The purpose of this adventure was to have fun while practicing survival skills. I carried an ultralight backpack, camped between the sand dunes and used trash on the beach to distill seawater. Two cups of drinking water per hour! Amazingly simple. Awesome fun.
During the past several years I’ve been intersted in making portable stills for water distillation: simple approaches that could be used when hiking, especially in emergencies. The stills I’ve made have continuously improved, with the help for may people from the bushcraft and survival KZfaq community. As my friend Darby (RiverBendSurvival) says: “The only way to master it, is to get in the dirt and do it.”
Distillation removes biological, salt and heavy metal contamination from drinking water. Distallation is often the preferred method of water treatment in deveoping countries where water is heavily contaminated. Distillation is used for drinking water on ships.
Ultralight Backpack:
My fully loaded pack for this trip without food and water was 9.3 lb (4.2 kg):
- Ozark Trail 28 L Atka Backpack 0.75 lb (0.34 kg)
- Nylon Ground Cloth 5x7 ft, sight Al stakes, 0.70 lb (0.32 kg)
- Sea to Summit Aeros Pillow 0.017 lb ( 0.08 kg)
- Sterno Stove and Stanley 20 oz stainless steel pot (backup, not used), 1.37 lb (0.62kg)
- Stainless Steel Funnel and coupling parts for still (could be replaced w/ aluminum foil)1.3 lb (0.59 kg)
- Stainless Steel Water bottle (empty) 0.33 lb (0.15 kg)
- Sol Escape Bivvy 0.53 lb (0.24 kg)
- Ozark Trail Sun Wall Tarp 6x10 ft and Cordage 1.10 lb (0.50 kg)
- Medical Kit, Compass, Map, Light, 0.29 lb (0.13 kg)
- Aluminum Trowel, Paper, Bug Repellent, Lighter, 0.24 lb (0.11 kg)
- Small Tripod 1.50 lb (0.68kg)
- HeatKeep Down Jacket, Wool Cap and Scarf 1.15 lb (0.52 kg)
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- Food for 1-1/2 days: 1 lb ( 0.45 kg)
- Pocket items: knife, flashlight, aluminum foil, tape, GoPro camera, Iphone 6+, keys, wallet, lighter, matches, battery charger for phone and camera
- I carried no fresh water, but rather depended on seawater distillation
Stay tuned for continuous improvement. See upcoming video by Billy Joe Denny.
Videography by Ken Kramm, Matagorda Beach, Texas, USA, 23 Nov 2016; Iphone 6+, GoPro HERO4 Silver, Final Cut Pro X, GoPro Studio. Evening Fall Harp Hi, Virtues Vocis and Hand Trolley by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/b...