Which is the best KANTEEN and why?

[Insel Affen]

For me, I was raised on the old MOD 1 litre black plastic water bottle.

- Wide opening
- Hard wearing
- Can be filled with hot water to make a hot water bottle (trust me it works)
- Pretty bomb proof
- Fit most steel mugs

utterly practical and cheap too.

 

[MikeLA]

True and if you fit the metal mug that is a good fit to go with it you have the best of both worlds. A light tough water bottle and a cooking pot wider than any bottle neck.

 

[Erbswurst]

Once more the question:

Why did the armies change to plastic bottles?

 

[Fin]

Once more the question:

Why did the armies change to plastic bottles?

Knowing 'Armies' as I do, I would say that the overall factor would have been cost. There is also the question of colour coding and uniformity of contents. So, for example, in the British Army, a black plastic container - be it a water bottle, a jerry can or a bowser - equals fresh, potable water and not petrol, diesel, paraffin or kerosene.

Weight would also be a factor - plastic is lighter and the average soldier has no need to boil water in bulk for individual use.

Hygiene, another one. All metals oxidise to some extent with prolonged exposure to water - stainless steel is stain-less - not stain free!

 

[tiger stacker]

For me, I was raised on the old MOD 1 litre black plastic water bottle.

- Wide opening
- Hard wearing
- Can be filled with hot water to make a hot water bottle (trust me it works)
- Pretty bomb proof
- Fit most steel mugs

utterly practical and cheap too.

You forgot the practical sports item for murderball……….
I kinda retired my issue bottle moving on to nalgenes and the trusty camel bak, as nice as siggs are they tend to leak with stress fractures when bags are thrown on and off trucks….

The best canteen has to be the 1l version nothing slakes a thirst than a litre of h20….although those nice issue plastic water bottles from bastion water looked kinda ally

 

[Erbswurst]

What happens, if a British army bottle is full of water and frozen?

 

[Insel Affen]

What happens, if a British army bottle is full of water and frozen?

You get charged for poor admin...simples!

 

[Janne]

I have never liked water bottles, I find they all taint the water with a nasty flavor.
Plastic, aluminium, same.
The best ones I found were glass bottles, but they are heavy and fragile.

 

[Billy-o]

... and taste of glass

 

[C_Claycomb]

I have never liked water bottles, I find they all taint the water with a nasty flavor.
Plastic, aluminium, same.
The best ones I found were glass bottles, but they are heavy and fragile.

What sort of flavour? I find that water only need be in my MSR Dromlite for a few seconds to pick up a plastic taste, apparently some people can taste this and some cannot. I do not find that Nalgene taste, nor does my stainless or titanium bottle, nor re-used cola bottles.

 

[Janne]

In the plastic canteens ( I went through a couple Swedish Army ones) they get a 'plastic' flavor.
the Aluminium canteen ( had a ww2 German Army one, then more modern, including a Swiss 'fuel' bottle) tastes of metal for a couple of 'fills' of water after cleaning, then a strange taste.
Difficult to describe.

The plastic army canteens were OK with coffee and tea, same taste as with the same drinks from glass bottles.
The Al canteens were OK with coffee and tea.

Plastic soft drinks bottles are fine.

When I made tea or coffee from the ( foul tasting) plastic canteen, it went away ( did not taste anything weird) when I made tea, coffee or food with the water.

Now, on my short overnighters in Norway, I do not bring water, use what is around me, drink cold and to make hot beverages and food.
The foraged/caught sea food, I use sea (salt) water.

As I am out for a short time, I take a couple of cans of beer. for enjoyment.

 

[Keith_Beef]

If I'm just going out for a walk in the woods, I don't bother carrying any water. The land here is all flat and forest, so I'm in the shade and not really doing anything strenuous. And I seem to be a bit of a camel: I'll drink a half of coffee with whole milk and a half litre of fruit juice diluted in a half litre of water at 06h30, then I can walk all day until 18h30 without needing another drink.

When I go out horse riding for the whole day, I know I'll be working harder and that I'll be out in the full sun for a good part of the time. I have two 1 litre wide-mouthed Nalgene bottles. I fill these about 1/3 full with water the night before and put them in the freezer. In the morning I top up with water and put each into a Maxpedition insulated pouch, and attach these to the front D-rings of the saddle. The water stays cool until around 14h00 or so. So far, I've never felt the need to drink more than half the amount taken with me, even on days when it's been 35°C in the shade and closer to 44°C in the sun.

The Nalgene bottles don't taint the water with any flavour that I can detect.

If I was going to go on a long walk in really cold weather, I'd take my two "Klean Kanteen 64 oz Insulated Growlers". They hold about 1.8 litres each, and keep hot liquid hot for a long, long time. I tested one when testing an Emberlit stove a while ago; I wrote then that "I poured boiling water into it from the electric kettle and took water from it 24 hours and it was scalding hot; 48 hours after filling, seemed like it was still justr as hot". So for an overnight trip expecting the temperature to drop below 10°C after night fall, I'd take one full of hot water to make the preparation of supper go that bit faster, and take another full of coffee so as to have it ready at breakfast time without needing to start a fire.

It looks like that particular flask has been discontinued...

 

[Ivanhoe]

I've tried most ways of carrying water and now I'm back where I started.

These bottles are made for food use and the water does not get any taste
of plastic from them.

I absolutely love these plastic bottles! They are 0,5 l, 1,0 l and 2,5 litres.
The big one fits exactly into the side pockets of my bergens and I have
a complete set of three bottles to each of my larger backpacks.
I've also labelled each bottle after which backpack it belongs to.

This makes it very easy, flexible and efficient to bring exacly as much or
little water with me as I want and I can put the weight where I want in
the backpack.

Three filled bottles are 4 litres, which lasts a day if you also use it to
cook your food.

I also often bring a water purification system with me, which helps me carry
a lot less weight. It also makes it possible to stay out for a day longer, if the
oppertunity presents itself. Where I'm at there's always plenty of water around.