MSR MiniWorks Water filter

Our water filter and a few tips on filtering water

Features:

• Fast Flow Rate: Fills a 1-litre container in around one minute.


• Delivers fresh tasting water, a solid block of carbon eliminates odors, improves taste and removes most chemicals including iodine, chlorine, and pesticides.


• Field maintainable; If it clogs, we simply take it apart, clean it, and put it back together. You don't need any tools to take it apart and service it.


• You can screw the filter directly onto wide-mouth Nalgene bottles and all MSR Hydration Bags.


• An inlet foam pre-filter removes large debris, and keeps the hose off the stream bottom, extending the life of the cartridge and preventing the pump from clogging.


• The filter comes with and indicator gauge that lets you know when its time to replace the ceramic cartridge.


• The pump moves water on the down and up strokes, making it faster to pump our water.


• Now they say in the blurb that it's light and compact.....well I don't think its light but on the other hand it's not realy that heavy at 454g and for the added peace of mind that the pump is keeping us from gut pains and diarrhoea, it's one of the most important bits of kit that we pack.

• Tips:


• Always keep a little water in reserve incase you have trouble finding a good water source.


• Only pump from a flowing water source that's not got a layer of scum on it's surface.


• If you have a map of the area take a close look and see where your water is coming from. If it's running off a lake that's used for fishing then the water may be subject to treatment for the fish or treatment to kill off pests. This is not in our eyes an ideal source of water and we avoid it if we can.


• If you're planning a few days at the same camp, don't pump at the stream, instead lash the pump to a tree back at camp, then take a large foldflat water container and dunk it into the stream and fill it to the top, then haul it back to camp and place it under the filter that you've lashed to the tree, then pump water from the contaminated source into your water bottles. We've found that this system has many advantages for us. Firstly we can stand in comfort and pump one handed and then pump with the other hand while the tree keeps a tight hold on the rest of the pump.

• The ceramic filter takes forever to dry when you bring it home, so after cleaning we store the filter without the ceramic block in it. This lets it dry out and also stops the filter from smelling from being closed up for the length of time that it's not being used.


• Remember water filters are what they say....water filters, they filter out what they can but you still need to BOIL THE WATER

Guestbook

Our Guestbook is still alive for those of you that want to view our old posts or maybe post something new.
http://users.smartgb.com/g/g.php?a=s&i=g15-01515-98

Ben Neivs - Scotland

Standing at 1,344 metres (or 4,408 feet) Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles. If you plan to walk up Ben Nevis you will find it hard to pick a day with perfect weather. The mountain summit is only clear on one day out of 10 on average. Snow can fall in any month of the year. In a five year period there were 13 deaths on the mountain. Check the weather before you set out! Always make sure someone knows you are going to climb the mountain so they can raise the alarm if you fail too return! Carry all the important stuff and make sure that you know how to use it! Drink plenty and take some high energy foods like chocolate and bananas! Start your trek early, leave plenty of time for a nice steady walk! Stay safe and keep to the path!, if for some reason you can't see it due to snow cover or bad weather, then turn back, the mountain will be there for another day! Most of all, enjoy it, take plenty of pictures, don't litter, and have a safe journey. Stu :)

Ben Nevis summit, as high as you can get in the UK :)

I let Tom and Micky get a few feet ahead of me so that I could capture the weather and try and demonstrate just how bad the visibility was. It did get lots worse than this, both on the way up and on the way down.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/stuthehiker/BenNevisScotland

The rest of the photos can be found at the above link

Sunday Lunch in the Forest !

Who said that just because you're camped deep in the Forest away from all the mod cons like cookers, running water and electricity, that you can't knock up a good Sunday lunch.

Geocaching

I did a page up for our BoulderCache in the forest, then sent it off to be reviewed and published.
Turns out they wont publish it until I give proof that the recreational dept of the forest have given it the green light.

From what I've read on the Geocaching Assoitation Of Great Britains website, is that they've managed to secure a blanket agreement with the forestry for the placement of Geocaches and have also been given a boundries map and a list of conditions that your cache must meet. http://www.gagb.co.uk/gagb/glad/index.php

Well our cache falls into the map and meets with the listed conditions. things like no digging holes, no placing on animal runs, no placeing at historical sites, or fragile plantlife areas etc.....just the common sense stuff that us cachers follow anyway.

So I'm waiting to hear back from the Rec-department at the forestry and then will try and publish the cache again.

First Post

Well, here is the first 'proper' post, this is a picture of me giving a good example of what it's all about. Picture from Feburary 2008

Welcome

Welcome to the Free Radicals blog. Here you will find our posts direct from our expeditions and any other nonsense we might decide to send! Keep watching.