Friday, June 18, 2010

Klean Kanteen - The Consumate Survival Tool...

Water. Such a crucial component to human survival that man can die within 3 days for lack of it. How ironic that on a planet comprised 2/3rds of water that such a tragedy should occur. However, thousands die each year because of dehydration - the lack of potable water intake leading to a horrific untimely death.

Care and I carry bottled water everywhere we go. We’ve gone the full gamut of buying dozens of cases of bottled purified water to buying home water filters and bottling our own filtered water in Nalgene containers. The harm to the environment from the plastic waste and the subsequent BPA toxin scare from Nalgene and similar bottles made us search out stainless steel bottles.

Enter Klean Kanteen. Based on the recommendation of a friend, Care and I purchased a few different Klean Kanteen single wall stainless water bottles for our daily use. They have become a critical component of our everyday carry gear and essential survival gear for our outdoors trips.



We settled on the standard, shouldered 27 ounce version as our primary carry bottles. The 18/8 food grade stainless steel bodies and BPA free polymer tops are toxin free and are environmentally friendly. The Klean Kanteens hold a substantial quantity of water and they fit well in and retrieve more easily from our tightly packed Maxpedition 10x4 bottle carriers than do the 40 ounce size.



The Klean Kanteens also fit well in several non-descript insulated water bottle sleeves that we acquired over the years for the bottles we formerly used. Additionally, the 27 ounce Klean Kanteens still fit in our Jeep’s cup holders.

Klean Kanteens are super durable. I have voided my warrantee hundreds of times by freezing my 1/3rd full bottle each night to have a long lasting ice water supply at work the next day. The single large chunk of ice formed lasts far longer than ice cubes. HOWEVER, the bottom of my bottle has severely rounded from the expanding ice and it does not stand upright on a flat surface anymore.



The seam has held and the bottle still serves me daily. Your mileage may vary - You will void your warrantee and you may ruin your bottle if you try this.

Klean Kanteen’s website FAQs indicate that “in a pinch” you can boil water in your brushed stainless bottle on a stove or near a fire. DO NOT try this with a painted bottle or with a double wall bottle - You will ruin a painted finish bottle and you may experience catastrophic failure of a double walled bottle.

Let me tell you - You CAN boil in a single walled, brushed stainless Klean Kanteen! I have done this dozens of times at camp to purify water and to heat water for drinks, meal preparation and cleanup duties. I formerly fashioned a makeshift bail for our bottles by wrapping stainless steel wire around the bottle neck for ease in inserting and removing the bottle from the fire. I have since voided our warrantee again by using high temp silver solder to affix stainless washers to the bottle’s shoulder in order to attach a bail.



This setup isn’t pretty, but it works like a charm. The Klean Kanteens have held up to the hottest of fires and white hot coals.



Common sense should dictate, but I will save my Attorney his aghast reaction by mentioning that the bottle top must be removed prior to subjecting the Klean Kanteen to heating, lest a catastrophic failure may occur.

Klean Kanteens have become the centerpiece of our everyday carry and survival equipment. Their utility, functionality and practicality keep us motivated to have them ever present and, subsequently, the remainder of our emergency gear gets tagged along in the carrier.



I HIGHLY recommend Klean Kanteen products. They have a wide range of sizes and different top configurations to meet anyone's specs. Need more info? Check them out at http://www.kleankanteen.com/ or on FaceBook......... M

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK Sir, Now I want a run down on what else is carried in that set up. Looks to be a handy little kit.
Great write up on the bottle.
T

Anonymous said...

As always you are spot on with your gear and I love that you T&E the pissoutta it.

I am hoping that is not a Tracker knife your wearing - :-)

SgtMike and Care said...

The next article will definitely be on the evolution of my EDC bag.

Rest assured, I do not carry or use a Tracker. The bag is photo'd BY me, it's resting on a buddy's shoulder for the pic.

I'm not bright enough to figure out how to utilize a Tracker... M

Unknown said...

Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
Klean Kanteen