Posted: 1/22/2013 8:12:41 PM EDT
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I am looking for some water containers. The main purpose for these will be for when I am car camping and out in the field conducting research. I would also like to be able to store some water at home for when the power goes out. One other requirement is that they fit under the cover of my truck which is 15 inches from the bed, either laying on its side or standing up.
I was looking at the Rhino-Pak 5.5 gallon and the Aqua-pak 5 gallon containers on Amazon. I was thinking (3) of the 5 gallon size and (1) 2.5 gallon for an easier to carry one. Any first hand experience with these or other suitable products? All input is appreciated 
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I've got aquatainers I bought at Walmart for less than $10 in the camping section. They are several years old. No leaks so far.
I also have a few military water cans I bought from LCI. They are tough, but I just don't like the fact they have "US governement property" stamped into them. I fear that may be enough to get detained by a overzealous security person at a traffic stop, or confiscated. |
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I have:
16oz water bottles (Dasani) Collapsible 5 gallon containers 5 gallon Swedish?? water bladders A couple blue aquatainers 2.5 gallon USGI type containers 5 gallon USGI water containers (tan issued ones) 3qt hydration bladders canteens nalgenes They're basically something to fill almost any need or requirement...Diversity is good here. While any one container can only hold a little, all filled at the same time I would be well over 100 gallons. |
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I'm going to put this real simple, get the big green one. At Walmart, I believe they're branded Ozark Trails and on Amazon they call it Desert Patrol.
Its just a matter of its thicker plastic. The blue ones leak in the seams after being bounced about in a truck bed enough. The neat little water spout is real nice until the container can't hold water. Tj |
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Quoted:
I'm going to put this real simple, get the big green one. At Walmart, I believe they're branded Ozark Trails and on Amazon they call it Desert Patrol. Its just a matter of its thicker plastic. The blue ones leak in the seams after being bounced about in a truck bed enough. The neat little water spout is real nice until the container can't hold water. Tj Hmmm. The 2 big green ones that look like a gas jerry cans, are the type that I've had spring leaks twice. Pic below to make sure we are talking about the same type. The blue Aquatainers (I have 3) have been sitting filled for 5 years and have never had an issue. BAD: 
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| I have both aquatainers and the LCI military water cans. It sounds like you are going to use this in the field quite a lot. In that case go with the LCI military type water cans. It's been a couple of years, but when I ordered mine, they were 60 bucks for three of them. They are exactly the same as I remember the ones in the military. You can literally run over them and they won't leak. Simply indistructible unless you shoot them I guess. I've had more than one Aquatainer leak after riding in the back of my truck several times. They're great, cheap, and very convenient, but they just don't hold up to heavy field use long term. |
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It seems like there's a different set of "should use" for a different set of uses. What I see strapped to utility trucks and construction types is a large liquid cooler type. I can imagine that "bounced around" is an understatement for those trucks. Maybe something like that would be good in a vehicle. For home "sit on shelf" storage, maybe different criteria is needed. I would expect that just like everything else, water storage is one of those things where you need to be replacing it "rotating" out the tools used as well. Maybe an initial investment in a few containers and then buy one every year replacing the old ones that might fail after whatever level you need has been reached.
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I've been using some I bought from Nitro-Pak (iirc) about 15+ years ago.
They're made by SST Industries in Cincinatti, OH out of HDPE2 plastic. The 5 gallon containers are square and they are designed to stack. I also have several 20-30 gallon drums out of the same material that can be hauled around on a dolly and can be moved around a bit by hand. I got the smaller drums because a 55 gallon is too big to move around by myself without risking pulling a back muscle (bad juju for shtf). And if for some reason I have to haul water, they'll be easier to get in and out of the truck. And I also bought a few extra caps and 1 or 2 spigots for them. And later a RV water hose for filling them. |
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Looks like the military/LCI cans have gone up to $24.99, but shipping is free if you spend $50.00. I think I paid $15 a piece about a year ago. They are super durable. They won't break if they fall off your tailgate, just ask me how I know.
WATER CAN, DESERT TAN - 5GAL Matt |
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Thanks for all the options/input. I think what I am going to do is buy a few different ones and see how they hold up. Most likely the green military style ones from walmart and the aquatainer. I'll look at the surplus store also to see if they have water containers.
Edit: I have a 3 gallon Industrial Igloo cooler that works great but the only problem is that it goes too quickly with 10-15 people at the dig. I was considering getting a few more of those, but I decided to try something else that has more long term storage capability. These new cans will be used to refill the cooler. |
