i still pump water.

Time to get with the times old timer!. Too many times?

I had enough pumping after one trip with only two people...

Feels like its been about 5 years since I pumped water. Which reminds me I've got a pump filter to get rid of.

I'm so old school Jan that I still drink straight from the lake more often then not.

But when I do filter I have upgraded to a sawyer gravity system.

quote Bogwalker: "I'm so old school Jan that I still drink straight from the lake more often then not.


But when I do filter I have upgraded to a sawyer gravity system."

Yeah pumping isn't old school, drinking straight is old school.

Yep, pump filters are popping up in museums everywhere. :)

I doubt you can get your level of protection from a gravity system.

Just had a picture of Kanoes as a cave-man holding a pump filter! Scary!

quote nctry: "


I doubt you can get your level of protection from a gravity system. "

Sure you can, just pop in a Sawyer .02 filter, used around the world for ultra nasty water situations

I still use one a lot when out backpacking as I've run into some very samll little streams that there is no way I could get my gravity bag in and get enough water.

Not THAT old school! Using one of the more advanced filter/purifiers, you can probably pump a gallon of water faster than it takes to set up a gravity system.

butthead

On our last trip through Seagull we stopped at the cliffs and took some pictures of the wall paintings. In one of them you can clearly see a native american using a hand pump. ;0)

On solo trips I will likely still bring a pump and not the gravity system. I'm sold on the ease and speed of the gravity system... that's once it's set up. I'd rather pump two liters of water than set up the other for the same amount.

I spent way to many hours pumping....rain, wind, snow, sleet....pumping away. Never again.

It's a lot easier pumping for 1, I only pump what i need for each day when traveling.

quote kanoes: "i still pump water."

-13,743 posts on how to get a gravity system to function properly
-0 on how to pull then push a pump

K.I.S.S.

I still carry my trusty pump in my day bag, for refills in transit. But for camp water, I'm a big fan of gravity.

quote starman: "

quote kanoes: "i still pump water."

-13,743 posts on how to get a gravity system to function properly
-0 on how to pull then push a pump


K.I.S.S."

To be fair, most of peoples questions involve "home brew" set ups, I haven't seen any real threads on how to use my "insert brand of gravity filter", its always how did so and so rig this or rig that, I'm sure if people were building pumps, in whole or in part, they would have many questions as well. As far as simplicity goes, a store bought rig, like the Platy, is about as simple as it gets, I sure don't miss pumping my Miniworks 45 mins every day, I also don't miss taking the filter out to sand it, then reassemble and go at it some more.

But for solo use, a pump isn't a bad thing to have, but it weighs as much as the Platy gravity kit, actually more when you factor in the sinks some fill and bring up to camp to avoid waters edge "crouching tiger hidden dragon" style pumping, always a fun time there.

I'll be just fine if I never pump another stroke when it comes to water, gravity for life here.

quote kanoes: "i still pump water."

I'm old, and go to the same school. Even on group trips with a gravity filter along, I pack in my First Need. It saved a trip when a Katayden gravity filter went south on day two. You never know, and dipping from the lake is a last resort for me. BTW, thanks to Kanoes and Butthead for the advice.

I haven't grasped how to get it to work in the middle of the lake while tripping. Is there a pole to hang it in the canoe or something?

quote Exo: "I haven't grasped how to get it to work in the middle of the lake while tripping. Is there a pole to hang it in the canoe or something?"

In my opinion it takes pretty poor planning to end up in the middle of the lake out of clean water, but I have done it with mine (trip mate didn't want to listen to me and refill when I told him too) and it works fine, just tossed it up on the packs and had the clean bag at my feet, the 2ft was plenty enough to get it to run out fine, it actually was much less intrusive then stopping for pumping, assuming you put it in your top pouch for easy access while seated, but I generally try to fill the bag on approach to a portage landing and let it run while unloading, "set up" involves hanging one bag on a branch, if you can't do that in 30 seconds in the BWCA, well......

quote kanoes: "i still pump water."

