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CNOC Bladders - First Report

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    • CNOC Bladders - First Report

      I was at our local gear store today and picked up a CNOC water bladder. I think these are pretty new to the market. I thought I would try one. I think they pronounce it "SEE-knock", but I'm not sure.

      I currently carry two 24 oz Gatorade bottles to drink from and two Evernew Bladders (1 Liter) to use with my Sawyer filter. I like to gravity filter so I have rigged my dirty Evernew bladder so it can hang it from a branch and let the water drain into a clean container, either the Gatorade bottles or the other bladder. When I connect the bladders, it is a closed system to it can filter unattended and the water flow stops when the clean bag is full. The ability to attach a clean bladder as a receiver also lets me use it to backflush by squeezing the clean-side bladder. I attach the clean bag to the Sawyer Mini using a 1" piece of the grey tube that comes with the Sawyer and a female thread/hose tube adapter. This system has worked fine, but the Evernew bags are a stiff plastic and don't pack too well, although the do have in integrated bungee to keep them rolled up. They are also hard to fill. Also, I've decided that the 1 Liter size is a bit small. I often find myself filling it two or more times at a filtering stop. The CNOC bag has an open top with a slide seal so it should be easier to fill. Maybe I won't have to use the cut-off water bottle I use as a scoop to fill the Evernew bags. It should also be easier to clean. Also it is a two Liter bag so one fill should work for most occasions. Also it is made from a flexible plastic - sort of a rubbery feel, so it rolls up nice and small. It has the same threads as the Evernew/Sawyer/pop bottles. I checked it out when I got home. The slide on the top opening is easy to manipulate and if you had a falling water source you could always just fill by opening the cap. It did have a strong chemical smell on first fill. I didn't drink the water from the first fill so I don't know if there was also a chemical taste to the water. I will rinse it several times before use. I'm not too worried about that. I don't store water in my dirty bag unless I need to carry a large volume for dry camping or a hot/dry trail. With the extra Liter capacity I could ditch one of the Evernew bags on one of the Gatorade bottles and still have more total capacity. I would still keep one Evernew bag as a clean water reservoir and to back flush the filter and as a back up dirty water bag in case the CNOC failed. I also think I might switch to the Sawyer Squeeze (instead of the Mini) and get one of their female to female thread adapters as a more reliable, lightweight, and compact way of connecting two bladders. Some complain the Mini is too slow. I have not found that to be a problem. I think some people get air bubbles in their Mini which prevents water flow. Once I get all the air out of mine, the water flow is fine. The fact that air does not flow through the filter is a good indication that the membranes are intact. If the Mini had threads on the clean side, I would keep it. After every use, I soak my filter in white vinegar to clean out any scale deposits and then I rinse with distilled water. This has kept it as good as new.


      (image reproduced from company web page without permission - so sue me - I dare you!!)