Solar still not for desert

[crazydave]

I seem to remember he got most of his moisture from raw fish. watched a study lately on how much water we should drink a day to be healthy after all the advice on 8 glasses a day and it helps you diet etc.. all were inconclusive.

if you are in a no food situation then you switch over to a lower water metabolism. your system adjust anyway, troops in the gulf tend to start by drinking 20 litres a day then settle down after a few days as they adjust to the heat. i wouldn't dig a wapping great hole but would look for a hollow to start with then clean it up. I tend to carry foil blankets all about my person and kit as its lighter and tougher than a poly bag so I'd have trouble making a still anyway

 

[fishy1]

I would think at night the sweat loss would be far less. Not to mention, once you have dug the hole, it can be reused for many nights with very little effort, so maybe not always useless.

 

[crazydave]

you could even sleep in it during the day and contribute to the water collection

I wonder what difference bubbling your exhalations through cooled water would do seeing as 20% of breath is supposed to be water so in through the nose and out through a straw. if for example you had a sun shelter and some hose could you breath out and into your still?

 

[BOD]

I wonder what difference bubbling your exhalations through cooled water would do seeing as 20% of breath is supposed to be water so in through the nose and out through a straw. if for example you had a sun shelter and some hose could you breath out and into your still?

not a crazy idea at all. A group of mexican ultral long marathoners (I forget their name) run without carrying or being supplied with any water. They keep a mouthful of water at all times and this slows the dehydration through respiration.

The only procblem is making you apparatus easy to use

 

[tyfy]

Seems like this thread is heading in the direction of Still Suits

Richard

 

[crazydave]

Seems like this thread is heading in the direction of Still Suits

Richard

I did think of that reference but wasn't sure whether this lot would think me totally bonkers instead of just crazy.

sucking a pebble works as long as dont forget its not a boiled sweet and try to crunch it

 

[galew]

I have used both the still and bagged vegitation, both work, but you need to have a lot of them, just like snares, one or two will not help a lot, but with 10 or more, you will do fine.

 

[Tengu]

Ive got a fastinating book on desert travel, `Into a desert place` he tells much on his water plans..Ill look it up

 

[crazydave]

ive got the barry davies book and also a 1950's aircrew desert survival book coming. if its as good as the general one then I'll enjoy reading it

if it takes a fortnight min to aclimatise then I'd best not get lost next week in egypt

 

[forrestdweller]

the marathon runners BOD is talking about should be the tarahumara indians of northern mexico(copper canyon).

my own experiments with solar stills on tropical beaches have so far been unsuccessful- the wind blew sand over them all time until they collapsed.
as this method is obviously NOT working in deserts (and not worth the effort) i would really like to know who came up with this idea at all and if there is/was anybody who has ever survived by using this method.

"disappointed by the monkeys, god created man. then he renounced to further experiments." mark twain

 

[crazydave]

I'm not sure how it would work on sand. I have been reading that its recomended you move the still every day as you exhaust the ground unless you can keep topping it up.

 

[Gray]

Dew collecting works a treat, wrap a couple of clean T shirts or towels around your ankles and go for a walk in the early morning sun, about 1.5 litres an hour depending on ground moisture.

 

[galew]

as this method is obviously NOT working in deserts (and not worth the effort) i would really like to know who came up with this idea at all and if there is/was anybody who has ever survived by using this method.
n[/quote]
I would expect some armchair thinker that never tried it to see if it was worth while. I have read many survival ideas that I am sure had never been tried as they didn't work that well when I tried them.
Like the one that recommends using your gun to start a fire, by removing the bullet and then putting part of the gun powder on your tinder and then firing the rest at it. Work great for blowing your tinder away, but not for starting a fire. What does work is stuffing the shell after removing the bullet with cloth and then firing into the air, Most of the time will get one or more smoldering pieces that can now be used to lite the tinder.

 

[Gray]

as this method is obviously NOT working in deserts (and not worth the effort) i would really like to know who came up with this idea at all and if there is/was anybody who has ever survived by using this method.
n

Maybe its not related to deserts but to answer your question.. yes I have survived using this method.

 

[Gray]

maybe I was a bit hasty with my reply to this thread, for that reason I have withdrawn it

 

[Humpback]

Gray
I'm not sure galew is commenting on your tea-shirt tip. I think he's saying the still does not work EVEN in deserts.
Alan

 

[Shewie]

I don`t think it`s people being intentionally nasty Gray, I just think some people have a different ways of writing something down. Sometimes our comments don`t come across to others as we would have liked them to.

I think it was forestdweller who made the remarks and not galew, but at the same time I think he was just giving his opinion from past experience.

Maybe I`ve got it wrong but who cares

 

[Graham_S]

As I recall Stuart (and Mors) were talking about this at the Moot.
Allegedly the solar still is all the fault of the USAF who did experiments in a lab on the theory, then put it into a survival manual.
everyone else just copied from the same sources and the myth has spread.

 

[Hoodoo]

as this method is obviously NOT working in deserts (and not worth the effort) i would really like to know who came up with this idea at all and if there is/was anybody who has ever survived by using this method.
n
I would expect some armchair thinker that never tried it to see if it was worth while. I have read many survival ideas that I am sure had never been tried as they didn't work that well when I tried them.
Like the one that recommends using your gun to start a fire, by removing the bullet and then putting part of the gun powder on your tinder and then firing the rest at it. Work great for blowing your tinder away, but not for starting a fire. What does work is stuffing the shell after removing the bullet with cloth and then firing into the air, Most of the time will get one or more smoldering pieces that can now be used to lite the tinder.

Actually the source of the idea is known. It was published in the journal Science many years ago. I don't have the reference handy but I can see if I can dig it up. Over the years, there have been a lot of different reports on this method. Most show that it's not all that successful but some show it's worth the effort. However, there are some sophisticated tricks that are required to make it work if it's gonna work at all. These were best covered in Colin Fletcher's The Complete Walker. I believe the 1st or 2nd edition.

 

[Gray]

As regards to the still, they obviously wont work in a desert unless you put something wet in it but they do work. During an encounter many years ago, myself and 5 others were stranded and took about a pint of water a day from a still with a diameter of about 6 feet. A pints not a lot but when you've got none, a pints a pint.