I have a Platypus!

Nick Pedley said:

Went down to Field and Trek this afternoon to stock up with tent pegs and
look for a new fleece but ended up walking out with a 2l Platypus...

I personally really appreciate the water bladder variants (I have a
decathlon brand that works just great). No worries about stopping to
pull bottles out.

Quoted message said:

Have just tried it out and it's great fun. Letting it dry out ready for
Scotland. Still need to get some (non-bent) pegs for my Argos tent though!

Seems to me I'm turning into a gear junkie what with the Platypus, Firefly
jacket, Whisperlite and PocketRocket stoves, Brasher boots, Swiss Army
knife, Silva compass etc...... oh, and the famed Argos Pro-Action 1 man
tent!

Nick

Nick Pedley said:

Seems to me I'm turning into a gear junkie what with the Platypus, Firefly
jacket, Whisperlite and PocketRocket stoves, Brasher boots, Swiss Army
knife, Silva compass etc...... oh, and the famed Argos Pro-Action 1 man

Dear Nick

You need to get into gear testing .... http://backpackgeartest.org :-)

In respect of the Platypus. I have a Platypus setup as well and a
couple of things I have found. The Shutoff Valve has had a tendency to
leak a bit. Seems to capture water in the soft part of the valve and
then it slowly dribbles out.

Cleaning is important after use. I now soak mine in a bleach/water mix
having experienced the mould from not cleaning it out properly.

Oh, they are a pain to dry as well.

All that said, I love it. Drink more water than I ever did before.

Regards
Andrew

I use 1.25 coke bottle with a piece of 6mm tube through a hole drilled
in the lid. I drill the hole slightly smaller than the tube to give a
water tight fit.
I buy a bite valve.
Works very well and never had a failure, but I do use a new bottle on
each long walk. Still using the same lid, had it for about 4 years.

Roger

Dundonald said:

I personally really appreciate the water bladder variants (I have a
decathlon brand that works just great). No worries about stopping to
pull bottles out.

I've had 3 Platypuses and they've all ended up filling my ruksac with
water when they've leaked after a season or so. I've now reverted to a
Sig bottle, but don't have to stop to take it out as I have it hanging
by a carabiner from my ruksac shoulder strap. You can also get a good
satifying glug from a bottle, rather than standing for ten minutes with
your cheeks sucked in just to get a mouthful!

Jim Ford

norts said:

I use 1.25 coke bottle with a piece of 6mm tube through a hole drilled
in the lid. I drill the hole slightly smaller than the tube to give a
water tight fit.
I buy a bite valve.
Works very well and never had a failure, but I do use a new bottle on
each long walk. Still using the same lid, had it for about 4 years.

Roger

A proper engineers solution. :O)

--
Regards

Nick

In message <[email hidden]>

Nick Mason said:

norts said:

I use 1.25 coke bottle with a piece of 6mm tube through a hole drilled
in the lid. I drill the hole slightly smaller than the tube to give a
water tight fit.
I buy a bite valve.
Works very well and never had a failure, but I do use a new bottle on
each long walk. Still using the same lid, had it for about 4 years.

Roger

A proper engineers solution. :O)

A friend of mine Roger Bays used to market from New Zealand a solution
along the same lines under the brand name "Aquatube". I've got a couple
and use them a lot. The unit had Roger's own design for a bite valve,
and also a mud mask fashioned from wet suite fabric. The cap is
interchangeable with a large number of standard bottles, not just coke
bottles, that can be found for sale all over the world. Thus it is a
simple matter to throw the bottle away and get another at regular
intervals. The bottles are in fact extremely resiliant. You can crush
them and then refil them over and over again without them developing
leaks. Roger demonstrated to me that you could stand on the bottles full
of water and that this still wouldn't induce a leak. I've come across
New Zealand Alpine Guides using this system when in the Alps.

Roger seemed to get bored of making and marketing Aquatube and now is
working as a photographer and artist.

http://www.RogerBays.com/

Mike
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
<\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
"> || _`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:15:47 +0100, Mike Clark <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

A friend of mine Roger Bays used to market from New Zealand a solution
along the same lines under the brand name "Aquatube". ....
Roger seemed to get bored of making and marketing Aquatube and now is
working as a photographer and artist.

Wondered what had happened to them ...

Andrew

In message <[email hidden]>

Andrew Priest said:

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:15:47 +0100, Mike Clark <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

A friend of mine Roger Bays used to market from New Zealand a solution
along the same lines under the brand name "Aquatube". ....
Roger seemed to get bored of making and marketing Aquatube and now is
working as a photographer and artist.

Wondered what had happened to them ...

Andrew

Yes Roger seems to start off with good ideas and enthusiasm for them,
but after a while looses interest and then drifts on to the next thing.

I know him from when he was in the Cambridge Climbing and Caving Club.
Just after I joined the club and met Roger he gave up his job to become
a ski bum in Chamonix. After several years of skiing many of the top
resorts of the world and having become a very proficient telemarker he
formed Square Moon Creations and wrote and self published a book on
skiing called "Ski Magic". It's a very good instructional book on
skiing and I learnt a lot about skiing technique from the book as well
as directly from Roger.

He eventually settled down in New Zealand and as well as the skiing book
he also designed, manufactured and marketed his "Aquatube system" which
was aimed at walkers, climbers and mountain bikers. He had some
commercial interest for the system, including a request for it to be
adapted for use in hospitals as a way of providing drinks to patients
with limited mobility. I think Roger disliked the idea of producing it
as a "disposable" system since his design philosphy was to have
something with a long reusable life that was as environmentally friendly
as possible.

Mike
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
<\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
"> || _`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"