Me too, Jan. I guess pumping has never seemed like a big deal to me.
Have no plans to change anytime soon either. Perhaps if I get
to sit down with Ragged one day and look his system over, I too may give gravity a try.

quote kanoes: "i still pump water."

. on my solo trips, i pump as well, with the wife i use the platypus.

I pump too. Somehow the alleged inconvenience is lost on me. A gravity system would be a nice thing to have if you have a big group. But sitting at some shoreline, or in the canoe looking around at lakes, rocks & birds & trees while your hands happen to be operating a filter,...yeah, how brutal!

quote HowardSprague: "I pump too. Somehow the alleged inconvenience is lost on me. A gravity system would be a nice thing to have if you have a big group. But sitting at some shoreline, or in the canoe looking around at lakes, rocks & birds & trees while your hands happen to be operating a filter,...yeah, how brutal!"

I too like to enjoy the rocks, the birds and the trees, just find them even better when I'm not trying to maintain balance on some 45 degree moss covered rock that's as slick as a used car salesman, as far as this inconvenience being "alleged", pretty sure at least a few of the pump guys in this thread (even the OP) have stated they normally grab a bucket of water and bring it up to camp where they can sit in a chair and pump away. Some sites its not a big issue at all to pump from shore, but some sites it can be tricky, especially if there is other factors at play, like large waves and or large amounts of floating debris on the water from pollen blooms ect.


As with anything,to each his own, if I was solo and owned a First Need I probably wouldn't bother switching, any other scenario and it just seems to make sense to go Gravty, more/faster water, less effort, no hanging out on shore for 5-10mins at a time, same or less weight/bulk, lighter redundancy (you only need a back up filter) plus you have an added bonus of having a couple extra water containers along, which can come in handy at times like when crossing large bodies of water where you might empty a 1 liter Nalgene before getting to shore again.

quote Ragged: "

quote Exo: "I haven't grasped how to get it to work in the middle of the lake while tripping. Is there a pole to hang it in the canoe or something?"

In my opinion it takes pretty poor planning to end up in the middle of the lake out of clean water, but I have done it with mine (trip mate didn't want to listen to me and refill when I told him too) and it works fine, just tossed it up on the packs and had the clean bag at my feet, the 2ft was plenty enough to get it to run out fine, it actually was much less intrusive then stopping for pumping, assuming you put it in your top pouch for easy access while seated, but I generally try to fill the bag on approach to a portage landing and let it run while unloading, "set up" involves hanging one bag on a branch, if you can't do that in 30 seconds in the BWCA, well......"

My reply was more in jest than anything....just so easy to drop the pre-filter on a pump over the side and pump a nalgene full...no worries about balancing this or that or filling it...

quote Exo: "

My reply was more in jest than anything....just so easy to drop the pre-filter on a pump over the side and pump a nalgene full...no worries about balancing this or that or filling it..."

I know it was in jest :) I'm just playing "the game" as well. As far as pumping, at that point you would not be paddling, so there is a disadvantage there, and filling a bag with a kit like the Platy is about as much work as tossing the pre-filter overboard, really its that easy, not so with others but with that unit it is. Balancing is no big deal those bags tend to stay put pretty well, they settle in between packs and stay put, but I do favor bringing an extra clean bag full of water over trying to filter while at sea, the bag is already there and is a "freebie" in the weight category, might as well use it, assuming bow and stern man leave with 1 liter each and you have another 4 in the clean bag, well I simply don't see many stretches of water that dictates the use of 6 liters of water, if so you will have a whole host of other issues to deal with..... the evacuation of 6 liters of water lol

Never pumped in 20 years. Got sick last year and will always pump for the next 20. Filter while traveling and gravity in camp. It's kind of like no protection in sex; you may get lucky many times but it only takes one pregnancy to cure you for the future.