|

May 20, 2014 / Comments (4)

DIY Inline Water Filter

Written by:

Allison is the founder of trailtosummit.com which she began as a way to track and share her first round of the NH 4000 Footers. Now on round 5 (the first round for her dog Ruckus) she has been honored to have taken part of many people’s firsts. She is an experienced trail maintainer, speaker, and passionate member of the outdoor community. In New England, Allison enjoys trekking along the highest peaks, bushwhacking to less traveled areas, and has a fondness for sunrise and sunset trips. Outside of New England Allison has also thru hiked the John Muir Trail and explored mountains in the German and Austrian Alps, Israel, and the Azores. Her goal is to share her passion for hiking and backpacking with others, especially with women, to inspire them to experience the freedom of the trail!

The Sawyer Mini is a 2 oz filter fit for any ultralight backpacking system. The filter can be used in a few ways, but any way you connect a Sawyer Mini, the filtered water can be consumed No need to deal with pumping water, hoping your Steripen batteries don’t kick the bucket, or waiting for chemical treatments to be effective.

I like using a bladder for my water to sip as I hike. An easy project to do at home is to make your own inline water filter. I used a Platypus Hoser 2L hydration reservoir and the Sawyer Mini water filter.

The first step is to simply remove the cap of the Sawyer Mini.

You then need to do the most difficult part- cut the tube! I fiddled around with my pack and Platypus to figure out how I would most likely feed the tube and where I’d want to place the filter. If you’re worried, put your pack on, hold the filter up to where you’d cut the tubing, and then mark it with a Sharpie.

I decided to make two cuts: one where I’d connect the Sawyer Mini and the other a few inches down so I wouldn’t have a ridiculously long tube coming from my pack.

Once you’ve made your cuts, it’s now time to connect the filter! Run the tube under hot water for a minute or so to soften it up. Muscle the filter on with the arrow pointing toward the bite valve. Once that is in place, do the same to the other section of tubing.

After you connect the filter it should be just about impossible to remove. If you pull on the tube, you should not feel any movement! If you need to replace the filter at some point you will be able to with some effort, but it should be snug to prevent any leaks.

Your inline filter is now complete! If you’re looking for a cheap and easy DIY water filter for the trail, try this out!



Ready to drink some delicious Sierra water!


Filter as you drink. How easy is that!?
Do you have a favorite DIY project? Share it in the comments!

Last modified: November 28, 2014

first aid kit

4 Responses to :
DIY Inline Water Filter

  1. Tommy Virgo says:
    June 10, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    Nice! I was looking for a simpler way. Did you glue the filter in? I read quickly through it. I’ll try that for my JMT hike later this summer (along with pills just in case). Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Tommy Virgo says:
    June 10, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    BTW, I tried to use your discount code and it didn’t work.

    Reply
  3. Allison Nadler says:
    June 11, 2014 at 2:01 am

    Tom- I had forgotten I had added it to this post. The code just expired last week! I did not glue the filter. Just hot water and a little muscle 🙂

    Reply
  4. Donald N McDonald says:
    August 17, 2014 at 4:35 pm

    The filter can be used in a few ways, but any way you connect a Sawyer Mini, the filtered water can be consumed No need to deal with pumping water/… Continue reading here

    Reply

Join the discussion