Have lurked here for a while and finally may have something to contribute. I have seen the querries/wonderings on an expedient method to carry/store water in a survival situation and suddenly had an idea.....the idea sprang from paddling survival training where one is wearing pants...we were instructed to remove the pants, knot the distal end (the ankle area of the pants, then swoop the pants through the air holding onto the waist catching as much air as possible thus providing expedient flotation....turning this to modern travel wear I thought of the zip off pants that so many of us wear. In fact I haven't bought a pair of pants in the last 3 years there were not zip-off....I even wear them into the hospital as part of my uniform (I happen to like the REI Sahara Pant)....OK, now how does this provide an expedient water storage vessel for survival? That same zipped off leg can be knotted at the bottom to store water, a pit could be dug and the 'leg' full of water placed therein......using the parachute cord in your kit and your needle the top could be closed, if you have time a hot awl could pierce and seal make-shift grommets that would contain a small length of para-cord to allow for closing.....that same para-cord could also be used to create a make-shift should strap system so the 'leg' turned into water bladder could be carried in the center of the back while hiking though the para-cord would have to be significantly padded because the length of the zip off leg in a pair of REI Sahara pants would hold enough water to provide enough weight for the para-cord to easily cut into the shoulders.
OK that's my first contribution....please pick it apart for merit or idiocy!
Robert

This recruit in my bootcamp just couldn't get the bellbottoms PFD to flip over his head. He finally dove for the pool bottom, kicked off and like a porpoise shot up in the air long enough to flip his bells successfully. The instructors were mightly impressed with his ingenuity, until this old chief said O.K. now do that out in SF BAY. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> The only caveat of any multi or improvised use is you no longer have the primary function. Sometimes leg protection is needed. But water is almost always #1, so good thinking.

would the pants material be able to "hold" the water ? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

"would the pants material be able to "hold" the water ?"

A tightly-woven natural fabric like cotton would probably do very well. When the fibers get wet, they tend to swell, which I believe is how the old canvas tents shed water (long before the days of silicone).

And when I was a kid, my father had this fabric bag with a handle that you could fill with water and hang from the car's radio antenna. I don't know if it was lined with rubber or not, but the water did ooze out of it, and evaporation kept it cool. Of course, eventually, all your cool water would eventually weep out and evaporate, but it would hold it for at least a day, IIRC.

Sue

I'm thinking/hoping along with Susan, that it might weep (i'm in the hospital pharmacy as i type and just a few minutes ago spilled some water accidentally on my Sahara Pants---100 pecent nylon--and the water beaded up and ran off) a bit but hold enough to get me to the next water source or keep in enough to be treated so i can 'camel' up....of course if i had some chia seeds on hand 'cameling' up would be much more successful.

Sorry, won't work. Hydrostatic pressure from the weight of the water will force it through the fabric. A taped waterproof trouser leg might work, but not if it has a full lenth zip. You would be better off carrying a wide mouth (easier to fill from a stream or seep) water bladder. Full, of course. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

P.S. Re the recruit. It would work in S.F. Bay. All he has to do is dive deep enough to gain the momentum needed to get his upper body out of the water.

just put it to the test (the techs working with me already know i'm crazy but when they saw me walking to the break area with one pant leg zipped off it was confirmed!)...OK the first thing to fail was the zipper, then i tied the knot above the zipper and then the pressure forced the water through the fabric.....oh well back to the drawing board.....

No, all you need to rig is a internal bladder of a likesized plastic bag. The pant's leg can still perform yoeman service as a heavy duty cover.

Done it off a RNLI MLB in full kit in the dark have you?

No, and I don't want to either! It's one if those bits of theory that I don't particularly want to test. I know of one U.S.N sailor who fell off a CVN in the Pacific using the technique. In UK homewaters it's academic because of the water temperature's.

I remember seeing those when I was little, but I haven't seen them in years.

MedicineMan, this is something that is going to have a single critical variable, and that is will the fabric work. Only one way to find out- try it.

You can still buy 'desert waterbags' through many horsepacking outfitters. The material is a heavy jute much like a burlap coffeesack.