<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>PresumedLost said:<br><br>"I'll be the first to admit that I haven't tried to use a condom at all for water storage, much less in a wilderness environment. Perhaps it distends more easily than I had envisioned, perhaps it unties more easily as well. Doug seems to have experimented with it to at least some degree; I have not, at all.<br><br>On the other hand, there have been some new alternatives proposed here, especially in billvann's post. I respectfully suggest that we all try to stay open to new alternatives. We're all interested in the best options available, not just in proving pet theories, are we not?"<p><hr></blockquote><p>I've never understood how you could get water into a condom in any useful quantity. It seemed like a silly idea, but those who know more than I all seemed to recommend them. When the idea was called into question here on the forum, I immediately thought, "Oh, good. I was right." End of thinking, end of learning, as it were.<br><br>But then Doug said, "After unrolling, you can pull them through the water, holding the opening open, to fill." That made sense, but I still wasn't sure how much water it would hold. Balloons resist being "blown up". You need pressure to make them do it against their will. Would a condom "inflate" simply from "swishing pressure"? As quoted above, perhaps it distends more easily than I had envisioned. Deciding that perhaps I did indeed need "to stay open to new alternatives," and reminding myself that I should remain "interested in the best options available, not just in proving pet theories," I decided to test out a condom in the wild wild terrain of my apartment bathroom sink.<br><br>Not having stocked up on Penrith Survival Condoms or any other similarly specialized such item, I grabbed one of the basic non-lubricated non-reservoir tipped condoms that I had purchased for my kits. Upon opening it, I found it to have a light layer of dry powder coating it, much like some surgical gloves. Before filling my sink, I rinsed the condom off, turned it inside out and rinsed it off again. Then I began to swish. It worked. I got it full of water. At least a whole whopping 5oz worth (150ml)! Boo, hiss!<br><br>Wondering if I could stretch it out to hold more, I emptied it and blew it up like a big baloon. I estimate it contained a minimum of 450oz (13,500ml)! "Great," I thought, "that should do it." I left it that way for a while, then deflated it. I... could imagine... if I tried... that it was bigger. But then, I could just as easily imagine not. Phooey!<br><br>Then I thought, "What if I squeezed the water to the bottom of the condom? It expanded tremendously when I inflated it; what if I forced it to expand by forcing the water to the bottom with the fingers of one hand, while holding the opening open with the other for another swish?" It took a little bit of dexterity, but it worked. Since I could get about 5oz into the tube of the condom during a normal swish, I'm guessing I could get about 4oz into the tube of the condom while I was squeezing the water already present into the bottom "bulb" which I was creating. Basically, I held the condom in both hands, all 8 fingers wrapped around the tube. I would gently hold the mouth of the condom with the forefinger and thumb of my left hand, while reseasing the tube with all my other fingers except the pinky of my right hand, which was sealing off the bulb at the bottom. Once the tube was filled, I would pinch closed the mouth with the forefinger and thumb of my left hand and then squeeqe each finger closed around the tube one at a time, each one forcing the water in the tube nearer the bulb. Finally, I would release the right pinky and squeeqe the water in the tube into the bulb, before sealing the bulb off with my right pinky again. Each time I did this, I forced the condom to expand like a baloon to accept the additional 4-5oz of water I was squeezing into it.<br><br>After doing this several times, and after the bulb had begun to grow, I would realize that my hands had slowly worked their way toward the mouth of the tube, and that I was getting only perhaps 3oz per swish. When that happened, I would lift the condom out of the water and hold the mouth of it up with my left hand. The weight of all the water in the bulb stretched the condom into a loooong teardrop shape, and it was easy to re-set my right hand lower, with my pinky just above the bulb. When reinserted into the sinkful of water, I was again getting 4oz or so with each swish.<br><br>I continued this process, amazed at how big the bulb of water was growing! Just looking at it, it seemed as much as one of my 500ml store bought water bottles contained! I was impressed! Eventualy, I gave in to curiosity, deciding to see how much water I had collected, rather than trying to see how much I could. I emptied the condom into my graduated Nalgene bottle... it was 34oz (1000ml)! An entire liter! I was astonished. It didn't look like that much when it was in the condom.<br><br>Just for the principle, I did it again; this time filling the condom with more. I wanted to completely fill my 1qt mil-spec canteen. After judging it to be enough, I filled the canteen. Then, I poured the remaining water into my Nalgene bottle... 12oz (350ml)! And that's just where I decided to leave off, it was not at all the most I could squeeze into the condom, and it was an entirely manageable package. The bulb of water it created was a reasonable size, and the condom still had plenty of resiliency and stretchiness left to resist abrasion through flexing. Obviously, it could still be punctured, but it seemed that, with thoughtful handling, it would serve just fine if ever actually needed.<br><br>So, it's official: filled from standing water, a condom can hold more than some canteens. :-)<br><br>Now, how about, as Doug commented, trying to fill a condom from a trickle, siphon or seep? I have no idea. Obviously, this method wouldn't work. But, I suppose, if you could dig and fill a hole, or dam up a trickle to make a pool, then this method would provide a nice quantity.<br><br>Once full, I held the mouth up again, and allowed gravity to pull the bulb down, stretching the rubber tube nicely. Then, I grapped that tube and curled it around into a loop, tying it into a half-bow. This was the only problem with the whole operation, for when trying to UNtie the knot, little bitty droplets of water that were in the bow-loop portion of the knot actually blocked the bow-loop from being able to pull freely through the knot! That was unexpected and troublesome, but I suppose you could just tie the knot around... I don't know... a pencil stub... matches... something?... and that would solve it.<br><br>Anyway, from now on, I will at least consider a condom as a viable Very Small, Emergencies Only water storage device, something I previously have not considered it to be.