Remember kids: guns are the sexy part of survivalism. There’s still a lot of other stuff involved that isnt nearly as fun or sexy. Case in point:
One of Canada’s few leading exports that isn’t toxic… (Canaduh is North America’s leading exporter of asbestos, acid rain, and Biebers.) The Scepter cans have a decent reputation and for water storage I rather like them. I don’t like them for fuel storage but then again I am not a fan of any plastic fuel container. When it comes to fuel, it’s Wavian/Valpro or nothing.
Anyway, I was thinking that it was time to replace my ancient surplus British water cans that I bought about 15 years ago. Or, at least retire them to secondary status. The thing I like about these Scepter cans is the enormous mouth on them. It’s large enough that I can fit the end of a stirrup pump in there and have five-gallons of water for firefighting anywhere I can haul this on an ALICE frame. And, of course, the large mouth makes it easier to get in there and clean.
I’ll rinse these out with hot water and dish detergent, and then it’s a fillup of clean water and baking soda to eliminate that annoying plastic smell. Then it’s time to fill them, hang them from the rafters with some newsprint on the floor below them, and check on them the next day for leaks. (You do always check your liquid containers for leaks before you commit to using them, don’t you?)
These cans aren’t cheap. I can get cheaper ones from Winco that will probably do just as good a job sitting on a shelf in my basement. But the apocalypse doesn’t always look like a simple trip to my safe, secure, well-lit, temperate basement. Sometimes it looks like heaving 40# cans of water into the back of a truck and bouncing them down a fire road as the bang up and jostle with other gear. Thats what I’m paying the extra for…survivability. Its a virtual certainty these will sit on the shelf in the basement until such time as I need them and their contents….and any reasonably well made plastic water container will work for that. But for that (waitforit) dark and stormy night at 3am where we’re tossing ammo, water, fuel, packs, and food in the back of a truck with the goal of getting outta here now now now….well, thats where the extra money is going.
and that’s what the conditions are going to be when it comes to GTFO. Rain, snow, hail, etc. isn’t easy on gear, that’s why the military keeps their ammo in steel cans and not cardboard boxes. Going to have to stock up on some of these.
Whenever I invite someone to the range, and they complain that the weather that day is scheduled to be rainy/snowy/cold/windy I always tell them “The revolution is not going to happen on a warm sunny day”.
Baking soda for the smell? I’ve tried a bunch of things to get the plastic smell out of various storage containers but never baking soda in water. How much soda do you use and about how long do you leave it sit?
And is the opening on the cans big enough to get a brush or hand in? I have a couple of water storage containers but the opening is too small to allow any scrubbing if needed.
I’ve always just used a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and warm water and let sit for 24hrs shaking it every couple of hours. Worked great for the USGI Canteens, Camelbak and those blue water jugs. You can also use denture cleaning tablets. I use those all the time in my Naglene bottles and Camelbak.
Just curious – 1) those filled water containers will weigh about 125 pounds each – isn’t that pretty heavy to hang from a basement rafter? 2) how often do ya have to change out the stored water, after ya remove the plastic smell?
Last I checked, water is 8# per gallon…not 25#.
8.3 lbs per gallon, but yeah
I use a color code for mine:
Tan – stored potable water
Green – stored empty and filled with potable water upon known approaching issue (think hurricane or severe storm)
Black – stored empty for non-potable water
You can buy US made cans that are slightly less quality but also cheaper than scepter direct from buylci.com which makes them for the government.
I bought mine through here, https://www.tacticalassaultgearstore.com/water-can-5-gallon-desert-tan.html. it’s the one you posted a few years ago. I see they’ve only risen about $5 since back then. I have four, gave away two as presents and they’re still going strong.
There have been some people buying these and the Septers and converting them over to fuel cans, they claim the fuel lids and the butyl gaskets make them the USGI plastic fuel cans. I don’t believe them.
Water Bricks are our choice.
https://www.waterbrick.org/what-is-waterbrick/
The MilSpec Spectres are about three times thicker than the civilian versions – I wish I could buy them easily in the US.
Coleman’s Surplus is running a free shipping sale on unused surplus issue Spectres. Prefer the tan ones as they don’t get as hot in sun(29 Palms in July) but the black ones left in the sun stay warm all night with 3-4 laid on side and used to sleep on. They’re almost indestructible -grunt proof as the only thing I have seen break one is running over with 9 ton prime mover
The picture on the Coleman site is a LCI can. You can get them straight from the source at buylci.com for $33. LCI cans are US made for the government and are a slightly lower quality than Scepter.
$60 plus tax for a water can? That’s utterly insane. Septer and LCI both provide water cans to the military. My link above from TAG has them for $29.99 each with free shipping over $49.99 – brand new, not surplus.
Not cheap? That’s quite the understatement for a 5 gallon plastic jug.lol
Yeah, but since not all plastic water containers are of the same quality or carry the same features, its reasonable for there to be some range in price. As I mentioned in the post, a $12 plastic water container will work just as well if all its going to do is sit on a shelf quietly for a few years. But heave it into the back of a truck, strap it to an ALICE pack, or bounce it down a flight of stairs and you’ll see that, like a lot of survival-related gear, you get what you pay for.
for us old and feeble, they make them in 10L (2.5 gal) size also.