting the siphon flowing is a matter of pinching the hose at the discharge end and then pinching the hose higher up. Then while holding things pinched, several up and down motions will get the water positioned so it will flow when the discharge end is released.

 

[Guest]

Then while holding things pinched, several up and down motions will get the water positioned so it will flow when the discharge end is released.

Are you sure we're still talking about the CoolerMate?

 

[Will Derness]

Are you sure we're still talking about the CoolerMate?

Video is on the web link. Last video.
Watch it and you'll see how the siphon is started

https://coolermateinsert.com/videos/

 

[scoutergriz]

Then while holding things pinched, several up and down motions will get the water positioned so it will flow when the discharge end is released.

Sounds like a certain very unpleasant medical procedure!

 

[southcove]

Sounds like a certain very unpleasant medical procedure!

And I was trying to control myself from being the wise guy on that comment, was thinking of Conk and his medical bottle...!

 

[Will Derness]

Field Trials

Just returned from using this setup for nearly two weeks of base camping and paddling. Very pleased with the ease of use.



I did not take much in the way of perishables, as you can see there's not a whole lot of room after you place the insert inside the cooler (this is a 36 Quart Igloo.

But for the entire two weeks I had very cold cheeses, chocolates, fruits, marinara sauces, etc on hand. Every 2-3 days I would siphon off the melted ice water into waiting water bottles and reload with fresh ice. Never, never need to touch the food - just siphon and reload. All beverages went in another small cooler, The excess ice from reloading the insert kept the beverages cold.

Two weeks and no food stuffs got wet - nice!

 

[Seeker]

Having been in the Army, I lost any "pickiness" about water taste or temp (hence my tolerance for Polar Pure's aftertaste). I also don't generally carry a cooler on canoe trips... When I do, it's a really small one for frozen meat, which will thaw over 2-3 days and still be decent if temps aren't outrageous (they're usually not in NY in the fall).

However, back here in LA, I've re-discovered the quart jug of milk since my kids moved out... These handy square jugs are perfect for the smaller coolers, and I remember my mom using them when I was a kid. The smaller size might make it more versatile within you cooler, maybe fitting into smaller available spaces, and providing a smaller sized jug to pour from if little hands are involved.