Half Hitch Water Bottle Evaporation Cooler

[asemery]

I saw this idea many years ago at a horse/mule drawn plow contest. The half hitching around the glass protects the bottle from bumps. When the covering is thoroughly soaked in water evaporation keeps the water inside several degrees cooler than water inside an uncovered bottle. Tony

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[randyt]

that's awesome. any tutorials on making one?

[Rick]

Always great stuff! The same principle of evaporative cooling applies to your canteen cover as well. I seldom see folks take advantage of it, however. Not only is that very practical, it's pretty darn attractive too. Good job.

[crashdive123]

Very nicely done.

[TXyakr]

Good idea. Probably a youtube instructional video out there somewhere. Just yesterday while launching kayak in a remote flood plain I saw an old coke bottle in the brush (mostly I see beer bottles). Not easy to make your own flexible cordage but can be done. Bottles, clay pots and goards have been used like this for hundreds of years if not longer. I just drank very warm water from my plastic canteens all day, so probably not as much as I should have. Thought of hanging over side but would have gotten snagged in heavy brush. Your idea is much better.

[asemery]

that's awesome. any tutorials on making one?

[Stormdrane has some nice projects in halfhitching and some links.
http://stormdrane.blogspot.com/2009/...an-koozie.html
http://stormdrane.blogspot.com/2010/...er-bottle.html

"Creative Ropecraft" has a section on half hitching/needle hitching. Note what he says about aamount of cord required.
http://tinyurl.com/owmdv6y
PIctures here are easy to follow - text is Swedish
http://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2003/09/14/transa-flaskor Tony

[randyt]

thanks for the links, very helpful. Any thoughts on what cordage would work the best for evaporation cooling?

[hunter63]

I saw this idea many years ago at a horse/mule drawn plow contest. The half hitching around the glass protects the bottle from bumps. When the covering is thoroughly soaked in water evaporation keeps the water inside several degrees cooler than water inside an uncovered bottle. Tony

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Now that is a heck of an idea...like the padding aspect as well.....
Thanks for posting.

[natertot]

Really cool project and outcome! I had never really thought about applying the laws of evaporation to a container. Makes sense.

[finallyME]

In Iraq we would do that to our water bottles with a sock. We would hang it on the mirror of our truck. Eventually we were able to buy ice chests and ice.

[finallyME]

Oh, and, for the material, I would guess that natural fibers work best. At least they do with my home AC unit.

[asemery]

thanks for the links, very helpful. Any thoughts on what cordage would work the best for evaporation cooling?

I used bailing twine (sisal) for this. It soaks up a lot of water. I am a fan of natural materials and think that they would work best.

[asemery]

thanks for the links, very helpful. Any thoughts on what cordage would work the best for evaporation cooling?

Oh, and, for the material, I would guess that natural fibers work best. At least they do with my home AC unit.

I used bailing twine (sisal) for this. It soaks up a lot of water. I am a fan of natural materials and also think that they would work best.

[Rick]

Years ago (and do I ever mean years ago) when we crossed the desert on 66 dad hung two burlap filled water bags in front of the radiator to keep the engine cool. Those things hung in the basement until they finally rotted. You never know when you're going to have to make another desert trip I guess. They had a round metal mouth for filling and a cork for a cap. I don't recall but assume dad soaked them to swell the fibers. One more method of evaporative cooling.

[DSJohnson]

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Rick are you sure your dad's bag was burlap and not canvas? My dad used these every time we went out to San Diego until the trip we made in our "new" 1966 Chevy Impala.

[Rick]

No, they were burlap. Somewhere tucked away in my memory is the brand name but my mind is kinda like a steel trap these days. If anything gets in it's never comin' out. So....

[TXyakr]

I'm not an expert on natural fibers but if you have a choice sisal would probably be best (harvest the taquila first!). It is stronger and longer lasting than jute, lasts much longer than cotton and wicks better than jute and much better than paracord or any synthetic that I know of.
A childhood friend's father exported jute from the Amazon but I never asked him about it, wasted opportunity. I did make macrame hanging basket holders from jute, these lasted a long time outdoors. Also if you stuff the area between the cord and the bottle with fibers it can help. Coconut husk work great but anything similar like dried crushed cambium bark or pine needles might work.

Obviously a metal or glass bottle conducts heat better than plastic. In an primitive camping or actual survival situation you can fairly easily boil water in a metal bottle. Using the sun's UV to treat water in a clear glass or plastic bottle is very difficult and uncertain, some suggest 6 hours of full sun clear water as a minimum so very last resort in my book. Can boil water in plastic bottle/container but if successful this is usually a one time event.

[Rick]

You can boil it in a plastic bottle as well. Just make certain the bottle is filled to the rim.