RE: [Paddlewise] Water Sources... was Disposal of Human Waste?

I completed a survival instructor's course a few years back, and for sea
kayakers, you are already close to a water source - the ocean.  The solar
still works by the water (moisture) inside the pit evaporating and then
condensing on the inner lining of the plastic.  Therefore, to enhance
success, soak the ground in the pit with sea water and then seal it.  The
flexible rubber tube is meant to be in your survival kit!  By extracting the
water through the tube, you don't break the seal and loose the "sauna"
effect being created in the hole.

So you can urinate in the hole, but sea water is better.  In practice, you
have to be careful to ensure the rock is positioned centrally over the
collection cup/pan!!  We used to get about a cup of water over a 12 hr
period.

Ideally, you should use this in conjunction with other water collection
methods.  You can put a large plastic bag over a tree branch, close the end
and allow the process of photosynthesis to happen, producing water in the
bottom - and leaves as the tree stresses and drops its leaves.  The water
will be tainted in taste.  You can drain water from some vines, suck the
bark of some trees (boab tree in Australia is reknown for this).

I have heard (and not tried) that you can boil sea water and position a pair
of socks over the steam and then suck the water from the sock after they
have become wet.  Could be interesting with "old" socks.

My two cents...(then again, you can always by the PUR reverse osmosis water
production pump (Survivor #6 I think) for around US $500  :-)  anyone ever
used one of these??)

Regards,

Damon

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Steve Cramer [SMTP:cramer_at_coe.uga.edu]
	Sent:	Monday, August 30, 1999 1:27 PM
	To:	PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net
	Subject:	Re: [Paddlewise] Disposal of Human Waste?

	Joe Pylka wrote:

	>     One of the things I remember from survival courses is to use a
garbage
	> bag or some other impermeable flexible material.  Dig a hole in
the sand a
	> foot or more deep, put a container at the bottom, lay the plastic
over the
	> hole and seal it completely, with a rock or weight on top in the
center.
	> Then wait for the sun to do its job.  

	Would anyone mind if we started calling this thread "Water Sources"?
I
	read down this far before I realized Joe wasn't giving instructions
for
	building a seaside privy. I was about to tell him he has misspelled
	"son".

	Steve
	-- 
	Test Scoring and Reporting Services
	University of Georgia
	Athens, GA 30602-5593
	
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