I've seen pics on various sites of people with their survival supplies inside their Nalgene bottle. Is it a good or bad idea to use your Nalgene bottle for storage until you need it for water? How about waterproof matches (in a match safe) or a small bottle of hand sanitizer?

I just got a 32-ounce wide mouth bottle and moving all the stuff I had in a waterproof box to inside the Nalgene bottle would conserve a good bit of space.

The stuff you put in the bottle, where does it go when you use the bottle for its intended purpose?

If you have that option covered, the it sounds like a fine idea. If said items wind up with no home but your hands, maybe not such a great deal after all.

I have several gallon ziplock bags inside my bag, I could double-bag it if necessary and store it in the inner pocket in my bag. My main concern was the matches or hand sanitizer chemicals, even though they're not in direct contact with the surface of the bottle.

My kit is kept inside a Nalgene bottle, and I have a metal cup that is designed to nestle on the end of the Nalgene too. The bottle/cup is held inside one of those neoprene bottle insulators that can be clipped on the outside of my pack (although I typically keep it inside). Contents could be dumped into the neoprene insulator sack if I needed to use the bottle as a normal bottle. You can't ask for a more waterproof place to store your kit than a Nalgene bottle. And it's easy to break or recreate the watertightness just by opening/closing the lid normally. Some kits are sealed with tape, and their waterproofness may be compromised the first time you pull that tape off and it doesn't stick as well when you reapply it.

I highly doubt any chemicals would transfer, and if they did, they'd be such small trace amounts that it wouldn't bother you. It's not like you're storing super-toxic Anthrax in there.

I think it's a great idea, if, Like Des sez, you have a place to put the stuff when you need the bottle for water.

I think storing items in a polycarb bottle is a fine idea since it is a light and very strong container and you can even easily see the items inside it. With an appropriate cap, it is also watertight and will float. As others have mentioned, it would be good to have a plastic bag inside that can be used to carry the items or keep the contents dry after you need to take them out of the bottle to use it.

I use mine to store food bars (Marathon, Cliff) to protect them from crushing and to help contain the smell (bears, racoons, and skunks, oh my!). Another holds a headlamp, spare batteries, and other small gadgets I'd prefer stay dry. If I need the bottles for water, I have room for these items elsewhere, they just won't be as protected as they were in the bottles.

I might stay away from the hand sanitizer. Having just cleaned up where a bottle of hand sanitizer leaked in the center console of my truck, I could see it making the water taste bad if it leaked.

Just a thought.

It would seem that Nalgene bottles are kind of heavy for a survival kit. But then again, my perception of a survival kit is much simpler than some.

Ken