Hi all,

Moderator, if you think this belongs under the thread concerning water treatment and storage, please move this over there.

Yesterday, I?ve been playing around with some condoms as I?m putting together a psk which is heavily based on Doug?s. BTW thanks Doug! And thank you all for your posts!

One of the biggest challenges is finding a viable way to gather, treat and transport water that is small enough to fit a tiny tin. Doug uses some unlubricated condoms by Penrith.

So yesterday I tried filling up some ordinary condoms for a start by holding them under a leaking tap, a running tap and pulling them throug a filled wash basin to simulate a deep puddle.

First of all I found it hard to fill the condom (regular latex and lubed Ambassador stuff that had expired 2 years ago). I tried filling it by pulling it back and forth through the wash basin but it didn?t expand enough. I tried streching it first both lengthwise and in width. Then I even blew up the condom to strech it some more. It filled up easier afterwards. I guess you can imagine my girlfriend thought I had gone completely bonkers by that time. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> Anyway, swishing it through water would require a large stretch of water rather than a small puddle. Filling it from a running or even a dripping tap worked much better. You only need to let the water drop in from high enough to expand the body of the condom.

After filling two samples, I tossed in two silver-ion tabs by Micropur (MT1, normally used to keep clear water bacteriologically clean for some months), and an equal quantity of plain powdered household bleach. This combination was to simulate the use of chlorine based water purifiers. The clorine and silver ion Micropur Forte tabs I intend to use are on their way over. I just wanted to try whether the chlorine wouldn't be too aggresive on the latex. I tossed the two samples around a few times and put them in a bucket overnight. This morning they had both ripped open and lost their contents. I think this is due to the chlorine. Can anybody confirm this? Would non-latex condoms do better?

Has anybody got any experience with chlorine based water purification tabs like Micropur Forte and condoms? Or should we only use condoms as water containers in combination with iodine based water purifiers?

I?ll be happy to do some more bathroom testing in the near future.

Thank you for your reactions, this forum has been a great help in finding the right gear for me!

Luca