Underwater Hydration - Camel Bak

[notinvented]

I just wanted to post as to the success of my underwater hydration system. Basucally I do tend to suffer from a bit of dry mouth - usually about halfway through a dive and wanted to be able to have a sip of water whilst under.
I got a Camel Bak bag for Christmas (thanks Bro!) - that was stage 1.... stage 2 was how to mount it.

Basically I cut the lower leg off an old 3mm wetsuit that didn't fit me any more and placed the camel bak bag into this for protection. This helps to stop it rubbing against any objects that might puncture it. It doesnt fall out of the bottom as the leg opening is smaller than the fill port on the camel bak.

I then put some plastic grommets into the bottom and top openings so I could tie bungee to close the openings and secure the bag to my rig.

I had visions of attaching it to my tank somehow - but in the end I just slipped it under the pocket of my backplate where it sits very securely and routed the hose up along the inflator hose.

Tested it in water yesterday and it works great! It took a bit of messing around and a few small mouthfuls of seawater before I got the technique down but it works perfectly - doesn't appear to leak until I want a drink then easy to get the liquid out and into my mouth/tummy

 

[Chugwhump]

Cool.
Thanks for sharing.
I carry a couple of Capri Suns u/w.
They work pretty good for me on the 4 hours dive I do in the summer.

Chug
Can drink a Capri Sun u/w or on the surface.

 

[notinvented]

I did try the 'fruit box' method - works great - but for some reason they are actually not easy to procure here unless you go to an actual supermarket - ie on the way to a dive site and forgot to pick up fruit boxes = outta luck in my town.

Glad it's workin for ya though.... next step - underwater sub.... and not the metal kind

 

[ding dang]

yeah, you can either do this or this.

 

[mddolson]

Clearly you guys are snowmobilers.

2 word: wine skin, however for diving i suggest water, not wine.

Mike D

 

[A2thaK]

I would think the pressure at depth would cause the water to shoot out of the camelback like a firehose once you take a sip. Am I mistaken? I too get dry mouth underwater and if this works, then you sir, are a genius.

 

[garyd54220]

I would think the pressure at depth would cause the water to shoot out of the camelback like a firehose once you take a sip. Am I mistaken? I too get dry mouth underwater and if this works, then you sir, are a genius.

As a liquid the juice isn't going to compress regardless of depth.However, if you were to blow some air into the bag and then reduce your depth the increasing volume of the air WOULD force juice out of the straw.

 

[herman]

I would think the pressure at depth would cause the water to shoot out of the camelback like a firehose once you take a sip. Am I mistaken? I too get dry mouth underwater and if this works, then you sir, are a genius.

Getting all of the air out is the trick, once you do this works well. I tried it for a while and found it was more of a pain to deal with than it was worth. For long deco type diving, I can see where it would be useful. You can also use juice boxes.