Water cooled

[Znook]

Whilst reading through a few many journals on CGOAB I notice there's not a lot of mention regarding insulated water bottles from those touring in hot climes.

This got me thinking. When it comes to the insulating of anything, there's not much room left for the contents unless the overall size goes up (and you're limited on a bike viz the bottle carriers), so what do people do when they go touring in a hot area? Do they just take the water as is from an uninsulated bottle and dream it's nice and cool, or is there a reasonably good insulated bike bottle that I've not yet come across?


Robbie

[Danneaux]

Hi Robbie!

I usually carry 6.5l of water in bottles on the bike with additional in reserve in water bags. What I will often do when desert touring is to draw dark-colored socks over my 1l drinking bottles and then wet the socks. natural evaporation of the drying socks then cools the bottles. It does make a difference! I have found my black bottles seem to hasten the cooling effect when they are "wearing" wet socks. I drink primarily from the two 1l Zéfal Magnum bottles in my steerer-mounted cages.

I have yet to find an insulated bottle of sufficient capacity to be practical for my needs. Most are built on the Thermos™ principle, but without the vacuum gap. In other words, they're double-walled, perhaps with some light foam in-between. The result is much lower capacity and some increased weight.

My three 1.5l clear PET bottles warm to ambient temperature pretty quickly in sunlight, but this is not entirely bad. Last year on this Forum, I reported on a project to purify African drinking water using UV (bright sunlight) and clear PET bottles. Mine do the same, helping to catch any nasties my SteriPen or chlorination tablets might have missed. To cool the water from the PET bottles, I transfer it to the black Zéfal drinking bottles, the ones wearing wet socks.

My reserve stores of water (as much as 20 additional liters in two 10l MSR Dromedary water bags) stay pretty cool inside my panniers or placed atop my rear rack under the drysacks carrying my sleeping bag and pad and tent.

Best,

Dan. (...who has found dreaming of cold water is sometimes a comfort and torment at once)EDIT: (...who is now dreaming of George's "...ice 24 hours later in 100ºF heat"[!] -- see his post below)

[ianshearin]

I cant speak regarding cycle bottles but I worked in Saudi for 6 Years and spent most weekends camping out with friends in the desert.  We never bothered with ice as it didnt last long anyway even in cooler boxes.
Truth is, when your hot and bothered and need a drink, water at any temperature is just fine,  although it is best to keep it in the shade. Im assuming water kept in a bottle on a bike would get warm even with the colling effect of the wind but would still satisfy the need for water.
Anyway gives you something to look forward to at your next civilisation stop...

[George Hetrick]

Both the insulated Klean Kanteen and Hydro Flask work fine for me.

A 20 ounce bottle fits in a standard water bottle cage. I still have ice 24 hours later in 100ºF heat.

[honesty]

The camelbak podium is a good water bottle in its standard guise and they do an insulated 750ml version. Not sure how well it performs but their website claims no weight penalty.

[rualexander]

The camelbak podium is a good water bottle in its standard guise and they do an insulated 750ml version. Not sure how well it performs but their website claims no weight penalty.

The Camelbak Podium Chilljacket bottle is good, it will keep drinks cooler than uninsulated bottles for up to an hour, after that I find that the water in my aluminium Sigg bottle is cooler than whats in the Camelbak bottle.

[Andre Jute]

I have three kinds of insulated bottles.

1. Mitsubishi. A lovely ali bottle, with an external glassfibre (?) stuffed sheath that makes it too big for any fixed bottle cages. Problem is the same as all ali bottles, that encrustrations form inside. They were cheap at pound shop and I bought a handful and chucked the current one after about 18 months. All finished now, and the only available stock is at a trendy sports shop for a very stiff price.

2. Rock-something, the outdoor brand sold by Lidl. This is a three-layer bottle. Inner and outer is plastic, and there is a foam layer friction-fit inside the outer layer. Excellent protective cap attached to inner tube. It works until you get water inside the foam and the water starts rotting and smelling. That said, mine lasted years, and after my wife washed the foam in common kitchen soap. Still using them year-round, but mostly just carry tap water in them. Doubt they'll offer all-day insulation but on summer's day here in Ireland (about the equivalent of cold winter's day in Melbourne...) I came home with ice cubes still rattling after two hours. Same size as a 750ml bottle was claimed to hold 500ml.

3. In dead of winter I do the sensible thing and use a proper Thermos. Only the smallest size fits in bottle cages, and rattles in fixed cages but works in foldover or springloaded cages like my BBB carbon bottle cage. I've never actually smashed one, but some of them have glass inside which might be vulnerable if you ride on narrow high-pressure tyres. I have two, one in stainless, one in plastic, both the gennie Thermos, both at least twenty years old and going strong. Problem is how much it actually holds: four very small cups. It's probably just as well I'm never out for more than two or three hours, most often in winter only 90 minutes. Not a touring or even all-day size. I use these for Lady Grey tea with lemon and honey, which I find invigorating on the bike in winter.

4. Actually I also have a really big hunter's Thermos, but it has to stand up in the saddle bag and peek out, so I used it only once when there was a large party cycling; very awkward and heavy. It certainly keeps a day's coffee or soup warm, but you really want a motorized vehicle to carry it in.

[freewheeler]

After 4 months of cycling through Africa drinking warm water from our bottles we were given the following tip: Use a standard plastic water bottle, stick an old sock over it and then soak the sock in water. The evaporation of the water from the sock chills the water in the bottle by a significant amount. We were sceptical about how well it worked but when we actually tried it we found it made a huge difference and so did it regularly for the next 8 months and enjoyed chilled drinks all day. Try it!

[geocycle]

After 4 months of cycling through Africa drinking warm water from our bottles we were given the following tip: Use a standard plastic water bottle, stick an old sock over it and then soak the sock in water. The evaporation of the water from the sock chills the water in the bottle by a significant amount. We were sceptical about how well it worked but when we actually tried it we found it made a huge difference and so did it regularly for the next 8 months and enjoyed chilled drinks all day. Try it!

Yes, like the Bedouin camel skin bags that are allowed to slowly leak and evaporate. They work well in the desert.