I was rooting around in the back of my car looking for something and I noticed a fleece blanket I keep near my BOB had ice on it.

Sure enough, the 2 16oz stainless steel water bottles in the bag had leaked from the freezing weather.  Before you get all "no shyt, Sherlock", I have a few words in my defense.  First, before I ever started carrying these type of bottles in my winter BOB I filled them to the top and put them in the freezer to see how they would react.  After a couple of days there was some bulging but the bottles maintained their integrity.  Second, I have now been carrying these bottles for at least 5 years without any problems.  I can only assume that the unusual cold combined with occasional thawing cycles pushed these bottles passed their limits.  The plastic threaded caps were pushed out of the stainless steal threads about 1/16 inch.  The bottles are similar to this:


The good news is that if I'd had to use the bag for real it would have been OK.  The sleeping bag was safe inside its waterproof compression sack hanging off the bottom of the bag.  The only things in the BOB which weren't stored in waterproof bags were a balaclava and a pair of fleece gloves I threw in as an afterthought.  Once dry these will go into one of the waterproof bags.

The 3 liter hydration bladder is OK, of course, but frozen solid.  The purpose of the stainless steel bottles was to have a source of clean ice during cold weather which I could melt on a fire for cooking and drinking.  How do you guys carry water in the winter?   Do you think the stainless bottles would have been OK if I had only put say a cup of water in them?  The bladder is useless in this weather without a long warmup period near a fire, which was the purpose for the bottles.

Funny this should come up.

I unzipped my GHB/BOB earlier today to add a headlamp I bought yesterday and I saw that my water bottles (plastic) had frozen solid.  Not great for a SHTF so I'm not sure how I'd thaw them out in a hurry or keep them from freezing in the first place!!...But I digress....  The bottles themselves were fine because the plastic flexed.  Metal wouldn't have done that as you saw in your case.

-Emt1581

How long do you leave your bag sompressed for?  That worriesme more than water leaking.

i carry some of the cheap wal-mart/generic bottled water in the toolbox of my truck. Those are in the crinkly, clear plastic bottles that are made to take freeze/thaw cycles. The plastic expands easily and has not broken in several years on some of them. I do try to rotate them out, but some get missed.

It's compressed all winter long.   It's a Wiggys and it retains its loft pretty well.  It's not my only source of insulation and I can always build a fire.

I used the steel in order to be able to thaw them out near a fire in this kind of weather.  Maybe that would work with plastic too, you'd just have to be more careful.  I might switch to plastic.

That's one of the great things about fleece though, you can get it wet, then just wring it out good and have most of the insulating properties back.

I had the same thing happen to me tbe last few weeks
the water had froze in the plastic bottles that i keep in
my bag and in my truck...the one i was drinking from
was in the cup holder...about 3/4 full...solid...i put it next
to my leg while driving...as is started to thaw, some water
was flowing so i started to shake it with a gloved hand an
in a bit it was all thawed and i was able to drink it on my
2 hour drive home...
Not to hard to thaw frozen water is my point. You could
put it in a jacket pocket to...many ways other than starting
a fire.

I have had that happen to me before, now I just bring it in every night and put it by the door.
I do leave it in the car when I'm at work or going to the store but there is usually enough residual heat left where they won't freeze fully.

I am hopeing that if it comes down to it where I will be outside the heat from my body will help keep the bladder from freezing and the water in the bottles will slosh around enough to no fully freeze.

You could also wrap it with one of those "pocket hand warmers" and a wool scarf.

All have multiple uses and yet still get the job done well alone.

We nee a coat with a hydration bladder holder. Coat is inside with you, stays warm, water does not freeze.